35th in PER @14.59 out of 50 centers says my eye test is correct about Noah. Quinn has a higher rating than Noah.
He does have the highest AST ratio among centers by far though.
My eyes tell me our offense seems to run best when Noah is playing point forward, so to speak.
Here's a good article explaining what I see:
(Theknicksblog by Tommy Dee)
Joakim Noah has been the Knicks' most important player, yet they seem to play so often without him, or even through him, for stretches of suboptimal offense.
Sitting at 2-4 after a very disappointing loss at home to the Utah Jazz, the Knicks once again find themselves in the difficult situation of needing a win to pull them closer to the elusive .500 mark.
When they've played well, the Knicks have played really well offensively. The ball seems to flow more and the results are open, in rhythm jump shots and drives leading to lead-stretching runs that put games out of reach. When they struggle, it's mainly been due to a lack of getting defensive stops, compounded by poor 5-on-5, half court offense that is often a result of missed, long-range jump shots early in the shot clock from Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.
Unlike in Chicago, the Knicks were on the wrong end of one such run Sunday, allowing for the Jazz to go on a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter -- essentially putting the game too far out of reach.
What's missing in their losses, in my mind, is something that has been absent when the team struggles to produce offensively. They miss running their early 5-on-5 offense through the team's best passer, Joakim Noah. When that happens, their defense just isn't good enough (yet?) to overcome their inability to match baskets and those droughts are too much to over come.
Regarding Noah's importance, the numbers seem to agree:
Knicks +8.6 point per 100 possessions with Noah on the court (145 minutes). -21.5 net rating when Noah is on the bench (143 minutes)
Noah is averaging 4.2 assists per game in the Knicks' four losses and 5.5 in their two wins. He's also averaging just 24.7 minutes per game in those losses, compared to 28.5 minutes in their wins. Part of that is due to matchups and perhaps head coach Jeff Hornacek trying to restrict his minutes early in the year to ensure he plays as many games as possible. But Noah's importance to what the team wants to achieve is staggering.
Noah does a masterful job of moving the ball to an open man, but even more to the point, he's a one-man shot creator for a teammate. Per NBA Stats, Noah is 10th in the NBA (3.8) in "screen assists" per game, which is defined as a basket scored directly off one of Noah's screens. It's a set play for shooters that the Bulls ran through him all the time, and certainly falls under the umbrella of Triangle.
While the team figures its identity out defensively, which is another story completely, they have to sustain its scoring. And it would behoove the coaching staff to run the offense through Noah in critical 5-on-5 situations. The results, both in New York and especially as a Bull, are there and his impact is critical to their success.
