Joakim Noah, New York Knicks
Ironically, there’s another player in New York that needs to prove himself this upcoming season. Like Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah will be playing for a ton in 2016-17. While Noah won’t be playing for a new contract like his teammate, he will be trying to prove that he’s worth the huge contract that he just signed this offseason.
With Robin Lopez now in Chicago, Noah will be asked to control the frontcourt and protect the paint on the defensive end. While he won’t be asked to do much, if anything, on the offensive end, that’s still a tall ask for a player that has seen precipitous drop in his game over the last two seasons.
While healthy has a lot to do with that, Noah is on the wrong side of 30 and has probably seen his best days in the NBA.
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