I’m disappointed in you Memphis. Not because of the low attendance numbers this season, in spite of a Grizzlies team that has managed to look like a playoff contender in the always competitive Western Conference. And doing so, while national media said we had a better chance of moving to Las Vegas or Seattle than making the playoffs. Not because first year head coach JB Bickerstaff is low-key putting together a coach-of-the-year season while implementing one of the league’s best defenses. No, I’m disappointed because we have yet another great reclamation project on our roster and too many fans didn’t see it coming before it happened.
Christmas is 12 days away. Its officially time to sing a song about gifts from your true love that literally no one would be excited to see under the tree. (Hey babe, I got you some pregnant geese that are literally in the act of laying eggs!) But anyway. Speaking of gifts that no one wants … recent Grizz signee and NBA vet Joakim Noah was the turtle dove of guys sitting at home on the couch. The former Defensive Player of the Year and MVP candidate was mostly down-talked by Memphis fans and media members alike.
“He’s old”
“He’s injured”
“He sucks”
“How does he help?”
These were all things fans said and asked about Noah on social media and elsewhere; things that were said about a player that has done exactly what he was brought in to do — bring infectious energy off of the bench, rebound, and embrace his role. His humility and genuine gratitude for being back in the game has been as storybook as it gets. Just another heart-filled holiday story to add to the Grizzlies’ list of residents on its Island of Misfit Toys.
Noah wasn’t the first player to come to Memphis looking for resurgence. He isn’t the first to come with a game and attitude that matched the heartbeat and core of this city, and hopefully he won’t be the last. He joins the likes of Zach Randolph, Tony Allen, James Johnson, Lance Stephenson, Tyreke Evans, and probably some other guys that I’m forgetting about.
Noah will have big games where he comes in and makes his presence felt. He will have games where you forget he’s on the court. But for the most part, I believe that Noah will help this team tremendously, on and off the court. He has a work ethic that will impress and inspire the vets and a quirkiness and peculiarity that will speak to Jaren Jackson Jr. He is broken, damaged, weird, loud, and disruptive.
Sounds like a match made in Memphis, and we should have seen it coming.