SnogBlogy

Joakim Noah stole Billy Donovan’s heart 17 years ago.

It was April 2004. Noah was in his final year of prep school. Donovan was coaching at the University of Florida.

The Gators were one month removed from an upset loss to Manhattan in a No. 5-12 matchup during the first round of the NCAA Tournament. When the recruiting period opened, Donovan couldn’t believe what he encountered while visiting Noah. The coach wanted to give his incoming center a pep talk on bringing the proper mentality to college. Noah had other ideas.

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“He was really upset and bothered the way we lost,” Donovan said. “And I was taken back. This guy didn’t invest one second with our team. Didn’t practice with our team. And you could tell he was hurt by the loss. It really was impactful to me how much that guy cared about winning and how important it was to him.”

Months later, Donovan experienced a second memorable moment.

“When he came on campus,” Donovan said, “and he had a white robe on and a boom box walking around.”

That, in a nutshell, is Bulls legend Joakim Noah, deeply passionate, fiercely competitive, comically unorthodox but always, always authentic.

Noah, 36, made his retirement official in March after 13 seasons, his first nine coming in Chicago. The Bulls drafted him ninth overall in 2007, and from the start, fans fell in love with “Jo” for those same reasons. They watched as he blossomed into the heartbeat of the Bulls, poured his soul into the city and left everything he had on the court each night while helping the franchise to its most successful era since Michael Jordan.

On Thursday night, Bulls nation will roar for the fan-favorite once more as the team celebrates Noah’s career with “Joakim Noah Night” at the United Center. But make no mistake. No matter how loud the ovation — and it will be loud — no one in the crowd will be a bigger fan of Noah than Donovan, now in his second season as Bulls coach.

“Joakim changed my life in a lot of ways,” Donovan said. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime player to coach. I guarantee if you went through all the coaches he played for, they would all say the same thing. He just makes your job easier because winning is all he’s focused on; doing what he can do to help the team. And he’s a genuine, sincere person for who he is as a guy. And I’ve always loved him for who he is.”

Noah has described Donovan as a father figure and said playing for him at Florida was the best time of his life. The two won back-to-back national championships together in 2006 and 2007 before Noah declared for the NBA Draft following his junior year.

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“If something ever happened to me, I know that he would be there for me, and that’s a great feeling,” Noah told ESPN in 2015 when Donovan jumped from Florida to the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I always felt like it was more than basketball with coach Donovan. He’s the best coach that I ever had. I got nothing but love for him. I have nothing bad to say about him. I think that he’s somebody who has great balance in his life … we’re very similar in a lot of ways in terms of competitiveness. But very different as well. I love the guy.”

Corey Brewer has another theory for what helped spark Noah and Donovan’s love affair.

“The whole New York connection,” Brewer said, laughing. “That was his man.”

Brewer was the top recruit in Donovan’s 2004 class, a group that also included Al Horford and Taurean Green. But Brewer was from small-town Tennessee, Green hailed from Florida and Horford came from the Dominican Republic by way of Michigan. Noah, like Donovan, had New York roots. And Brewer detected a bond dating back to their recruitment.

“Coach always loved Jo,” Brewer said. “He was, like, ‘You’re going to love this guy. This guy plays with so much heart.’ That’s how I first heard about Jo, was from coach Donovan.”

It wasn’t long before Brewer, who also went on to a 13-year NBA career and is now a player development coach with New Orleans, experienced his own Joakim Noah moment. It happened on his first day on campus. Brewer, Horford and Green wanted to get in some shots, so they went to the gym.

“And as we were in there playing, all of a sudden we hear somebody bust through the door,” Brewer said. “And it’s Jo. And he’s, like, ‘Aw, I like y’all already. Y’all in the gym.’ He just threw his stuff down and came right out there and started talking and playing with us. That’s when I knew Jo was always ready.”

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Noah, Brewer, Horford and Green, who is now a Bulls player development coach, were roommates throughout their three years at Florida. They called themselves the ‘04s, and they were inseparable. In preseason pick-up games as freshmen, they teamed with Lee Humphrey, one year ahead of them and eventually their fifth starter, and would take it to the starters.

“We kicked their butts,” Brewer said. “So we felt like we were good already.”

Horford, Brewer and Green received immediate gratification. Horford and Brewer became starters as freshmen. Green led the reserves in minutes. Noah averaged nine minutes. He was stuck behind senior and future two-time All-Star David Lee.

That’s where Donovan and Noah’s bond deepened. While his roommates shined, Noah sat. The fierce competitor didn’t know how to cope. His inner circle prodded him to transfer. His coach convinced him to stay. Donovan was preparing for the NCAA Tournament, watching film and hoping to avoid a second consecutive first-round upset. Noah requested a meeting and asked Donovan directly if he should transfer. Right then, the two had a heart-to-heart.

“We had built a good enough relationship and enough trust,” Donovan said, “that I could talk to him and say, ‘Listen, I know you want to play, but you’re not ready to play. This is where you’ve got to get better.’ ” 

Donovan described Noah as the kind of guy who never runs from a challenge. And he didn’t.

“He killed himself in terms of the effort he put in to get himself ready to play,” Donovan said.

Brewer will never forget returning to Gainesville from a road game late one night in their freshman season. Noah, of course, barely got on the floor.

“And we got off the bus, and he walked across and got on the track and started running,” Brewer said. “It was, like, ‘Man, this dude, he wants it.’ ”

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The other three “’04s” followed behind Noah. They sat with him as he ran. They told him they weren’t leaving until he finished.

“That was our relationship,” Brewer said. “But coach knew what type of player Jo was going to be. He helped get the most out of Jo by putting him in the right situations. Even when he wasn’t playing, still being there for him.”

Limiting a top-75 recruit to nine minutes per night might cripple most player-coach relationships. Not for Donovan and Noah. Their bond was built on mutual respect. When Noah arrived with a punctuality disorder, habitually late to study hall and such, Donovan addressed the problem immediately. Noah would occasionally have to run stadium stairs as punishment.

“But when it came to basketball, Jo was always on time,” Brewer said.

Rarely, added Brewer, would Donovan need to address the same basketball issue twice with Noah.

“From Day 1, you could tell how much Jo respected coach,” Brewer said. “He would do anything for Coach. He’d run through a wall for him. Some people just say that, but their relationship was really like that. And no matter what, he wanted to do whatever it took to help Coach get a win. And off the court, they were great together. It was like a father-son relationship. Coach loved him, and he loved Coach.

“On the court, it was even better. Coach would go at Jo, and there wasn’t any talking back. Coach said something to him and it was, like, ‘You got it, coach.’ He went out there and did it better. He went 120 percent the next time just to get it right.”

Tracy Pfaff, the longtime executive assistant for men’s basketball at Florida, remembers Donovan and Noah’s relationship being more distinct than any other among Donovan’s long list of prominent former players.

“Billy always respected Jo’s wild and crazy and tried to mildly reel him in at times,” said Pfaff, now in her 25th season at Florida. “But he allowed him to be who he was. He never tried to change him. And I think Jo had so much respect for Billy as a coach and a person that when he stepped on the court he could reel it in and he could perform. He’s always going to give you 110 percent. Effort was never an issue. But everyone knew Jo had that crazy side to him.”

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Everyone also knew Noah’s heart. Even in those days. One by one, they quickly came to understand his compassion. Noah might be best described as an empath, possessing instincts to connect with and care for the well-being of others. That trait only brought Noah and Donovan closer.

Donovan remembers Noah rushing into his office one day in 2005. Hurricane Katrina had just ripped through the Gulf Coast, and Noah felt the Gators needed to do something about it. His suggestion: head to Louisiana as a team to help. Donovan tried telling Noah they couldn’t just pack up and leave in the middle of preparing for the season. Noah never budged.

“He was convinced that we had to get in a van with our team and drive,” Donovan said.

When Sports Illustrated arranged a cover story in 2006 on Noah and his father, former professional tennis player and singer Yannick Noah, Joakim vowed to pull out of the agreement unless his teammates were included. The magazine was interested in a father-son piece. But in Noah’s mind, he was garnering attention his teammates also deserved. The magazine ultimately agreed to run a photo of his teammates inside.

“He has incredible social awareness,” Donovan said. “He understands when people are being left out. He understands when people need an arm around them. He’s very giving and caring. That’s just who he was. A lot of that stuff touched my heart because it was so genuine and pure. It spoke to who he was as a guy.”

Pfaff, whose family remains friends with Noah and Donovan, remembers Noah returning to campus one year and visiting the basketball office. He arrived when she had to scoot. She needed to pick up her oldest daughter, Jordan, from first grade. Noah didn’t mind. He wanted to ride along — and he did. He even went inside the school with Pfaff as she retrieved her daughter.

On Wednesday afternoon, Tracy and Jordan arrived in Chicago, surprising Noah at a private dinner that included several of his former teammates, coaches and friends, all of whom (and more) will be in attendance Thursday.

Spotted in Chicago right now ❤️ pic.twitter.com/4ETj4LRCEm

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 28, 2021

“And it’s real,” Pfaff said. “It’s not like he’s putting that on. He truly has a heart that just connects to people. It doesn’t matter who or how important they are in an organization. I think Billy always saw that in him.”

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As Noah became a star at Florida, he needed Donovan more. The transformation from a bit player as a freshman into a household name as a sophomore wasn’t easy. Noah led Florida in points and blocks in his second season, helping the Gators win the first of their back-to-back titles. Noah was the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. Then the backlash began. Again, Donovan was there.

“He was this guy that no one knew about,” Donovan said. “He wins a national championship, he’s the MVP of the Final Four, and he goes from being this darling, lightning-rod figure, the ponytail and the energy, to being the biggest villain in the country the next year. It just totally flipped. And I think he had a hard time understanding that and dealing with that.”

Noah had second thoughts about not declaring for the NBA Draft after his sophomore year. He might have been the No. 1 overall pick in 2006, instead of Andrea Bargnani. Donovan helped him refocus. He told Noah he could never escape competition. That once the season starts, you line up and play. Nothing else matters.

“One thing I love about Jo is you can be straight up and honest with him,” Donovan said. “You can be as direct and as harsh as you want to be, and he’s going to handle it.”

It was a credit to Noah, sure, but Donovan also earned that level of trust.

“Coach would go crazy at us on the court,” Brewer remembered a younger, more fiery Donovan. “He might call you something, you never know. But then as soon as we left the court and went outside the gym, he was like our best friend. He was like a father, for real. He would help you with anything.”

Donovan and his wife, Christine, routinely welcomed Florida’s players into their home. There, they would eat, play pool, watch sports and bond. Noah and Horford would play ping-pong.

“Jo swears he’s good at ping-pong,” Brewer said. “He and Al would have battles.”

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And Donovan?

“Being coach Donovan,” Brewer said. “Telling some story.”

But it went a long way.

“It was very family-oriented the way he treated us,” Brewer said. “He treated us all like family.”

That’s why come Thursday night, no bigger fan of Noah than Donovan will be in the building. On top of everything else, it isn’t lost on Donovan that he’s now leading the franchise Noah gave so much of himself to.

“He played here for the majority of his career,” Donovan said. “What he meant to the city, what the city’s meant to him, and to be able to share in a moment like that with him that’s so important, I’m incredibly blessed to be a part of that.”

Donovan tried to arrange one last dance. He had exploratory conversations with Noah last year during the NBA bubble in Orlando about returning to Chicago. Noah was with the LA Clippers, and Donovan reached out to then-Clippers coach Doc Rivers and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank to inquire about Noah.

“Jo’s such a team-oriented guy,” Donovan said. “I think at that point in time he just wasn’t sure if he wanted to play anymore. He was at that crossroads. He came into town earlier this year, and I talked to him last year. But he was pretty much like he wanted to move on. He figured that it was time to wrap it up.

“And I think he’d only play the game if he felt like he could play at a level to contribute and help the team. Not that he’s got to be the star or the main guy. But even with a role. And I don’t know if he felt like he was in a position to do that. He just felt like it was time for him to retire, and obviously, I totally support him.”

Donovan always has and always will.

“When two people have so much respect and mutual love for each other, you can achieve great things,” Brewer said. “I feel like that’s what happened with those two.”

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What’s next for Noah?

“Man, whatever he wants,” Brewer said. “Whatever Jo does, he’s going to be amazing at it just because his personality is one of a kind. There’s only one Joakim Noah. So whatever he wants to do, he’s going to be a star in it.”

(Top photo of Noah and Donovan: Zach Beeker / NBAE via Getty Images)

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