Does George Karl hate Renaldo Balkman since the forward is not playing? Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post has the answer.

Hochman writes: "It all comes down to this -- George Karl and his staff want to win. Badly and madly. And the fact is (and Balkman knows it), Balkman does not give 100 percent at practice. We in the media have seen it. He doesn't know all the team's plays and concepts. And while Balkman preaches 'HUSTLE HARDER' on his tattoos, he is not putting the same desire into practice. And so, it makes sense that the team is leery of throwing him into a game."

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/features/rumors?date=20100105
Actually, we probably should have.

DurzoBlint wrote:

AbrahamLincoln wrote:

Does George Karl hate Renaldo Balkman since the forward is not playing? Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post has the answer.

Hochman writes: "It all comes down to this -- George Karl and his staff want to win. Badly and madly. And the fact is (and Balkman knows it), Balkman does not give 100 percent at practice. We in the media have seen it. He doesn't know all the team's plays and concepts. And while Balkman preaches 'HUSTLE HARDER' on his tattoos, he is not putting the same desire into practice. And so, it makes sense that the team is leery of throwing him into a game."

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/features/rumors?date=20100105
Actually, we probably should have.

Not saying its ok or that I'm even correct but, some players are not good practice players. And sometimes the opposite is true which causes teams to sign guys like Q-Brick and A-Roberson.

Q-who I've seen in practice looks like Jeff Horncek. His jumper looks so wet and silky but, put him in the game and he can't hit the broad side of a barn.
I remember once reading that about Dennis Rodman dogged it in practice but he left it all on the court.

I think the article was suggesting it was more than just practice though.... knowing plays etc. And I would submit that Rodman is an exception.

fishmike wrote:why did Denver extend him so long? He's 2nd round talent with YMCA skills

because they like white guys, duh.

Paladin55 wrote:If he had David Lee's work ethic, and had been able to work on his shooting, he could have been a decent player in this league. The year the Knicks traded him, he came into SL and you could see that he had not worked on his shot at all during the offseason. Now it turns out that he does not work on other aspects of his game.

Good move getting rid of him.

Exactly, Balkman had the basic tools to be a good NBA player. He just does not have the work ethic to develop his game. He should be at a Lee-like level as a shooter now, but I bet he still shoots like he did as a rookie. The guy is a great rebounder and defender at the SF position, but he needs to realize that hustle guys are a dime-a-dozen and what seperates a Bruce Bowen or Carl Landry from other hustle guys, is a desire to constantly work to improve your skills and an ability to play hard all the time.

Bippity10 wrote:Balkman's still in the league????????

Still in the league? He's already on his 2nd contract!

kam77 wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:Balkman's still in the league????????

Still in the league? He's already on his 2nd contract!

Wow, I completely forgot about the guy he wasn't productive here and has been gone for a couple years. what's next? Are we going to talk about JVG's civic?