Joakim Noah Gets the Paddle

Joakim Noah brings a lot of good things to the table: he's enthusiastic, full of energy, has size and should be a pretty solid defender. Unfortunately, his offense is still a work in progress. To be blunt, he's got an ugly shot, there's really no way around it. The Bulls are working on that, though, with a unique training method. From the Chicago Sun-Times:

During practice, Joakim Noah has a paddle strapped to the outside of his left hand, a device designed by assistant coach Ron Adams and made by team trainer Fred Tedeschi, which the Bulls believe will help fix Joakim Noah's less-than-textbook shooting style.

''Coach Adams, we call him the shot doctor,'' Joakim Noah said. ''I have a weird release on my jump shot. So he's trying to change my spin. I guess it's just a new method to change it. A lot of coaches have tried different things, but that's definitely the most unique one. We've been working on it all summer.''

If you're having a hard time picturing this, Thank You Isiah created an artist's rendition (though I'm not sure if Joakim Noah's version includes the heat-seeking missiles). Also, for what it's worth, the Sun-Times reports that Joakim Noah doesn't think his partially torn rotator cuff will ever be 100% this year. He's not necessarily expected to miss any time because of the injury (in fact, he's been cleared for five-on-five scrimmage for a week now), but the most healthy he thinks he'll be this year is 90%.

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