Joakim Noah gave his all for the Chicago Bulls during his nine seasons with the franchise and you’d think they’d spare no expense for his retirement party, but that wasn’t the case. On the All The Smoke podcast, Noah revealed the Bulls bought cheap liquor for the party and Derrick Rose ended up paying to get some better drinks.
“When I ended up retiring with the Bulls… They brought in the guys, but they were giving me that cheap liquor for the party,” Noah said. “Pooh (Rose) put the money down right away for me. He’ll do s*** like that but just not say nothing. He doesn’t want credit for anything but just class act I think.”
This is not a good look for Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf. According to Forbes, Reinsdorf had a net worth of $1.7 billion in 2021, the year Noah retired. It was terrible on his part not even to get some good liquor for the retirement party of a player who had given so much to the team.
After being drafted by the Bulls with the ninth pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Noah would go on to average 9.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game in his nine seasons with the franchise. He won DPOY in 2014 and finished fourth in voting for MVP that year too.
Noah was the heart and soul of the Bulls in the early 2010s and Reinsdorf should have loosened those purse strings for him. The fact that Rose felt the need to pay for better drinks lets you know whatever was put out there was well below expectations.
To be fair to Reinsdorf and the Bulls, they did at least publically honor Noah after his retirement. On Oct. 28, 2021, they hosted a “Joakim Noah Night” and he was announced as an ambassador for the team then.
Joakim Noah’s All-Time Bulls Starting Five
The Bulls have had some very special players suit up for them over the years and Noah is one of them. With that in mind, Noah was once asked to share his all-time Bulls starting five and came up with an interesting one.
“My all-time Bulls starting five, we’ll start with at the point guard position, we’re gonna start with Derrick Rose,” Noah said.
“At the two guard, we’re gonna go with Michael Jordan. At the three, we’re gonna go with the legendary Scottie Pippen.
“At the four, we’re gonna go with my brother from South Sudan, Luol Deng. And at the five, we’re gonna go with the big Aussie, Luc Longley. Think he’ll fit in well.”
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were obvious picks after they led the Bulls to six titles in the 1990s. Rose is also a fairly obvious selection as he is the only Bulls player apart from Jordan to win MVP.
There was one notable omission, though, Dennis Rodman. Noah played with Luol Deng so I can understand why he went with him, but objectively speaking, Rodman would easily get the nod over him. He played a big role in the Bulls’ second three-peat and has to be in there. I’d also have Artis Gilmore or even Noah over Luc Longley.
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