I find it hard to compare Jefferies and Balkamn

Ball Handling
Speed
Overall Defense, stls, rbs blks
Finishing ability
Athleticism

Jefferies isn't better in any area

Balkman doesn't need to sit and watch he needs to play he always needed too our coach has always was too proud to admit that JJ2 is not as valuable as balkman and because of that he benched the kid. Clearly you have no idea what your talking about in this instance if you are comparing him with TT.

every time Balkman gets minutes, he produces... doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he needs more minutes... Jefferies had a good game yesterday, but the team was basically stagnant until Balkman got into the game... he raised the level of every other player out there the second he hit that floor w/his energy & hustle alone... i even saw Steve Francis & Nate Robinson making defensive plays yesterday during that big run in the 3rd quarter for crying out loud! Balkman's energy is infectious... i stupidly compared him to JYD after seeing a few clips of him at the draft, but he's ALOT more than that... i think he can be 1 of those game changing players that every team would love to have on their roster.

Had Isiah done this to start the year

Marbury/Crawford
Q/Nate and switch Crawford out there with steph when q goes out
Balkman
Lee/Rose
Curry/Frye

We would have been in great position right now.....

Posted by MS:

I think thats unfair to balkman he isn't a player that gets his points because of an offense everything he does is hustle

Actually Thomas isn't as mature as Balkman, he doesn't possess the ball handling skills, passing ability, and his feel isn't there yet.

It was pretty clearly early on that he dserved minuytes and Isiah has ****ed with him all year.....

Nov 17 (20min) 18pts 7rbs 2blk
-two games later back to 12, down to 4min

Nov 25 (24min) 10pts 13rb 3blks
-played him 23 the next night 6pts 5rbs

Dec 1 (20) 8pts 9rbs, next game 10pts 4rbs, than Isiah plays him 3minutes, and then he is back to 26 grabs 12rbs

I am sorry Isiah has no idea what he is doing with this kid none. He plays 38 minutes in Atlanta march 3rd 12pts 13rbs, and then 8 minutes the next, against seattle, could have slowed Ray Allen.

Balkman doesn't need to sit and watch he needs to play he always needed too our coach has always was too proud to admit that JJ2 is not as valuable as balkman and because of that he benched the kid. Clearly you have no idea what your talking about in this instance if you are comparing him with TT.

In no way am I comparing Balkman the player to Thomas the player. But they are both in the exact same situation developmentwise. Both have just come out of college into the NBA, both are athletically gifted, both have tremendous energy, enthusiasm and drive. What both of them lacked was a real understanding of the game. Put a player like that out on the court and yeah, he might get you some double digit rebound games, he might get you some highlight reel plays and some soul-destroying blocks, but you won't get it consistantly. Sit him down, show him the rest of the league before he has to test himself against them, and he will be better prepared for the league.

I'm not saying do it in a Larry Brown way ie, bench em and ignore em. I'm saying putting Balkman in for 15 minutes here, 4 minutes here, 35 minutes here will benefit both Balkman and the team in the long term. We may suffer slightly in the short-term by not utilizing him on the court, but in the long-term both he and, by proxy te team will be better for it.

No question we would have benefitted having Balkman on the court, but it would have been inconsistant and unreliable. Isiah is hopefully creating a player we can rely on for the future.

I think that Balkman has a great feel for the game out there, he gets the ball up court fast and makes a ton of nice passes.

I don't think Jefferies and Curry have a feel for the game at all, Frye is a little confused out there as is Nate. I would put balkmans understanding of the game above them......Lee would have the best feel for the game......

The key to success is taking francis out of the equation....

And Isiah "Stevie on TV, Stevie on TV" this guy is a ****ing joke, from yelling Break his ****ing foot to starting the brawl, yelling out to reporters that marbury is nothing like arod because arod gets paid more money, when in fact they get paid by ny teams equal and arod actually won an mvp and carries his team to the playoffs.

-I have never seen a guy more clueless, jefferies is an old world defender a ron artest type after a victory over the hawks,
-He expects to be playing in june after wins agains the hawks and the warriors

This guy needs to go immedialty because he is not going to improve the team by allowing the baby bulls to do as they please out there, we need a team concept that focuses on energy and activity and everyone trying their hardest on both ends