Clippers: 3 Ways Joakim Noah is sneaky signing for playoffs

3. He’s a smart, well-rounded player

Again, he might be older, but boy is this guy smart. Noah is someone who does a lot of the little things; much of the dirty work to allow teammates to flourish. Whether that’s setting some of the meanest screens you’ll ever see or tossing a touch-pass right back to a slashing wing in the lane, Noah has a high basketball IQ.

With a player like Noah who played roughly 15 minutes per game in Memphis last season, I like to look at how valuable his time was on the floor. 15 minutes isn’t a ton of time, but he made the most of it.

For example, if you took his averages and spread them out over a 36-minute basis, he would have ended up with 15.5 points per game. Believe it or not, that is the highest scoring per 36 minutes Noah has had in his entire career. That’s efficiency.

Also piggy-backing off the per-36 minute scoring, Noah ended last year with 4.6 assists per 36 minutes. That’s good for the fourth-highest of his career, which is an area Clippers fans need to keep an eye on.

Noah, next to probably the Gasol brothers, is one of the best passing big men we’ve seen this century. He’s not just a beast on the defensive side, but a calculated risk-taker on offense. The Clippers are getting a savvy, smart veteran — and just in time for a title run.