Joakim Noah Says It All By Saying Nothing

It’s no secret how we feel about the Chicago Bulls and their head coach Vinny Del Negro around here right now.

Our good friend Hick Flick laid it out rather nicely the other day after our beloved NBA franchise blew a 35-point lead in the third quarter to the Sacramento Kings at home. Still can’t get over it. To the Kings. At home.

Anyway, the bulls followed up that sterling performance with an 88-81 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Yup. Insult to injury, friends, insult to injury.

Follow the latest debacle Chicago Tribune beat writer K.C. Johnson tweeted a quote from center Joakim Noah that, well, says everything you need to know about this team.

Said Noah:

“If you were my friend, I would tell you a lot of things, but I feel like if I say something, it’s going to make things really bad.”

Wow. Let’s compose ourselves. OK, wow. Let’s take that enormity of that statement in.

Noah has a lot on his mind about this particular team. Not that he’s exactly the go-to guy for a state-of-the-union quote. There’s always Kirk Hinrich or Luol Deng or somebody.

But the fact remains Noah said it and by say that he leaves the door open for this question: What in God’s name is going on in that locker room?

Answer: We have no freaking clue. It seems like a pretty safe bet that Del Negro has lost this team to some degree. Maybe the whole way. Perhaps none of these guys are listening to him. And who can blame them? The guy just doesn’t seem like a very good coach. At all.

What remains to be done is unclear. Chicago’s roster isn’t exactly awesome. Brad Miller? But there’s a core to build around Noah is good at…rebounding. Derrick Rose will be all-world in time. Kirk Hinrich, though? Luol Deng? Meh, it’s just hard to see where those guys fit in long term.

If none of them are listening to Del Negro it’s a problem. Probably one that needs to be addressed before the summer free agency extravaganza.

Paging Dwyane Wade.