Noah shut down for 3 weeks

As practice was going on at the Berto Center on Wednesday, the Bulls announced to reporters that center Joakim Noah will take three weeks off to rest plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

This decision doesn't come as much of a surprise. His performance last Friday against Portland showed how much the Bulls miss Noah's defense and rebounding. But it's been a struggle for him to stay on the court through constant pain.

Three weeks from today, the Bulls will have 12 games left in the regular season. There's no guarantee Noah will be ready to play then, but the plan is obviously to hold out for a while and hope he can gut it out for the playoffs -- assuming the Bulls can hang on to a spot.

Noah has missed nine games total with the foot injury.

The Bulls expected to have 6-9 power forward Chris Richard, a former teammate of Noah at Florida, at practice today to supply another big body. The Bulls host Memphis Thursday at the United Center.