Renaldo Balkman's South Carolina coach, Dave Odom, was as stunned as anyone by the controversial selection of his player by the Knicks with the 20th pick in Wednesday's NBA Draft.

Odom said he's concerned how Balkman will defend quicker small forwards on the perimeter and how he'll fit into halfcourt sets on offense. Balkman played power forward at South Carolina, which won the past two NITs at the Garden.

"He hasn't played a lot of one-on-one defense; he was our post defender, so it's something he has to work on," Odom said. "I was very honest with [Isiah]. Isiah will you tell you, I didn't blow him up. I'm very proud of him but I really do think he's a work in progress."

"Looking over his career, every third game was a great game," Odom said. "But two of the three have been OK, sometimes not OK. Consistency has been a problem. He has to discipline himself to bring his best every night, and he'll be a very good player."

From today's article in the Post...

Ok..Let me get this straight. He is a 6'6 SF/PF who cant guard anyone on the perimeter?

[Edited by - ultknicks524 on 07-02-2006 02:42 AM]

gulp

wow... that doesn't raise my excitement level nor ease my doubts any.