Joakim Noah on Matas Buzelis: ‘I haven’t see a white guy with bounce like that’

Joakim Noah knows all about having success as a member of the Chicago Bulls.

The energetic big man made a name for himself in the NBA fresh off of winning two national championships with the Florida Gators. Noah was the ninth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft and emerged as a two-time All-Star and a Defensive Player of the Year.

During Noah’s nine years with the franchise, the Bulls were an annual playoff contender, clinching a playoff spot in seven of those seasons.

However, fast forward to now, and the Bulls have struggled since Noah’s departure. Since 2016, the Bulls have gone to the playoffs just twice and haven’t won a single playoff series. The hope is that Chicago can rebuild around the likes of Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey.

Giddey is averaging 18.6 points per game, while Buzelis is seen as a rising star, averaging 15.2 points and 1.5 blocks per game with tremendous athleticism at 6-foot-8. With Chicago being very active at the trade deadline and unloading three of their top five scorers — Coby White, Nikola Vucevic and Ayo Dosunmu — it’s clear the Bulls are building around Buzelis and Giddey in the new era.

“I think he’s got his own style,” said Noah in a one-on-one interview with Ahn Fire Digital. “I think he’s a confident, very confident kid. I think he has a long way to go still to be the No. 1 guy, it takes a certain personality. But I think he’s confident, his athleticism for a white guy is — I haven’t see a white guy with bounce like that — he’s dunking on people all the time.”

Noah had a hard time coming up with a player comparison for Buzelis, who is in the midst of his second season in the NBA. However, he did say the “sky’s the limit” for him.

“I can’t even think of another player who reminds me of him, but he’s got a handle,” said Noah of Buzelis. “He can shoot. He’s got to make better decisions with the ball in his hands. He turns the ball over a little bit too much. But overall, I think the sky’s the limit. He’s 21 years old. Can you imagine with a real work ethic, the work ethic that I hear that he has, the sky’s the limit.”

When the idea of Buzelis becoming an All-Star one is brought up, Noah said he can see that, but he has to start leading the team to wins. The Bulls are 24-30 and competing for a play-in spot, a familiar territory for the Bulls in recent years.

“I can see that, I can see that happening,” said Noah. “But I think that it takes a lot of work, and all those things happen — people always want to talk about individual accolades and getting to the All Star Game — this game is about winning. You want those things. You have to be a winner. You don’t go chasing an All-Star Game. You chase wins, championships, big wins. That’s what people will remember.”

Noah actually attended the Bulls’ two-game road matchup in Miami against the Heat last last week, a pair of games that they split. While the roster looks different now than it did over the previous weekend, Noah gives credit to the young Bulls roster. Billy Donovan — Noah’s head coach with the Gators two decades prior — is the head of the Bulls and is looking to lead the team to its second playoff appearance in his sixth season as head coach.

“I think they definitely have some young players, and they’re doing the best with what they got,” said Noah of the Bulls’ rebuild. “I went to go see them play a couple days ago, and seeing their top five players were not playing, we got to see like seven to 15 play in the game. It was just beautiful to see the fighting spirit that those kids had, because that’s tough — 10 to 15 in the NBA is a tough job. You have to come ready to practice. You don’t get to play in the games.

“Nobody talks about you, but you gotta come ready, and you got to be ready when your number’s called. Just to go to that game, to be in that building where so many, we had so many battles, and for that team to come out and get a win the other night. I had a lot of fun watching that game.”

One of Noah’s biggest rivals during his playing career was LeBron James. Noah stopped playing in the NBA in 2020 and James — both players are only two months apart in age — is still going strong in the midst of his 23rd season, clinching his 22nd All-Star bid.

Noah and James clashed in the playoffs twice when the former was a member of the Bulls and the latter was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. James’ Cavaliers won both times, but the rivalry was notable due to Noah’s trash talk about Cleveland not being a vacation city while saying that “Cleveland sucks.”

“It’s hard, it’s his decision,” said Noah when asked if James will continue playing past this season. “I was able to watch him play a couple of times last week, and he looks great, man. For his age, what he’s doing, unbelievable. We were just in Cleveland actually to watch that game, and he’s playing at a high level. There’s always so much scrutiny around him, can he be the second option behind Luka Doncic? I think that he just handles it in a way that nobody else could handle it. He’s definitely the best player that I ever played against and just to see him doing it at this level, being able to do it with his son.

“These are all things that one day we can look back on and be like, ‘Wow, what a special player.’ I think people feel that. I think it was cool to be in Cleveland and to see the reaction of his people towards him. I would have never in my life thought I would be in that building to see that. I got to watch it, not as a competitor, as a fan. It was beautiful to see.”