A wistful Joakim Noah returned to Madison Square Garden on Sunday, and if he wasn’t already thinking about how it all went so wrong with the Knicks — his hometown team, the team he grew up rooting for — he was reminded by a crowd that booed him every single time he touched the ball for four quarters.
“I really don’t care,” the soon-to-be 34-year-old Noah said after recording four points, two assists, one block and three fouls in 16 minutes for the Grizzlies in a 96-84 win over the Knicks. “I love New York. It’s home. And getting booed in the Garden is not going to change anything.”
The Knicks lavished Noah with a four-year, $72 million contract in the summer of 2016, an albatross of a deal they will be paying off until 2022 and a symbol of the dysfunctional Phil Jackson era. Noah never made a meaningful contribution to the Knicks as he was beset by injuries, suspended for a failed performance-enhancing drug test, distracted by off-the-court issues (some, he admits, of his own making) and at odds with former coach Jeff Hornacek.
The team officially waived Noah last October via the stretch provision, though his disastrous tenure with the team had practically ended long before.
“I reflect on that time, and I feel like we underachieved,” Noah said. “And I don’t want to go back into the past, but I look back at things that I could have done better and I take some blame. I take some blame. I didn’t perform to what I was capable of, even though I had a lot of injuries, I had a lot going on outside the court. It’s disappointing. It’s definitely something I have to live with.”
Was one of those regrets being “too lit to play in New York City,” as he stated in a December interview? Noah now says his most rampant partying was confined to when he wasn’t an active player.
“While I was injured, I was out a lot,” Noah said. “It was more like when I got hurt and when I got kicked off the team.”
Noah, a former All-Star, averaged 5.0 points and 8.8 rebounds in 46 games for the Knicks in 2016-17 as they limped to a 31-51 finish. Jackson — his longtime ally, who Noah said texted him words of encouragement as recently as Saturday — was fired after that season.
Noah played just 40 combined minutes in 2017-18, and was sent into exile after an infamous altercation with Hornacek at a practice last January. On Sunday, Noah wouldn’t divulge the details of that incident — who started it, who said what, whether it ever got physical, though Noah intimated it did not.
“It’s not that serious, man. It’s over,” Noah said. “I was told I was going to play and I didn’t. I was pissed off about it. And things escalated. Things should never escalate like that between a coach and a player. I’m not going to throw Hornacek under the bus, even though that’s not my guy.”
Steve Mills, who succeeded Jackson as team president, tried to disavow the Noah signing in an interview several weeks ago, saying, “I don’t know that, had it been just my decision, I don’t know that I would have signed him.”
“I’m not throwing Steve Mills under the bus or talking s–t about him,” Noah said. “I take ownership in what I did, what I could have done better. And I know that there was 10 things that went wrong that year.”
Now, Noah is seeking redemption of sorts in Memphis, where he is getting rave reviews for his demeanor and contributions — albeit to another underachieving squad.
“Great. A dream. Outstanding,” star center Marc Gasol said. “I told him he was one of the bright spots of the season, at least for me.”
Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, “His passion and desire has never changed. He wants to be in the locker room, he wants to be on the court. He wants to compete. He wants to show that he still belongs and can help a team.”
Noah is wishing for a similar reboot for former teammate Kristaps Porzingis, jettisoned by the Knicks on Thursday.
“I’m happy for him. Just a fresh start,” Noah said. “Hopefully the Knicks get a couple players and change it around here. If that happens, I’m all for the city being happy and being a good place. This is the mecca of basketball, so I have no hard feelings.”
