Joakim Noah

Age: 31

Height: 6-foot-11

Career stats: 29.5 mpg; 9.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 3 apg, 0.8 spg, 1.4 bpg; 49.0/0/71.1 shooting splits

2015-16 stats: 29 games, 21.9 mpg; 4.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 3.8 apg, 0.6 spg, 1 bpg; 38.3/0/48.9 shooting splits

Strengths:

• Rebounding: Noah has averaged 11+ rebounds three times in his nine year career, a testament to his prowess and the sheer effort he expends on the court.
• Defense: Noah is a solid post defender and always has been, but offers even more through his hard-working team defense and great communication.
• Passing: Noah is yet another passing big man, averaging a career-high 5.4 assists in 2013-14. As he has matured as a player, his assist totals have consistently risen on a per-minute basis.
• Hustle: Noah has many notable qualities as a player, but is perhaps best known throughout the league for hustling like a demon and playing his heart out. He’ll do the dirty work required to win.

Weaknesses:

• Scoring: If you’ve ever seen his shooting form, you already know. Noah is best scoring around the basket and doesn’t have much range. As he’s aged, he looks to score less and less.
• Efficiency: His scoring efficiency has dropped every year since the 2010-11 season, plummeting to 38 percent from the field in 2015-16. Ditto for his free throws as last year marked a career low 48 percent for Noah.

Why the Warriors make sense:

The Warriors’ big men, Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli, did not play particularly well in this year’s NBA Finals. Going out and finding a proven, experienced veteran to add depth makes a lot of sense. Bogut, injured in Game 5, was sorely missed in games 6-7 and Ezeli simply isn’t good enough yet to negate his absence. Noah could easily step in and offer a level of experience and acumen that Ezeli doesn’t have yet. His most intangible quality is also sorely needed—the Warriors seemed to lack a certain energy and fire in the last games of the finals, and fire is one thing that Noah never fails to bring. Noah would be a wonderful fit as a backup big especially because he falls into the same passing big man archetype as Bogut, so he would have no problem occupying the same role in the offense.

Why the Warriors don’t make sense:

Bogut and Ezeli’s inability to put the ball in the basket against the Cavs — and many opponents, truthfully — puts much more pressure on our shooters to not only succeed from the perimeter but also generate close-range offense on their own. Noah would unfortunately only perpetuate that problem because he offers no spacing and looks to shoot less and less as he gets older, preferring to stick to his strengths. As much as Noah has to offer, the Warriors need a scoring post presence to take the pressure off of their perimeter scorers. He also only played in 29 games this season so it’s valid to wonder if he will be healthy and himself in the 2016-17 season. It is a certainly a question the Warriors must weigh if they take a long look at Noah.