BULLS’ NOAH OUT OF LINEUP WITH FOOT INJURY

Up until now, it had been a breakout season for Chicago Bulls’ center Joakim Noah.  Noah had been a star at the University of Florida, but there were serious questions about his ability to adapt to the more physical NBA game.  After a mediocre rookie season, Noah had blossomed into a solid defensive presence, averaging a ‘double double’ of 10.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.  This week, however, the team announced that Noah will be out of action three weeks as he attempts to recover from a nagging foot injury.

Noah is suffering from plantar fasciitis, a painful condition involving swelling in the heel area of the foot in a thick layer of tissue known as the plantar fascia.  It is a common condition in people who work on their feet, grossly overweight individuals and athletes.  There’s not much that can be done for plantar fasciitis other than avoiding high impact activities such as playing basketball and taking anti-inflammatory medications.  In extreme cases surgery is sometime required though due to a variety of potential complications including permanent nerve damage that is a last resort.

Bulls’ head coach Vinnie Del Negro explained the team’s thought process at keeping Noah out of action:

"It's a very difficult injury. It's very difficult to treat. He might rest for three weeks, he might rest for two months and come back and it's still bothering him. Rest will help usually, no question. But he's got to come back, fight through the pain. We'll give him a few weeks and hopefully he reacts better to that sooner. But that's the plan right now."

This presents the short term problem for the Bulls of having to replace their top rebounder.  Del Negro said there wasn’t a really good answer for this issue:

"I don't know if you do replace him. He's the second-leading rebounder in the whole NBA. And brings a lot of energy, a great spirit to the game for us. Gets us up possessions. Gets us out on the break. His offense has been developing all year and his development overall has been [good].

"It's a big loss, but other guys have to step up, and we're going to have to manage it. This biggest concern is rebounding the basketball. When we play bigger front lines, not having his length back there is an issue. Like I said, other guys have to step up and play well. And other guys have to pick their performance up until he gets back."
 
The Bulls are currently fighting to hang on to a playoff spot in the logjam in the middle of the Eastern Conference pack.  Currently, Chicago is tied for 6th place with Milwaukee but they lead 8th place Miami by only 1 ½ games and 9th place Charlotte by 2 ½ games.