earthmansurfer wrote:I was glad to see Balkman get some minutes the other night. I think it served 2 functions - 1 was his good play and 2 was that it was nice to see an old Knick out there after the recent trade had some of us a bit down regarding our home grown players all gone. Anyway, as the below quote says, Coach is gonna have a look at him cause clearly we need some Defense and Rebounding out there. Stranger things have happened with the coach choosing players. I'm also looking forward to Brewer and the new Williams out there for essentially the same reason. In Balkman and Brewer we have a few great athletes, perhaps slightly replacing the incredible athletes we had in AR and Chandler (though clearly not the offensive potential).

Taken from: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knicksblog/wade_thinks_new_knicks_will_come_pGqzPkt9S4vO8ExgrEAIxN

New pickup Renaldo Balkman, Isiah Thomas' first-round draft bust, is being given a huge look by Mike D'Antoni and won't be released when they sign Jared Jeffries Tuesday.

Balkman played a seven-minute stint in the first half during which he was a plus-16.

"He's a high energy defensive guy who can rebound,'' D'Antoni said. "What do we need? That.''

Balkman can't shoot but D'Antoni expects to play him on this Florida trip. D'Antoni probably wants to look at the new guys and the likeliest candidate to be cut for Jeffries is Kelenna Azubuike, whom D'Antoni has seen enough of. Azubuike has yet to play this season 16 months after surgery and has an expiring contract. Balkman's pact extends into 2012. And if Isiah has any say….?

Glad to see him getting a second chance, but from what I understood, he had some issues regarding work ethic and some off court activities Donnie didn't like. Hopefully whatever problems there were have been corrected and we can count on him off the bench.

Clearly we need to upgrade our bench, but if we can pepper guys like Balkman, JJ, Turiaf around our big guns for stretches, this team could (hopefully) alter the perception that we're incapable of getting stops. Like Chauncey said, to be successful, you don't necessarily need to be a great defensive team - you just need to be able to get these stops at key stretches of the game.

Finestrg wrote:

"He's a high energy defensive guy who can rebound,'' D'Antoni said. "What do we need? That.''

Yeah but not from another wing ya moron..Jeez this D'Antoni just doesn't get it...What will it take for the guy to try and play a conventional lineup...Already have Fields and Melo who are the best rebounders at their positions BUT THEY'RE WINGS. They can only contribute so much...We need it outta our bigs...That's where we don't get it and where we get hurt..Balkman's not giving us much at the PF spot at 6'6"...He's not nearly good enough offensively to justify playing him there and he's not physically equipped to battle these other teams' bigs defensively and on the backboard...The obvious move to to bring in Shelden Williams at some point and see what he gives you next to Amar'e & Melo..If it's more than Turiaf, it's a score..If not, no big deal, we go outside the organization for a good cheap alternative and then go from there..And if that doesn't work, next guy on the list and so on..I have no porblem playing Balkman a little at the 3 throughout the game, that's fine with me..Playing him at the 4 is nonsense.

When Mike D'Antoni is set against something nothing will change his mind.