The Bulls shut down Joakim Noah for a few games heading into the All-Star break this past weekend in an effort to give his plantar fasciitis some much-needed rest.

All and all, it was the right move; he needed some time off, and in and around the All-Star break was a good time to do it.

But as we now sit on the other side of the break and the Bulls taking on the Knicks tonight, Noah will not play, and his status beyond tonight is in doubt.

From the Trib:

And with the Bulls facing four games in five nights, Del Negro confirmed the Bulls have held internal discussions about again shutting Noah down for an extended period of time.

“Yeah, we’re going to look at that,” Del Negro said. “Give him some more rest for maybe two or three or four or five games. The plantar fasciitis is feeling better. It’s not where he’d like it to be. And we want to be smart about it.”

Yikes.

It’s not that the Bulls could be without Noah for a little while longer. It’s that if they end up swinging a trade for Tyrus Thomas — the latest has the Spurs trying to dump Antonio McDyess in an effort to make some room for Thomas — the Bulls are suddenly pretty thin up front, assuming they get no big men in return for Thomas.

They’d be left with Chris Richard, who recently re-upped on a 10-day contract, Brad Miller and Taj Gibson, who’s struggling with plantar fasciitis as well.

Not saying the Bulls can’t still eek out some wins with a thin frontcourt, but seeing as they are barely gripping onto the 8th and final playoff spot right now, Noah’s injury could make things quite difficult.

(UPDATE: The Bulls have shut down Noah through the All-Star break.)

It’s a possibility. From the Tribune:

Noah clearly has been affected by the plantar fasciitis in his left foot the last two games and has not moved well.

Asked if the Bulls would shut Noah down if the third-year center regressed to the point where he moves even worse than he already is, Del Negro said:

“Yeah, absolutely. We’re just going to try to see what we can get out of him until he can get some rest at the All-Star break. We’ll monitor it every day. Some days, you feel better than others with it. We’ll use him as much as he can move.”

[ ... ]

ugh he did sit out the recent road game in Houston. Asked why the Bulls wouldn’t proactively shut down Noah, Del Negro said:

“If you shut him down for a week, that doesn’t guarantee he will feel better. That’s not how that condition works. You don’t know. I had it for two years when I played.”

Two things here:

1) Plantar fasciitis has literally become an epidemic in the league this year. Taj Gibson also has it. Tony Parker has it. Danny Granger was sidelined with it. Charlie Villanueva is suffering from it. Ron Artest has it. I think I’m missing a few others. Just wanted to get that off my chest.

2) Damn. The Bulls are now back in the eighth spot in the East, a game behind the Heat in the loss column for seventh. The Bulls play the Heat this weekend. It’d be nice to have Noah on board for that. But, it also makes sense to use these next four games tied together with the All-Star break to give Noah a bit of an extended break here and see if he gets any better. It’s not like he’s out for the rest of the year or anything.

And it’s not like the Bulls are fighting the last week of the season for the playoffs and Noah will be on the bench. Better to sit him now and see how it goes, then for the condition to potentially get worse.

But you’d hate to see them keep losing — they’ve lost two straight since the five-game road winning streak — without Noah if he sits, and then the team losing a bit of confidence heading into the back half of the season.

I tweeted this late last week, but it really deserves its own post.

You know how the Bulls’ Joakim Noah is known for loud, oftentimes goofy mannerisms? The man is a character; everyone soon found this out the first time we watched him as a member of the Florida Gators. Watch him on the bench when Brad Miller hits a three or gets fouled and makes the bucket, and that personality is still ever present. It annoys some. It’s endearing to others.

Well, have you ever seen his father play tennis? More importantly, have you ever watched this video of one of Yannick Noah’s last-ever tennis matches?

The resemblance to the younger Noah here is uncanny. The long arms. The goofball antics. It’s all here, people. Like tennis, pop star father, like basketball son.

HT: MPS reader David

Last week, I wrote that if Amare Stoudemire is indeed available, the Bulls would be wise to show interest. And according to Yahoo! Sports, they’ve done just that. But so have the Heat, Sixers and Nets. The Arizona Republic adds the Cavs, Warriors and Wolves as other teams that have shown interest.

In short, a lot of teams want Stoudemire. And for good reason. But I can’t see Stoudemire agreeing to re-sign with any of them outside of the Heat, Cavs, Bulls and maybe the Nets, so those destinations might be more in play than the others.

And beyond that, I’m not sure the Bulls are going to be able to offer the best package, or even a package the Suns would agree to. They want salary-cap relief, young talent and draft picks for him and are looking at small forwards.

Stoudemire would be a good fit for the Bulls, but at the expense of Luol Deng, their most consistent offensive player this season? And what if the Bulls trade for Stoudemire and he ends up not re-signing with them for whatever reason?

Losing Deng and Stoudemire in a few months time would be a crushing blow to the Bulls.

Bottom line: if the Bulls are currently in the mix for Stoudemire’s services, they should continue to be in the mix for his services. But if they have to part with Deng or perhaps Joakim Noah, I’m not sure the addition of Stoudemire is worth it.

Short answer: probably not.

Longer answer with explanation:

Neither is going to get voted in. Noah wasn’t on the ballot to begin with; Rose stumbled out the gate performance-wise and has to deal with stupid fans voting stupid. Here’s who’s ahead of him now for guards: Dwyane Wade (deserved), Allen Iverson (popularity vote only; Iverson barely played in Memphis after injury, was dropped, sat out awhile, returned to the 76ers where he’s been nothing special),  Vince Carter (Carter’s per-game scoring is good, but this is based on reputation), Ray Allen (eh, I guess I could see this, but again, more based on reputation) and Gilbert Arenas (Arenas isn’t the Arenas of old after all his knee issues, tough he’s had some terrific games here and there this year).

So by my count, there’s one, maybe two guys currently ahead of Rose right now that really, truly deserves it. Of course, there are a host of other guards in the East that are behind Rose in the voting that should make the team/deserve it as much or more than Rose. Joe Johnson of the Hawks likely deserves a nod, and a case for Rajon Rondo of the Celtics could be made as well. Rose could still be on the team if Stan Van Gundy selects him as a reserve, but right now, chances of that don’t seem too high, because a guy like Johnson will probably get the nod.

And as far as the centers go in the East, a guy like David Lee will likely get picked over Noah in a reserve role, according to ESPN’s John Hollinger. Noah has been a terrific rebounder this year, but Lee can board and score, and has had some dynamite games this season. (My fantasy team thanks him for that.)

So there you have it. If you want a Bulls All-Star fix, Rose will defend his Skills Challenge title, and will be part of the second-year players in the rookies-sophomores game.

Snapped before the Bulls-Knicks game last night at the Garden, a game the Bulls found themselves down 22 at half. But it’s OK: they only lost by seven, which means Vinny Del Negro might keep his head above water for a few more days.

HT: Sports Pickle

So often in the landscape of athlete quotes, we get a lot of disingenuous, unauthentic dribble that amounts to little. “We played hard. We did well. Yes, I like x player on the other team. He’s a good player.”

This is by design, because jerks like me will take quotes that fall out of this realm and run with them. So it’s nice to see that yes, Joakim Noah is a fan of Phil Jackson. But it’s not some contrived thing. This is the real deal.

Jackson and Noah chatted after the Bulls-Lakers game at the UC last night after Noah initiated a conversation. And here’s how Noah described it.

From the Trib:

“I just wanted to tell him I appreciate him and what he stands for as a coach,” Noah said. “I’ve been a fan of his for a really long time, even though I loved the Knicks as a kid and he used to kick the Knicks’ ass.

“My father always made me read his books. I read ‘Sacred Hoops.’ And one of the books he used to make his players read, ‘The Peaceful Warrior’ by Dan Millman, my father made me read that when I was younger. I just wanted to share that with him.

“(Bulls director of player development) Randy Brown tells me stories about Phil and everything I hear about him is just so positive. I wanted to tell him I was a fan of his.”

See what I mean?