Renaldo Balkman???
| 8
|
by user Thefeed
I've been holding off on talking about Renaldo Balkman. Trying to do some research on the Knicks first pick in the NBA draft last night, you see. I didn't see the draft last night, was watching Pedro get his ass whupped, and was definitely surprised to see young Balkman's name listed as the Knicks selection. I don't really follow second-tier SEC basketball and had to cancel my semi-annual NIT championship party so I had no idea what Balkman was all about. As you'll see below the answer is basically Roger Vick, with dreadlocks.
It seems not many did. Of the 133 players listed in the media guide by the NBA for the draft, which features 60 selections in toto, Balkman ranks no higher than 134 cause he ain't in the book. In his profile on True Hoop, Balkman is described as "goes scoreless a fair amount of the time, and his heyday was in the NIT. He's not a killer shooter, and he's a little small to play in the NBA post."
Balkman was the third leading scorer on the Gamecocks of South Carolina at 9.6 games and their leading board man with 6.3 caroms, if you're interested. He was a starter on both of the back-to-back NIT champions and had 12 rebounds, five blocks and four steals in the final win over Michigan. He also scored 23 against Louisville to put them in the finals. So it would seem that Thomas opted for an experienced, defensive-minded role player with his first pick. He said as much, "Balkman is a very unique talent, a very unique player. He reminds me a lot of a Rodman or Artest kind of player with his energy, with his defensive abilities."
That's a valid reason, even if very unique is an invalid phrase. It ignores that Balkman, according to the Times, was benched for turnovers and inconsistency before the NIT. Those aren't the kinds of traits that improve when playing teams other than Vanderbilt either. Less valid reasons I could come up with for the pick are that Isiah thought his name sounded like Ronaldo Blackman or that Balkman's dreadlocks obscured the fact that there was a good chance he would be around as a free agent after the draft. I'm not willing to give up on the idea that Isiah was inspired by the Brazillian soccer team and picked the wrong guy with the right name for success.
The real reason lies in the aforementioned Times article, however. In return to ESPN's Jay Bilas asserting that Balkman was, at best, a second round pick, "Thomas disagreed. He said the Phoenix Suns were ready to grab Balkman with the 21st pick."
And there folks you have it. The Suns ended up taking Kentucky PG Rajon Rondo with that pick before trading him to the Celtics. Is there really any chance that this scene didn't take place in the Phoenix war room?
Mike D'Antoni, Suns coach and GM : We've got a deal in place with Boston if we can get Rondo. Do you think Thomas would pick him.
Dick Van Arsdale, Suns Exec. VP: He does have a thing for point guards.
Vinny Del Negro, Suns scout : Hey, Isiah loves feeling like he beat someone out. What if we floated the name of another player, said we were locked into him at 21. I bet he'd pick hin.
DVA : He's not that dumb. C'mon Vinny!
MD'A : No, I think he's on to something here, but who? It can't be just anyone, it has to give him a chance to look like a genius. Think D'Antoni, think dammit!
VDN : I saw this guy Balkman when I was scouting down at Florida. Crazy dreadlocks, good defender but no one we'd dream of picking.
MD'A: This just might work, gang, this just might work! (Picks up phone and dials Knick war room to drop Balkman's name into a conversation.
Balkman's reaction? He was unavailable for comment but, “Everybody in the world was shocked,” said Balkman’s agent, Andre Buck. Presumably that covers Renaldo's reaction.
His coach, Dave Odom, posited that perhaps the four games played in Madison Square Garden over the past two years played a role in Thomas's thinking. Which sounds about right given the man making personnel decisions. He also said that he had urged Balkman to return for his senior season because league contacts told him he would be a second round pick, at best.
“Nobody has seen him play more often than the Knicks,” Odom said. “Maybe they know more than the rest of the league is aware of.”
Less, Dave, less. They know less.
The Knicks picked Temple G Mardy Collins with the #29 pick in the first round. Collins comes from Temple, which is all I know factually about him but I'll take a shot and say that he's defensively sound, tough as nails and couldn't hit the basket if left open more than one out of ten tries from the field.
For more of the same, check in with Deadspin's round-up of the World Wide Web's reaction to the rise of Balkman.
Source
- New York Times
- New York Post
- New York Daily News
- ESPN
- Deadspin
- True Hoop
- The State (S.C.)
Date
Thu 06/29/06, 9:40 am EST
