K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Chicago Bulls C Joakim Noah will indeed play in the 2012 London Olympics despite his recent ankle injury:
Joakim Noah said he still plans to play for the French national team in the London Olympics. #Bulls
— K.C Johnson (@KCJHoop) May 11, 2012
Noah sprained his ankle in the pivotal Game 3 of the playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers and was forced to miss the remaining games of the series, which the Bulls eventually lost, 4 games to 2.
In the regular season, Noah led the team with 9.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, as well as a whopping .223 win shares per 48 minutes, according to Basketball-Reference:
| Rk | Player | Age | G | MP | ORtg | DRtg | OWS | DWS | WS | WS/48 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joakim Noah | 26 | 64 | 1945 | 120 | 96 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 9.0 | .223 |
| 2 | Carlos Boozer | 30 | 66 | 1948 | 108 | 95 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 7.6 | .187 |
| 3 | Derrick Rose | 23 | 39 | 1375 | 112 | 101 | 4.1 | 2.0 | 6.0 | .211 |
| 4 | Luol Deng | 26 | 54 | 2129 | 105 | 100 | 2.3 | 3.6 | 5.8 | .132 |
| 5 | Kyle Korver | 30 | 65 | 1469 | 120 | 101 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 5.3 | .172 |
| 6 | Taj Gibson | 26 | 63 | 1284 | 109 | 96 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 4.5 | .167 |
| 7 | Ronnie Brewer | 26 | 66 | 1635 | 103 | 99 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 3.9 | .113 |
| 8 | Omer Asik | 25 | 66 | 971 | 97 | 92 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 2.6 | .129 |
| 9 | C.J. Watson | 27 | 49 | 1159 | 101 | 101 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 2.6 | .109 |
| 10 | John Lucas | 29 | 49 | 726 | 107 | 102 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 2.2 | .142 |
| 11 | Richard Hamilton | 33 | 28 | 697 | 101 | 104 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | .092 |
| 12 | Jimmy Butler | 22 | 42 | 359 | 112 | 100 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.1 | .144 |
| 13 | Mike James | 36 | 11 | 120 | 101 | 101 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | .111 |
| 14 | Brian Scalabrine | 33 | 28 | 122 | 98 | 97 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | .108 |
For more on the Bulls, stick with SB Nation Chicago and make time to read Blog a Bull. For more news, notes and analysis from around the NBA, visit SB Nation's NBA news hub.