The Bulls are in a bit of a bind, trailing the Washington Wizards by 2-0 ahead of Friday’s Game 3 in their best-of-seven playoff series. Noah, whose profile grew this season in the absence of the injured Derrick Rose, averaged 15 points, 11 rebounds and 3.5 assists in the first two games. He did not hide much emotion. He does not enjoy losing.

At Poly Prep, Noah possessed the same level of energy and commitment. He understood how to set a pick to free up a teammate, and his default setting was trust. The coaches wanted him to do a layup drill? Noah went out and did that layup drill as if it were the last layup drill of his life. McNally showed him a new post-up move? Noah worked at it for hours. He was raw, especially when he arrived as a sophomore, but his work ethic was unusual.

“He would jump in with both feet, even if he was jumping in the wrong direction,” McNally said.

It was the summer of 2001 when Bud Cox, the head of Poly Prep’s Upper School, agreed to interview a prospective student. Cox was caught by surprise when the former tennis professional Yannick Noah entered his office with his remarkably tall son, who needed to duck through the door frame. A tennis fan, Cox was familiar with Yannick Noah. As for Joakim, not so much.

Image A display at Poly Prep. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times

“I didn’t even know that Yannick had a son,” Cox said.

It did not take long for Joakim to make an impression. One of the first things Cox noticed was that Yannick voluntarily left the room so Cox could interview Joakim alone. For Cox, it was a telling moment: Here was a father who understood that the process was about his son.

Once the interview began, Joakim had no interest in being passive or conventional, or in providing answers that were intelligent but predictable. Cox would ask a question, and Noah would engage Cox by asking him one of his own. It turned into 40 minutes of unscripted conversation.