Joakim Noah can't believe It's still snowing in Chicago (VIDEO)

Nobody is more excited for spring and the NBA playoffs than Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah...at least until he hears from reporters that it's snowing again in Chicago.

Watch as Noah — talking to the press from the sunny climes of Florida — finds out that the Windy City is under another cold spell and the white stuff is falling:

Bet he yearns for those days back in Gainesville.

Melo says Joakim didn't try to recruit him to Bulls

Ever since ESPN reported that during the NBA All-Star Weekend, Joakim Noah told Carmelo Anthony that if he’s serious about winning a title, he should join the Bulls after he opts out of his Knicks contract on July 1 — the rumors have been swirling.

Anthony reportedly told Noah that Derrick Rose is his son’s favorite player, admired the team's style of play and asked what it’s like to play for Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.

While the normally chatty Noah shrugged off the report as "gossip" at the Bulls shootaround on Friday, Anthony addressed the story after the Knicks 108-81 victory over the Jazz later that night, reported The New York Post.

And Anthony outright denied there was a recruiting speech pitched to him by Noah during All-Star weekend in New Orleans.

“I heard about that [report],” Anthony said after the Knicks’ win at Madison Square Garden. “Every day it’s a story. Every day it’s going to be a new story. I have no information about that. I don’t know how that story got out there, who started that story. I don’t know. I really don’t know what to say about it.”

Asked specifically if he had that talk with Noah, Melo, battling a cold, immediately replied in a hoarse voice: “No, not at all. I can’t have that conversation.”

Anthony, though, said he knows he'll be hearing those types of reports and rumors until his future is settled. He is expected to opt out of his Knicks contract and become a free agent at the end of the season.

“Without a doubt,” Anthony said of the distraction. “There’s going to be more stories coming out, more speculation. Everybody going to have their own take on different stories, so for me it’s I got to focus on playing ball and that’s it. Whatever stories [are] going to be out there, I can’t control that.”

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said on Thursday that any recruitment pitch to Anthony would violate NBA tampering rules.

And Thibodeau dismissed the story, saying, “It’s a bunch of nonsense. People just start throwing stuff out there and then they wait for everyone to respond to it.”

An NBA spokesman on Friday declined comment on the matter.

Now that those whispers have been put to bed, let the Phil Jackson talk begin.

Joakim Noah throws down nasty dunk to lead Bulls over Nets

If anything epitomized the Brooklyn Nets' lackadaisical effort and the Chicago Bulls' determination to win Game 7 of their first-round playoff series, it was this nasty dunk by Joakim Noah.

No Luol Deng. No Kirk Hinrich. No Derrick Rose. No problem for the 6-foot-11 center as he traipsed through the Nets defense like they were Rihanna's background dancers and slammed this third quarter basket. The depleted Bulls went on to a 99-93 victory.



Noah's foot hurt so much two weeks ago, he feared it could keep him out of the series. Too bad the Nets couldn't find a way keep him out of his game — or even this play.

The New York-born Noah screamed, shoved and hustled his way to 24 points and 14 rebounds.  Marco Belinelli also scored 24 points to help the Bulls advance to a second-round series against the Miami Heat that tips off Monday night.

"I'll remember this for the rest of my life," Noah said.

NBA players marvel at Barclays Center elevator

"Amazing," "kind of trippy," and "007 stuff" are just a few of the superlatives being tossed around by NBA players after they play the Brooklyn Nets in Barclays Center.

And no, they're not talking about Brook Lopez's resurgence, Kris Humphries' marriage to Kim Kardashian or owner Mikhail Prokhorov's lifestyle. They are talking about the elevator ride that takes their team bus from street level to the locker room level before games.

This Bleacher Report video shows the 27-foot descent that is more Universal Studios theme park than team bus parking lot.



The ingenious solution to cramped Brooklyn real estate and old fashioned bus ramps was devised by Forest City Ratner Companies.

Players like Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Joakim Noah and Antawn Jamison have all been awed after they experience being spun on the giant turntable.

Cost of each 81-foot long elevator: $1 million.  Cost of NBA players wowed expressions: Priceless.

Does Port Authority know about this thing?

Tony Parker cleared for Olympics after eye injury from club melee

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker has been given clearance to play for France in the Olympic Games after the the NBA team's doctors agreed that he has recovered from an eye injury suffered as a bystander in a Manhattan nightclub bottle-tossing brawl.

Parker scratched his left cornea during the wild fight and has been wearing special eyeglasses since the June 17 incident.

"The ophthalmologists (from the Spurs) confirmed the opinion of the French doctor who operated on Tony Parker, and the two Swiss specialists also examined the player last Thursday, and indicated that he can resume playing playing," the French Basketball Federation said on Friday, adding that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich also gave his blessing.

Parker is joining the French team in Orleans and he could play in a tuneup against England on Saturday.

France's first game at the Olympics is against the United States on July 29.

"It is great news and a relief for the whole French team," said coach Vincent Collet.  "I spoke with Tony on the phone and he sounded very happy— and also releived— about his development.  It was a difficult and alarming situation for everyone."

Parker was included on the team's 12-man roster even as he waited to see if he would be cleared to play.  The French team is already without the services of Joakim Noah who will miss the Olympics because of an ankle injury.

Parker was hit by flying glass after a brawl broke out at the Soho nightclub W.i.P. between members of rappers Chris Brown and Drake's entourages. Parker has said he was sitting with his friend Brown when the trouble started.  Six other people were hurt in the early morning fight.

Parker has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the operators of the club.