Joakim Noah—Still Not A Fan Of Cleveland

By Jim Bochnowski in News on Apr 6, 2015 8:00PM

Joakim Noah wears a lot of hats: Defensive Player of the Year, anti-violence activist, living gif. But chief among these responsibilities is his one-man crusade to be Cleveland, Ohio and LeBron James' greatest foe.

It was just five short years, a LeBron James Miami vacation and several Derrick Rose knee injuries ago in 2010 when Noah originally let his opinions on Cleveland be known. Specifically, when asked about the city, he stated "I don't know about Cleveland, man, there is nothing going on . . . It's bad, man." Asked for a followup several days later, Noah responded with "You like it? You think it's cool? I've never heard of anybody going to Cleveland on vacation. What's so good about Cleveland?"

One year later during the playoffs, while LeBron was playing for the Miami Heat, Noah claimed that while the Heat were very good they were also "Hollywood as hell," which we believe is an insult of some sort. Which brings us up to speed to last night.

During a physical game where Cleveland held off a number of strong runs by the Bulls, Noah and James got into a shouting match where Noah told James exactly what he thought about him.

When asked about the Cavaliers after the game, Noah could not help himself from telling the world once again his thoughts about the Metropolis of the Western Reserve. (Editor's Note: Damn, what a nickname, Cleveland.)

“This is a great place to play basketball. Other than that, there’s not much else to do. But when you get on that court, it’s a great place to play. That’s as much love as I’ll give to Cleveland.’’

If the season ended today, the Bulls would meet the Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA playoffs. And while Noah certainly won't relish another trip to Cleveland, he'll certainly be more than happy to have another opportunity to finally beat the Cavs during playoffs.