According to the Berman Blog:

Seems a lot of readers have thrown Renaldo Balkman's name into the starting mix and tonight they get their wish.

With Quentin Richardson out with a strained hamstring, Thomas has elected to give the rookie his first start against the Bulls at United Center. David Lee will also get the starting nod at power forward for injured Channing Frye.

It's Balkman, Baby!

By MARC BERMAN

CHICAGO - Seems a lot of readers have thrown Renaldo Balkman's name into the starting mix and tonight they get their wish.

With Quentin Richardson out with a strained hamstring, Thomas has elected to give the rookie his first start against the Bulls at United Center. David Lee will also get the starting nod at power forward for injured Channing Frye.

Lee and Balkman have been solid off the bench, supplying the energy boost, rebounding and high tempo. Let's see how effective they are starting out a game. I'm a little skeptical. Neither Lee and Balkman can shoot, something Isiah Thomas is concerned about as starters. It might be really time for Stephon Marbury to completely take over, though Thomas said he does not want that.

"We don't have a choice,'' Thomas said at the morning shootaround. "I like what they bring off the bench but all our starters are gone.''

Balkman and Lee are probably the two biggest fan favorites. With all the controversy surrounding this Balkman pick, Thomas has to feel good to give him a start, even if out of desperation.

"He's understanding the pro game a little better, he still has a ways to go,'' Thomas said. "What he doesn't have in knowledge and experience, he makes up for in hustle.''

Isiah looks to be saving Richardson for LeBron James and Cleveland tomorrow.

--

Knicks held their shootaround on the West side of Chicago, near where Thomas grew up, at the West Loop Athletic Club. That's a well-known Chicago hoops landmark as Michael Jordan used to hang here with trainer Tim Grover, who now works with Eddy Curry. The legendary pickup games over the summer with NBA players from Chicago were held here too until this past summer. The gym is blocks from United Center and Oprah Winfrey's TV studio. Grover is no longer based here and held those scrimmages at the University of Chicago. Curry was a mainstay...This town is completely overrun by a radiologists I was told 60,000 radiologists from all over the globe are in town for this convention I mentioned yesterday... In the internet world, I'm rarely surprised by the far-reaching nature of the New York Post. I'm used to seeing our early West Coast editions on newstands in L.A. and the Las Vegas casino hotels. We have a "Florida'' edition in Miami and we're all over the place in Boston, Washington, Philly. But last night, walking around the north side of Chicago, I was genuinely shocked to see The New York Post on a newstand here with the red banner "Midwest Edition.'' The candy-store owner said he's been getting copies for a week.

http://www.nyoverflow.com/a.html

ACCESS ADVISORY Oronoque Village Apts. , CT 56
CABLEVISION Most areas (unless noted below) 14
CABLEVISION Most areas (Digital version) 414
CABLEVISION CT: Norwalk / Bridgeport/New Haven 24
CABLEVISION Port Chester 15
CABLEVISION Rockland 15 or 75
CABLEVISION Southern Westchester 15
CABLEVISION Yorktown 15
CABLEVISION NJ: Elizabeth 15 or 78
CABLEVISION NJ: Hamilton 77
CABLEVISION NJ: Monmouth - Jackson 78
CABLEVISION NJ: Oakland/Ramapo/Raritan 18 or 79
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS Newtown/Heritage, CT 78
COMCAST CABLE Danbury, CT 74
COMCAST CABLE (Adelphia) Seymour, CT 25
COMCAST CABLE Carmel, NY 44
COMCAST CABLE Central, NJ 20
COMCAST CABLE Jersey City, NJ 60
COMCAST CABLE Long Beach Island, NJ 14
COMCAST CABLE Meadowlands, NJ 16
COMCAST CABLE Monmouth, NJ 51
COMCAST CABLE NW - Port Murray, NJ 6
COMCAST CABLE Ocean County, NJ 37
COMCAST CABLE Plainfield, NJ 20
COMCAST CABLE Toms River, NJ 29
COMCAST CABLE Trenton, NJ 74
COMCAST CABLE Union, NJ 18
JAVDECK, INC. Fountainhead Apts., NJ 35
MTC CABLE Margaretville, NY 10
PATRIOT Princeton, NJ 8
PATRIOT Somerset, NJ 8
RCN Manhattan, NY 70
RCN Queens, NY 65
SATELLITE TV OF NY Coop City, NY 25 or 76
SERVICE ELECTRIC CABLE TV Hunterdon/Phillipsburg, NJ 50
SERVICE ELECTRIC CABLE TV Sparta, NJ 79
TIME WARNER - NYC DIVISION Bergen, NJ 81
TIME WARNER - NYC DIVISION NYC 60
TIME WARNER - NYC DIVISION Mount Vernon 79
TIME WARNER - NYC DIVISION Hudson Valley 58
US CABLE Paramus/Hillsdale, NJ 20
WVT COMMUNICATIONS Hometown Online, Inc., NY 119
DIRECTV 11/25 - Rangers @ Pittsburgh 627
11/28 - Knicks @ Chicago 627
DISH NETWORK 11/25 - Rangers @ Pittsburgh 445
11/28 - Knicks @ Chicago 448

I dont know how i feel about Balkman starting, i feel now without a shooter on the floor we are too vulnerable to a zone D or a sagging man-to-man.

Now who's coming off the bench? We still have Jamal and Nate, but upfront we're left with Malik, Big Game, and Cato. Better hope Lee and Balk stay out of foul trouble.

Posted by MaTT4281:

Now who's coming off the bench? We still have Jamal and Nate, but upfront we're left with Malik, Big Game, and Cato. Better hope Lee and Balk stay out of foul trouble.

expect to see alot of 3 G sets tonight i'd imagine... good thing we're playing the Bulls who are generally a small running team anyway... but if Skiles elects to play longer players like Sefolosha & Khryapa off the bench in the 2 & 3 spots, they'll have mismatches they can exploit.

Big Turd running the court against a much quicker Big Ben Wallace is not a recipe for success... Curry's not much better either, but at least he can get up & down the floor.

I'm not sure about this either. Both guys should not play extended minutes because I don't think they are mentally or physically up to more than about 25 minutes. I would start Malik with Lee and continue to bring Balk in for those high energy srints. It's obvious we have to get our scoring from the guards and Curry.

Balkman could be a star, but we could have had him @ 29 and Marcus Willams @ 20.

I think nate,Crawford, Collins, Rose and JJ are going to make up the bench.....