Noah’s Spark
How Joakim Noah went from being the teenage hot dog vendor at ABCD All America camp to being an NBA All-Star and the emotional leader of the Chicago Bulls by JONATHAN ABRAMS ON OCTOBER 15, 2014 Noah’s performance at ABCD put him on the radar for a Division I scholarship, but many coaches were still hesitant. “People had a hard time seeing what position he’d be,” McNally said. “He wasn’t a 3. He wasn’t a 4. He wasn’t a 5. He’s just a really good player. Some people had a hard time getting their mind around that.” Noah took recruiting visits to only Florida and Virginia. “And Duke was calling,” McNally said, “but he didn’t really see himself as a Dukie.” After Poly Prep, Noah did a postgrad year at Lawrenceville, a New Jersey boarding school just outside Princeton. Again, Noah stunned coaches with his work ethic. “I’ve been coaching for 26 years and just about every team, you think of a guard, if not the point guard, as the guy who brought out the best in eve...