FIBA Americas Tournament - Puerto Rico drew Brazil for their first game of the tournament, making it a matchup of the top two teams in the tournament and a likely preview of the eventual championship game. The game lived up to its billing, too, considering the score was 62-61 with 2:28 left in the game before Renaldo Balkman rattled off five straight points to help his country score an eventual 72-65 victory. Balkman, the Knicks’ first-round pick in 2006, scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots while playing 37 of the game’s 40 minutes.
Looks like Balk is serious about b-ball again but you never know!! I liked him when he was here.
I'd smoke a blunt with Renaldo.
That dude should've gotten more time with the Knicks during both his stints with us. Teams focus so much on what a player can't do instead of what he can do. Yeah, Balkman can't shoot but he's pretty decent at everything else. There is no excuse for him not being a 2nd string player on someone's bench in the league.
NardDogNation wrote:That dude should've gotten more time with the Knicks during both his stints with us. Teams focus so much on what a player can't do instead of what he can do. Yeah, Balkman can't shoot but he's pretty decent at everything else. There is no excuse for him not being a 2nd string player on someone's bench in the league.
+1. He does a lot of things decently.
Bonn1997 wrote:NardDogNation wrote:That dude should've gotten more time with the Knicks during both his stints with us. Teams focus so much on what a player can't do instead of what he can do. Yeah, Balkman can't shoot but he's pretty decent at everything else. There is no excuse for him not being a 2nd string player on someone's bench in the league.
+1. He does a lot of things decently.
You guys might have forgot, but one of his major problems was learning and remembering plays. This is why he also fell out of the rotation in Denver. This means he was responsible for a lot of mess ups that were unnoticeable unless you knew what his responsibility was during the plays ran. If you are meant to run a backscreen to get a shooter open and you never do it that is a mess up but it is not noticeable unless you know the play.
Clean wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:NardDogNation wrote:That dude should've gotten more time with the Knicks during both his stints with us. Teams focus so much on what a player can't do instead of what he can do. Yeah, Balkman can't shoot but he's pretty decent at everything else. There is no excuse for him not being a 2nd string player on someone's bench in the league.
+1. He does a lot of things decently.
You guys might have forgot, but one of his major problems was learning and remembering plays. This is why he also fell out of the rotation in Denver. This means he was responsible for a lot of mess ups that were unnoticeable unless you knew what his responsibility was during the plays ran. If you are meant to run a backscreen to get a shooter open and you never do it that is a mess up but it is not noticeable unless you know the play.
Yeah, that's consistent with what Nard said.
Clean wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:NardDogNation wrote:That dude should've gotten more time with the Knicks during both his stints with us. Teams focus so much on what a player can't do instead of what he can do. Yeah, Balkman can't shoot but he's pretty decent at everything else. There is no excuse for him not being a 2nd string player on someone's bench in the league.
+1. He does a lot of things decently.
You guys might have forgot, but one of his major problems was learning and remembering plays. This is why he also fell out of the rotation in Denver. This means he was responsible for a lot of mess ups that were unnoticeable unless you knew what his responsibility was during the plays ran. If you are meant to run a backscreen to get a shooter open and you never do it that is a mess up but it is not noticeable unless you know the play.
That's the truth. Nobody can deny the dude can ball though. But as a secondary guy in the pro game you have to stick to the plan. Especially in the nba. You let him lose though and the guy will produce.
He's playing well in the tournament. Averaging 20 pts and 9 boards on 21 of 29 FGA and 18 of 23 FT's, right at 30 mins a game. He's an ultimate wildcard, hustling and creating havoc. Maybe he's finally maturing, maybe it's the competition. Good for him, hope he continues to play well.
Maybe the chocking incident in the Philippines was rock bottom and something finally clicked.
I think he had a poor work ethic. Players with his scrappy kind of game, have to be high energy players. Unfortunately after his rookie year, he really let things slip. His last season with us, he came to training camp with a chip on his shoulder, worked hard, and then was rewarded by D'Antoni with no playing time because he couldn't shoot. He kind of gave up after that.
Anybody hear from Chris McNealy?
Overseas stats are so over rated compared to the NBA. How many times you have seen a dude avg 20+ ppg overseas and can't crack the rotation in the NBA. Prigs was amongst the 5 best pg's overseas, he's not even in the top 30 in the NBA.
He's okay, but he's no Trevor Ariza.
knicks1248 wrote:Overseas stats are so over rated compared to the NBA. How many times you have seen a dude avg 20+ ppg overseas and can't crack the rotation in the NBA. Prigs was amongst the 5 best pg's overseas, he's not even in the top 30 in the NBA.
it all depends,
how many times have you seen a guy drop like 5 or 7 points per game in europe, come here, and develop a monster game
Solace wrote:He's okay, but he's no Trevor Ariza.
He's somewhere in between Tim Thomas and Keith Van Horn!
Seriously, welcome back! Where ya been? How's life?
Bonn1997 wrote:Solace wrote:He's okay, but he's no Trevor Ariza.
He's somewhere in between Tim Thomas and Keith Van Horn!
Seriously, welcome back! Where ya been? How's life?
He he nowhere near Tim Thomas. He's not even as good as the Tim Thomas that played for Milwaukee much less the improved Thomas that played for us. That said, I said at the time that he should have gotten more play time but, his uneven play and lack of consistency from game to game was an issue. One day he'd look like Dennis Rodman out there and the next he'd be Robert Horry during the regular season.
Yeah it was just a joking reference to all the Tim Thomas and KVH discussions Solace and I had
Reported today....Balkman possibly on Knicks radar!!
Bonn1997 wrote:Yeah it was just a joking reference to all the Tim Thomas and KVH discussions Solace and I had
What were your views on those two powerhouses, back in the day? I can't remember. I know I was delighted when we got Tim Thomas- another fantastic trade by IT, he was on a roll with all the fantastic trades he was pulling off!
Travla wrote:Reported today....Balkman possibly on Knicks radar!!
Ha- is there anyone we're NOT interested in?! I'm sure the Knicks 'source' is just having fun now...
Bonn1997 wrote:Solace wrote:He's okay, but he's no Trevor Ariza.
He's somewhere in between Tim Thomas and Keith Van Horn!
Seriously, welcome back! Where ya been? How's life?
Hey man. I'm good. Spent two weeks in Europe. I love Europe. I want to go back. Meanwhile, started a new job now, which has kept me busy. Things are going well. How are you?
