Winning is an intoxicating feeling, something John Paxson knows well after celebrating NBA titles as a player and as an assistant coach.
His desire to do the same as Bulls general manager led him down a familiar path Thursday night.
In each of his four drafts with picks, Paxson has selected a player from an NCAA tournament Final Four team. With this year’s ninth overall pick, he added two-time NCAA titlist Joakim Noah to a draft resume that includes Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas.
Two years and three months after Eddy Curry’s irregular heartbeat irrevocably changed the direction of the franchise, the Bulls closed the book on the Curry trade by adding Noah, the high-energy if offensively challenged 7-footer from Florida, to last year’s acquisition of Thomas.
Noah, looking either resplendent or clownish in a seersucker suit and long, flowing hair, could barely contain his excitement.
“It’s a great group,” he said. “I’ve been a fan of a lot of those guys. Ben Wallace. I get to play with Ben Wallace. That’s awesome. I’m a big fan of Luol Deng and Ben Gordon and Kirk [Hinrich]. It’s a great situation, a team that’s going to win a lot of games. I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Later in the evening, the Bulls closed the book on last summer’s J.R. Smith trade, adding Pittsburgh center Aaron Gray and Oklahoma State guard JamesOn Curry.
The Bulls did their due diligence and debated the lottery pick to the last minute.
As recently as last weekend, they held a secret workout with Kansas forward Julian Wright, who had refused to work out individually for most teams and went to New Orleans at No. 13.
At the moment of truth, the Bulls’ dream scenario occurred. Noah and Washington freshman Spencer Hawes both were on the board. Upstairs at the Berto Center, a healthy debate emerged over whether to add the project scorer Hawes or the proven winner and energy guy Noah, son of former French Open tennis champion Yannick Noah.
The Paxson profile won out.
“Joakim is a proven winner,” Paxson said. “The guy plays hard every single night. We understand what the concerns are from an offensive standpoint. The guy is an energetic, athletic 7-footer. With his energy and enthusiasm on the floor, we think he fits in perfectly with us.”
Noah, who measured 7 feet with shoes at the Orlando predraft camp and weighed 223 pounds, averaged 10.6 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 61.2 percent in his three seasons with the Gators.
He worked out against Hawes at the Berto Center on June 8 and has heard the criticism about his offensive game, which features — putting it mildly — an unorthodox jumper.
“I feel I definitely have to improve my offensive game,” Noah said. “But I’m looking forward to the challenge. I hope I can affect winning.”
Paxson discounted the concerns about Noah’s offensive skills, pointing to the developmental system the Bulls have in place and adding another gym rat with a wingspan that measured 7 feet 1 1/14 inches.
“We need size on our roster,” Paxson said.
Noah said the size of his heart also matters.
“Hating to lose means you want to work hard and you want to improve,” he said. “I think that’s more important than skills actually because there are players who are better than me that I get the best of because I hate to lose.”
Noah grew up a Knicks fan mere blocks from where he sat anxiously at Madison Square Garden waiting for his name to be called. His worldly background and comfort level with being in the spotlight were also said to have impressed the Bulls.
“That was the longest hour of my life,” Noah said. “It feels so good right now. I feel so fortunate and so blessed.”
Paxson had made trades in three of his previous four drafts. And the Bulls, who were the only playoff team in the lottery for the second straight year, sniffed around some minor deals in recent days, including some talks with the Pacers that went nowhere.
Now comes free agency and a summer trade season that could be spectacular around the league.
“You always have a lot of conversations but nothing really came of it,” Paxson said. “We are still out there. We’re going to try to improve our team. We know we need a low-post scorer in some capacity. Those are things we’ll address going forward.
“It’s a piece-by-piece process. Right now, we feel like we got one of the best 7-footers out there. He’ll bring a dimension to us that we don’t currently have.”
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kcjohnson@tribune.com
