For the past 10 years I've watched a lot of Unconn ball. From the Ray Allen years till recently. UNCONN both men and women put out the best Professional Basketball players period. Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, and Caron Butler this right here is 5 All-Star caliber players. Getting back to the topic at hand I know a ton of people are going to disagree with me but I'm just not that impressed with Balkman don't get me wrong he does some great things but at this point I don't find them compelling enough to say "I'm glad the Knicks got him". He's an incredibly athlete that plays the game with wild abandon I don't see any fundamentals in his game nor do I see any skill. He's just a freak athlete who uses his god-given abilities. I just feel that at the Pro level you need to have skill or your going to be exposed down the road if not immediately. Now granted he could pull a David Lee and attach himself to the gym come back next season with a better rounded game. He's going to have bust his ass everyday come the end of the season to take his game to a more NBA ready level.

Balkman vs. the Hawks, 5-6, 13 boards, 1 steal, Nice defense on Joe Johnson in the fourth.

We already have enough streak-shooting PG's.

oohah

Posted by CrushAlot:

The Knicks should have had both Balkman and Williams. I really do not think that Phoenix was planning on taking Balkman. He is a talent and a great find by Isiah. Unfortunately Isiah was so bent on showing what a draft guru he is that he ignored a lottery pick that fell into his lap. I hate when people say that the Knicks already had too many point guards. If that was the case why did he take Mardy Collins. Isiah messed up. He got a very good player when but he could have had two.

Collins plays defense. The Knicks need defense at every position.

oohah

I love Balkman, but we could have had both.

i agree we could have had both but i am not complaining. Balkman is a beast, he will only get better. He reminds me of Artest, same type of player with a little less offensive ability. If he can knock downa 15ft shot on the reg. watch out. Love his hustle and D that cant be taught.

People rarely talk about who's got better hair. Balkman's got him beat... he might have the coolest hair in the whole NBA.

As far as playing is concerned, Balkman does his thing out there. He doesn't really have any plays called for him, and he really doesn't get consistent minutes. He's not a PG so he doesn't get touches by default. Mardy Collins gets more touches & shots per minute than Balkman.

It's part of Isiah's system. Balkman, Lee, and Jeffries are accessory players on offense. We've all speculated Balkman's upside - it's very much like Ariza's... could be a future Shandon Anderson-type... or perhaps as good as a Marion/Josh Howard/Prince. His exceptional skill is his ball-handling and dribling out to lead a break - he's probably as good a ball handler as any of these guys, and is perhaps among the top ball handlers at the forward position in the league. In contrast, many journeyman SF-types like Bogans or Mike Dunleavy Jr might be good at a number of skills, but don't have an exceptional skill that keeps them from gaining real consistency.

So there you have it.

I think Balkman's the bomb - and I have a lot of confidence that he'll get the job done when he's on the floor. He's already an excellent player for this Knicks team.

I think it's great that both rookies are contributing now (balkman and collins)

they are exactly what we need now.