ok, I want to hear everyone's opinions about Balkman's potential.
He has shown the ability to hit a 3 pointer eventhough he is shooting an awful %. Offensively, what will his game develop into in the next 2-3 years? Can he become a 3 point shooter the way Bruce Bowen is?
It seems like he can really handle the ball well after he gets a rebound but when it comes to dribbling in the halfcourt game he doesn't have the ability to drive by his man easily. No midrange game really. What should we expect to see from him next year? He can obviously become a beast on the defensive and offensive boards and can run the floor real well.

Balkman, Lee, Curry frontcourt is a pretty damn solid future. Throw in a shotblocking presence as your 6th man. Balkman and Lee will get give teams so much trouble on the offensive boards and the Knicks wil get 5 shots every possesion.

He can be a poor mans Gerald Wallace. Balks explosive but not as explosive as Wallace.

Balk needs to work on his handle in terms of getting around his man. He needs to add a mid range jumper and not worry so much about the 3. He doesn't have a great shooting touch, so he should work on using the backboard (a la Pippen, Nique). The one handed put-shot (similar to Mark Jackson) would help aswell.

Balk is actually a good compliment to Lee and Curry because he adds the shot-blocking tangible that both Curry and Lee lack. He also rebounds like a PF which helps being in the same lineup with Curry.

i see him as a 14 points / 9 rebounds / 1.5 blocks guy who will learn to play very good defense if he's given starter's minutes next season w/o a doubt

i see his potential to improve beyond that to a top ceiling of somewhere around 18 / 10 / 2 if he develops a consistent jumper & bulks up a little more to better handle the daily grind of an 82 game schedule against more physical SF's like Lebron, Artest, Harrington, etc.

He actually looks like a suped up Sprewell. If he can get that outside shot working he will be a terror in 3 years.

An energy/defense guy with limited offense will usually either be the 5th option starter on a good playoff team (Bowen, Hassel, etc) or a super sub.

A nice problem to have. He'll never be a big money player because most GLUE guys never are. I see him as a solid citized, good soldier type. Maybe a future Malik Rose old school hustle player but with much better hops.

Honestly, he reminds me most of JYD right now. And i'm not trying to knock the kid.

Very very Good potential

Posted by TMS:

An energy/defense guy with limited offense will usually either be the 5th option starter on a good playoff team (Bowen, Hassel, etc) or a super sub.

that's pretty much what Josh Howard was projected as being... he's turned himself into 1 of the premier SF's in the game... same goes for guys like Ben Wallace & Carlos Boozer... a lot of hard work & some natural ability can take you a long way in this game.

btw, i used that same JYD comparison the day Isiah drafted him & i saw some video clips on the guy... i think he's going to be a much better player tho.

Josh Howard was a much more polished player especially on the offensive end in college than Balkman was in S. Carolina. In fact, if not mistaken, I believe Howard won POY in the ACC one yr.

Posted by Solace:

I equate him to being similar to Shandon Anderson in Anderson's prime.

Shandon Anderson had a prime?

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Solace:

I equate him to being similar to Shandon Anderson in Anderson's prime.

Shandon Anderson had a prime?

For people who didn't hate him because Layden overpaid him, yes. Anderson's prime was in Houston.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Solace:

Posted by bigbeast:

Posted by TMS:

An energy/defense guy with limited offense will usually either be the 5th option starter on a good playoff team (Bowen, Hassel, etc) or a super sub.

that's pretty much what Josh Howard was projected as being... he's turned himself into 1 of the premier SF's in the game... same goes for guys like Ben Wallace & Carlos Boozer... a lot of hard work & some natural ability can take you a long way in this game.

btw, i used that same JYD comparison the day Isiah drafted him & i saw some video clips on the guy... i think he's going to be a much better player tho.

Josh Howard was a much more polished player especially on the offensive end in college than Balkman was in S. Carolina. In fact, if not mistaken, I believe Howard won POY in the ACC one yr.

Yes. Balkman is an exciting player, but let's not get carried away.

we'll see dude... i think you're drastically underrating this kid... he's got the potential to be a lot more than just a 6th man off the bench IMO... way more upside than Shandon Anderson.

Upside is an interesting thing. Many players with 'upside' never hit their 'potential'. Now, I'm not talking about upside, because all upside is saying is that the unknown means he has a chance of being great. Likelihood and upside are very different things, though. I'm just trying to be realistic. If he turns out to be more, hey, great. But not every player on every team can be a star. Especially in the NBA.

[Edited by - Solace on Feb 23 2007 2:29 PM]

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Solace:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Solace:

I equate him to being similar to Shandon Anderson in Anderson's prime.

Shandon Anderson had a prime?

For people who didn't hate him because Layden overpaid him, yes. Anderson's prime was in Houston.

come on man... his career best averages were 12 & 5 in 32 mpg in HOU... he never got close to that ever again... u seriously don't see Balkman putting up better #'s than that? you're delusional bro.

It's not about the numbers. It's about his role on the team. Anderson was a sixth man-type, defensive stopper with a decent (but not great) offensive game. I think Balkman is the same way. Actually, I think Anderson was a little better on offense and Balkman has the potential to be a little better than Anderson on defense.