Joakim Noah asked head coach Hoiberg to bring him off the bench

How was the conversation when you told Joakim he officially wasn’t going to start?

Jo actually came to me and talked to me about that. He said, basically, “I’ve always played well with Taj.” He said he thought Niko and Pau played very well together, so let’s go that route. It was actually Jo that started the whole conversation. He came to me. That says a lot about him.

Were you already leaning that way anyway — like as early as August or September?

I had thought a lot about a lot of different lineups. I hadn’t come to any type of conclusion. But it was great of Jo to just come and have that conversation.

Could it flip back? I already get nervous watching those bench units trying to generate offense.

Sure. We’re not married to anything right now. We’ll see how things go. I liked the chemistry of our first group last night [against Cleveland]. I thought the bench guys came out and played well.

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