personally i feel that Balkman deserved a chance to play ahead of scrubs like Jared Jefferies instead of dolling out minutes based purely on the contracts they were making... i seriously hope that way of doing things is no longer a part of this franchise w/this new regime.

I prefer to go with Mike's judgement on this. He knows what he needs in a player and how he intends to use his players. If he felt that Balkman just wasn't a guy he would use then so be it. He has a place on a team that is setup to be all about D and maybe has some scorers who take the bulk of the shots in their offense. Here tho Mike intends to really spread teams out and the only way to do that is with fast ball movement and shooters everywhere on the floor. Balkman just doesn't fit that.

Bobby Jones may be closer to what Mike needs so why not bring him to camp and see what he has? There's no rush to let anyone go before the cutoff date, so let them fight for a spot. I remember how Barnes seemed like a waste of a spot to some, but he stuck in GS and showed his usefulness. We should never have let him go based on his performance on GS. He defended and played a good overall game. Ime Udoka has also gone on to show more game than many expected. We seem to let guys go too early.

Udoka's crap & always has been... he's on his 4th team in 4 years... looking for Bobby Jones to be the next Ime Udoka is not my idea of hoping for positive results.

Udoka played 18 minutes a game for the Spurs this year. The guy is a servicable NBA player.

I think the Spurs know a bit more about a player than you or i do... i'll leave it there.

Posted by TMS:

the guy is scrub city any which way u wanna slice it... it's not like he's an all world defender like Bowen either... hoping Bobby Jones becomes this guy is pretty comical.

[Edited by - TMS on 07-29-2008 11:05 AM]

Actually, that's exactly how Bowen's career progressed. He was a scrub for like 7 years and then he committed himself to D.

Posted by TMS:

i'll be keeping my fingers crossed that he ends up being the next Bruce Bowen if that makes u feel better.

... and toes ...

Posted by nixluva:

I prefer to go with Mike's judgement on this. He knows what he needs in a player and how he intends to use his players. If he felt that Balkman just wasn't a guy he would use then so be it. He has a place on a team that is setup to be all about D and maybe has some scorers who take the bulk of the shots in their offense. Here tho Mike intends to really spread teams out and the only way to do that is with fast ball movement and shooters everywhere on the floor. Balkman just doesn't fit that.

Bobby Jones may be closer to what Mike needs so why not bring him to camp and see what he has? There's no rush to let anyone go before the cutoff date, so let them fight for a spot. I remember how Barnes seemed like a waste of a spot to some, but he stuck in GS and showed his usefulness. We should never have let him go based on his performance on GS. He defended and played a good overall game. Ime Udoka has also gone on to show more game than many expected. We seem to let guys go too early.

i was replying to you... i didn't say you specifically were hoping he'd be Ime Udoka, just that it's a bad example to bring up when u talk about letting players go too early.

if u noticed i did agree w/ur example of Matt Barnes.

"Booby Jones....I hope he gets a chance

Only chance he'll get is with another team. Knicks just waived him.

Posted by Pharzeone:

Well both Jones and Green just got waived by the Knicks. Balkman traded for roster space to make room for Roberson. Nice.

seriously makes u scratch the old noggin' doesn't it?

Posted by joec32033:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Pharzeone:

Well both Jones and Green just got waived by the Knicks. Balkman traded for roster space to make room for Roberson. Nice.

seriously makes u scratch the old noggin' doesn't it?

That would just be the lice.... In all seriousness, Mike D himself said Balkman was 5th string. His value in that position would have diminished, imo. As a whole the trade was Balk and half a mil for Roberson and a 2nd rounder.

i dunno i thought it was ur girls crabs.

don't include Roberson, he's a FA signing that coulda been had at any point during the year... scrubs like that get signed to 10 day type contracts all the time... & a 2nd rounder can be purchased before the draft every season... we dumped Balkman for absolutely nothing but a roster spot, let's face it.