Man, the Knicks are making a big deal about a 25 year old rookie who can't crack any team 15 man rotation.

The funny thing about it all, is that they already had the better player on their roster and got rid of him.



He's better than Jeffries in every way.
Without question put up more production and intensity than their glorified rookie in his rookie year.
And was one of the team's best shotblockers.
Walsh and D'Antoni are still trying to find what they already had.

[Edited by - pharzeone on 02-24-2009 7:26 PM]

Balkman never improved from his first year. Everyone loved his intensity and hustle, but I remembered seeing him in the SL and noticing that he had not worked on his jumper at all, even though one would have thought that this was going to be a "statement" year for him and he should improve upon his weaknesses..

He was a jumpshot away from being a contributing 25+MPG rotation player, but he seemingly never took the time to work on his J even though he had decent form. He might have also spent some time on the weights. At times, I thought of him as a smaller version of Rodman, but he just did not evolve as a player.

Posted by Paladin55:

Balkman never improved from his first year. Everyone loved his intensity and hustle, but I remembered seeing him in the SL and noticing that he had not worked on his jumper at all, even though one would have thought that this was going to be a "statement" year for him and he should improve upon his weaknesses..

He was a jumpshot away from being a contributing 25+MPG rotation player, but he seemingly never took the time to work on his J even though he had decent form. He might have also spent some time on the weights. At times, I thought of him as a smaller version of Rodman, but he just did not evolve as a player.

His production is better than Gallo and it's not even close.

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by Paladin55:

Balkman never improved from his first year. Everyone loved his intensity and hustle, but I remembered seeing him in the SL and noticing that he had not worked on his jumper at all, even though one would have thought that this was going to be a "statement" year for him and he should improve upon his weaknesses..

He was a jumpshot away from being a contributing 25+MPG rotation player, but he seemingly never took the time to work on his J even though he had decent form. He might have also spent some time on the weights. At times, I thought of him as a smaller version of Rodman, but he just did not evolve as a player.

His production is better than Gallo and it's not even close.

Oh, you're serious? Nice.

I like PE Jr. a lot as a player. He's not his dad, but I do believe he'll make an outstanding 7th or 8th man in the NBA

Posted by SupremeCommander:

I like PE Jr. a lot as a player. He's not his dad, but I do believe he'll make an outstanding 7th or 8th man in the NBA

I don't see it. If he's not outstanding in the D league (and he's not), he won't be a good backup in the nba. The only reason that anyone's talk about him or even thinking about him is his last name.

Posted by franco12:


Balkman is the kind of player that is perfect off the bench to bring energy, create turn overs and easy baskets the other way.

Honestly, I would almost trade Gallo for Balkman. It is early, but Gallo might be a taller version of Hubert Davis.

Balkman would mean that the Knicks would be playing 4 against 5 on offense. If you believe in the MDA system, you will know why Balkman was expendable. Chandler can do much of what Balkman did (D and shot blocking)but with the addition of an offensive game.

The Hubert Davis comparison is interesting, though. I think Gallinari has a more complete game, but if he turns out to have little more than what he shows on offense now, the comparison to Davis is a good one.

[Edited by - Paladin55 on 02-27-2009 12:54 AM]

Posted by Paladin55:

Posted by Pharzeone:

Posted by Paladin55:

Balkman never improved from his first year. Everyone loved his intensity and hustle, but I remembered seeing him in the SL and noticing that he had not worked on his jumper at all, even though one would have thought that this was going to be a "statement" year for him and he should improve upon his weaknesses..

He was a jumpshot away from being a contributing 25+MPG rotation player, but he seemingly never took the time to work on his J even though he had decent form. He might have also spent some time on the weights. At times, I thought of him as a smaller version of Rodman, but he just did not evolve as a player.

His production is better than Gallo and it's not even close.

????? Did not mention Gallinari at all in my post. I was just looking at Balkman, who once had some promise, as a player. Consider him to be the "anti-Lee" in terms of growth as a player... and if Gallinari does not evolve by his 3rd year in the league, I will have the same thoughts about his career.



Have you actually looked at how often Balkman gets into games with the Nuggets, by the way?

Balkman is not a great shooter and some guys just don't respect defense. Balkman doesn't make it into games because he plays the same position as Carmelo Anthony. When he does he has an impact on the defense. From the Nugget forums I read, they are working on his offensive game and shooting. They are doing the same thing that the Lakers coaching staff did with Ariza, use him in a certain way but continue to develop his game. I'm not sure if this is going to work with that coaching staff out there as long as Karl is running it because he wouldn't know what defense is if it bit him on his ass.

I have a problem with the Walsh telling everyone how this club needs a guy that can defend and block shots when they already had one on their payroll. The new coaching staff gave him 2 months to learn the new offense and be a 3 point shooter. Now you have a coach who wants to utilize a guy like Jeffries because of what he brings defensively and demanding it from their rookie who they knew was one of his highest attributes when drafting him. I mention Gallinari because Balkman as a comparison. His rookie year by comparison to a 6th round pick was off the charts. While everyone is going crazy because Gallinari grab 4 rebounds and block shot, Balkman did that stuff every night in his rookie year with less fanfare.