Noah pens farewell letter to Chicago

After nine hard-fought seasons with the Chicago Bulls, Joakim Noah said goodbye to the only professional organization he's ever known last week by agreeing to a multi-year deal with the New York Knicks.

As a token of his appreciation, the 31-year-old center published a letter in the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, thanking Bulls fans and the city of Chicago for embracing him for the better part of a decade.

"I moved here nine years ago and quickly got an understanding of what the city was about," Noah wrote. "Hard work. No nonsense. Grind. Loyalty. Passion. I wanted to represent those qualities every time I stepped onto the court and competed for the Bulls."

Barring a trade, Noah will spend the next four seasons in the Big Apple, teaming up with Carmelo Anthony and ex-Bull Derrick Rose as they attempt to lead the Knicks back to glory.

"My journey now brings me home to New York and the team I grew up rooting for as a kid," he wrote. "But nothing has mattered more to me over the past nine years than the city of Chicago, the Chicago Bulls and all of the passionate Bulls fans. There are way too many people to thank individually, but I want to give special thanks to the Reinsdorf family for making me a part of the Chicago Bulls family and everything that that represents."