The Phoenix Suns should sign Joakim Noah
By Adam Maynes
The Phoenix Suns could always use a veteran depth at every position, and one recently discovered antagonist in Devin Booker’s life might be the perfect late addition to the roster.
If you haven’t heard, Devin Booker and current free agent center Joakim Noah got into it a little bit during a pick-up basketball game, and the Phoenix Suns star was not a fan of the entire situation.
During this pickup game, Booker received the ball on the right side of the lane in the post. When he got position, Joakim Noah called out for a double team, which came, forcing Book up towards the top of the right arc of the 3-point line, eventually ending in the ball being knocked out of bounds – much to Book’s chagrin.
Book took exception to the call for a double team, the whole thing being unfortunately video recorded, and has now made it’s rounds around sports talk shows nationally, most often with opinions that do not fall favorably on the young Suns star.
Whichever side you are on or not is irrelevant (I am only on the side of people getting over it – it was literally one 20 second clip from one of probably thousands of pickup games involving NBA players around the country this summer, and Booker just happened to be the player who complained about something who was recorded. No one can ever tell me that not one other single star has complained in a pick-up game this summer, yet was just fortunate to have not had a cell phone aimed in his direction).
Michael Jordan once punched out Steve Kerr during a practice – imagine if that had been recorded.
The big picture though is that Devin Booker and Joakim Noah apparently know each other, something that could work both in Book and the Phoenix Suns’ advantage.
To begin with, nobody is going to offer Noah more than a one-year veterans minimum deal as he is well past his prime and easily beginning to slide athletically.
At the moment, the Lakers are taking a look at him following their recent loss of ring-chaser DeMarcus Cousins, although as they are also considering bringing back Dwight Howard who has the kind of star-power that the franchise has been looking for to surround LeBron James and Anthony Davis with.
If Phoenix signed Noah, they could keep him away from L.A. – not that that would be a huge deal for the Lakers, but at least something else that Suns fans could hang their hat on by doing so twice in one offseason.
Yet that’s not even the tip of the iceberg.