RealGM

Monday, April 19, 2010.

A bit late with this one, but a quick and fun one.

Fifteen years ago today, at the post-game press conference after Game 2 of our first round series vs the Cleveland Cavaliers, when we had gone down 0-2, Joakim Noah uttered the sentence that will probably be his epitaph: "I never heard anybody say I'm going to Cleveland on vacation."

It started during a pre-taped interview when this exchange occurred:

Joakim: "I don't know about this place man. I just stayed in my hotel room. Every time I look out my window, it's pretty depressing out here man. It's bad. It's bad."

Interviewer: "So you're not going out?"

Joakim: "No. No going out in Cleveland, man. It's all factories."

The interview probably would've been forgotten if not for the following press conference where this happened:

Reporter: "Do you regret anything that you said about Cleveland?"

Joakim: "Not at all. Do you like it? Do you think Cleveland's cool? I mean I never heard anybody say I'm going to Cleveland on vacation. I mean, what's so good about Cleveland?"

It quickly became a meme and one of the classic NBA quotes, and remains the most iconic thing he ever said.

I do feel like people outside our fanbase forget the context sometimes. It was the eve of 2010 free agency. We were going after LeBron. We were going to be easily defeated in that playoff series - running a skeleton crew six-man rotation(Derrick, Jo, Deng, Taj, Kirk, Brad Miller) with Flip Murray, Hakim Warrick, and Acie Law for depth after having cleared cap space - and nobody here cared. Our minds were in July already.

Jo was losing to LeBron and wanted him to come to Chicago. Those comments were about LeBron, not Cleveland.

As it turns out, the game immediately following this in Chicago was the only game of the series we won, a 15-board, 2 block, 2 steal night for Jo.

Anyway, not much more to say. Just thought it'd be a fun one to do. Here's some videos - the original, Joakim talking about it more recently, and the callback he did when Cleveland hosted the ASG.

that was 15 years ago? what am i doing with my life bro

Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Also the battle of Lexington and concord, Waco, and the OKC bombing.

omg, it’s been fifteen years

This life goes by too quickly.

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

WTF.

Horrible call.

t-time wrote:

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

WTF.

Horrible call.

No . He would trash talk the time and LeBron would score 30 and beat the bulls in the playoffs and win . Meanwhile Noah would barely score ten points per game but he was still running his mouth

Lexluthor wrote:

t-time wrote:

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

WTF.

Horrible call.

No . He would trash talk the time and LeBron would score 30 and beat the bulls in the playoffs and win . Meanwhile Noah would barely score ten points per game but he was still running his mouth

That's a weird take. Noah was a great player before injuries ruined his career. DPOY, 1st team All-NBA and two time All-Star.

I happen to think he was pretty great! And there's no Bull of all time I'd rather kick it with. The dude just is fun.

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Noah was never ever going to be a good offensive player but still found a way to contribute through his excellent passing. I suppose you can dislike the trash talk but you may be going a bit overboard

Axl Rose wrote:

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Noah was never ever going to be a good offensive player but still found a way to contribute through his excellent passing. I suppose you can dislike the trash talk but you may be going a bit overboard

Jimmy Butler was not a offensive player coming into the nba but guess what he worked on his offense and now he is a future hall of famer .Noah never worked on his offense he became a huge liability on offense whenever we played against the Cavs and the Heat in the playoffs . His trash talking just pissed LeBron off . And for some people overrated him because he he talks to LeBron . But his play did not back up his words in the playoffs

Remember those funny Cleveland tourism videos? At least they weren't Detroit.

Lexluthor wrote:

Axl Rose wrote:

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Noah was never ever going to be a good offensive player but still found a way to contribute through his excellent passing. I suppose you can dislike the trash talk but you may be going a bit overboard

Jimmy Butler was not a offensive player coming into the nba but guess what he worked on his offense and now he is a future hall of famer .Noah never worked on his offense he became a huge liability on offense whenever we played against the Cavs and the Heat in the playoffs . His trash talking just pissed LeBron off . And for some people overrated him because he he talks to LeBron . But his play did not back up his words in the playoffs

Jimmy is an outlier. He honestly may be the most improved player in the history of the game even.

Axl Rose wrote:

Lexluthor wrote:

Axl Rose wrote:
Noah was never ever going to be a good offensive player but still found a way to contribute through his excellent passing. I suppose you can dislike the trash talk but you may be going a bit overboard

Jimmy Butler was not a offensive player coming into the nba but guess what he worked on his offense and now he is a future hall of famer .Noah never worked on his offense he became a huge liability on offense whenever we played against the Cavs and the Heat in the playoffs . His trash talking just pissed LeBron off . And for some people overrated him because he he talks to LeBron . But his play did not back up his words in the playoffs

Jimmy is an outlier. He honestly may be the most improved player in the history of the game even.

Jokic says hi.

prolific passer wrote:Remember those funny Cleveland tourism videos? At least they weren't Detroit.

"Take a look at both of our buildings..." lol

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Smacked around in 5 games, but we got the soundbyte.

0-4 vs LeBron but nobody vacations in Cleveland.

Butler should have respect Rose. How's that going?

prolific passer wrote:Jokic says hi.

Jokic was putting up 17/10/5 on 60% in 30 mins his second year. Jimmy went from a complete liability on offense to someone you can count for an efficient 20+ a night - in ONE offseason. I've never seen an improvement like that.

Lexluthor wrote:

Axl Rose wrote:

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Noah was never ever going to be a good offensive player but still found a way to contribute through his excellent passing. I suppose you can dislike the trash talk but you may be going a bit overboard

Jimmy Butler was not a offensive player coming into the nba but guess what he worked on his offense and now he is a future hall of famer .Noah never worked on his offense he became a huge liability on offense whenever we played against the Cavs and the Heat in the playoffs . His trash talking just pissed LeBron off . And for some people overrated him because he he talks to LeBron . But his play did not back up his words in the playoffs

I was going to type a long post, but I think I'll just add lol. Our best big man since Rodman and similarly colorful. Full of passion and gut. Here's some videos.

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Yes if Joakim spent those 90 seconds in the press conference working on his game instead, he would have been a scoring demon

TyrusRose2425 wrote:

Lexluthor wrote:Still one of the most overrated bulls of all time . Instead of trash talking he should had been working on his offensive game .

Yes if Joakim spent those 90 seconds in the press conference working on his game instead, he would have been a scoring demon

Your not funy