...and the knicks select...RENALDO BALKMAN?!

I'm sorry to you all for the misleading title of this thread. None of you, nor I, should care at all about a pinerider out west. We blew that pick, but hey, the past is the past, and there's no such thing as a crystal ball. If there was, we would have picked Rajon Rondo then, right?
Seriously speaking, all Celtic jokes aside, this guy is just a phenomenal PG. It kills me watching this dude play, knowing he could've been dropping dimes at MSG...or would he have? Would that have worked under D'antoni's system? Or is this elite PG a product of Doc's coaching? Pick no. 21 is all the evidence you need to show that nobody saw this guy coming.

I think he bacame good because of the star players around him. I think last season he actually started being very good. Before, he was overrated, but whatever happened, whether it was confidence, or just got better through hard work, or both, he's has become a very good PG.

Sick of hearing the praises though on ABC commentating.

"Quarterback" "RONDO"

btw, Where is Renaldo Balkman?

he's on the Nuggets avging less than 5 min a game...

Rondo only does well because he's got an all-star cast to pass it to. His moves, speed, vision and play making are all above average, but he's no where even close to MVP caliber PG. He's not steve nash, he's no jason kidd, he's not allen iverson or chris paul. He's just the average NBA PG, who happen to play with one the most stacked teams in the league. Felton is just as good, he just hasn't had the luxury of being able to pass to gay allen or paul peirce or KG.


Still, it was a blown pick. But the draft is a crap shoot anyways. No one would of expected Feilds to be a starting 2 guard, so there ya go. You win some you lose some.

However, lotto and high draft picks are very important. The "Big Country" #1 pick in Vancouver basically sealed the fate of the franchise and sent it into a tailspin until they were moved to Memphis. (That and another high draft pick, steve francis refusing to play there).

of course, when you have a superb and likeable coach such as Anton Rivers even a hockey player would excel in basketball. when you have someone like Dantoni it's a little different, you'd be luck if you're still in the NBA in two years like Darko.

quiggle said:

of course, when you have a superb and likeable coach such as Anton Rivers even a hockey player would excel in basketball. when you have someone like Dantoni it's a little different, you'd be luck if you're still in the NBA in two years like Darko.

Click to expand...

Who's Anton Rivers? Do you mean Doc Rivers? His first name is Glenn...

rondo

supercelo24 said:

I'm sorry to you all for the misleading title of this thread. None of you, nor I, should care at all about a pinerider out west. We blew that pick, but hey, the past is the past, and there's no such thing as a crystal ball. If there was, we would have picked Rajon Rondo then, right?
Seriously speaking, all Celtic jokes aside, this guy is just a phenomenal PG. It kills me watching this dude play, knowing he could've been dropping dimes at MSG...or would he have? Would that have worked under D'antoni's system? Or is this elite PG a product of Doc's coaching? Pick no. 21 is all the evidence you need to show that nobody saw this guy coming.

Click to expand...

Rondo is good. I remember tons of guys were trashing rondo saying marbury was better. I obviously disagreed and at the time rondo was underated. And starbury was well past his prime. Everyone was saying I was wrong to say I'd take rondo over marbury any day tht year

yeah it goes back to the time he was on the Knicks, just always called him that.

now this is what makes a coach worth learning and playing for unlike that moldy looking guy on the Knicks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPXmP_vEk_8

I think its funny that everyone thought Doc Rivers was a garbage coach until he got 3 all stars. He was pretty close to being fired a few times. It shows how coaching isn't such a transparent thing to judge.

Rondo would be an MVP candidate if he could just learn how to shoot a consistent jumper. Its pretty much the only thing holding him back, but its a big one. Rondo with a 3 point shot?? Unstoppable.

iJoe said:

I think its funny that everyone thought Doc Rivers was a garbage coach until he got 3 all stars. He was pretty close to being fired a few times. It shows how coaching isn't such a transparent thing to judge.

Rondo would be an MVP candidate if he could just learn how to shoot a consistent jumper. Its pretty much the only thing holding him back, but its a big one. Rondo with a 3 point shot?? Unstoppable.

Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I think Rondo's lack of a shooting touch is what bred his style of play. It seems like he's obsessed with finding the open man, and he's totally disregarded his option to score. This kid drives thru open lanes and passes up open layups for a chance at an assist. This style wrecks havoc with defenses, and it seems like he's perfected it for this season. If he could shoot, he'd be another CP3 or DWill. Don't get me wrong, they're both greats, but we've seen that mold b4. Rondo's game is unique, and that's what makes him stand out.

I've been preaching this for years to Isiahsexuals, or those who pretend to kiss his ass so as to express their D'ant hate more.

Balkman > Rondo is the single worst draft blunder by us in many, many, many years.

Both in how good Rondo is, how bad Balkman is.

How big our pg need was.

How the world thought Rondo slipped.

And the world knew Balkman woulda been there (much) later.

Thank you, Isiah Thomas. Expert drafter and NBA mind.

Unfortunately, i dated a big Celtics fan for a bit and watched some games live. Rondo is pretty remarkable, and very unique in style as mentioned.

He's just filthy and tenacious all-around, especially on D and breaking down opposing teams from top to bottom.

Even if he never becomes a megastar, ie he gets a shot, he is arguably the BEST and at least most desirable PG to have for MANY teams in the leauge.

We coulda been one of them, IMHO.

jzero29 said:

Rondo is good. I remember tons of guys were trashing rondo saying marbury was better. I obviously disagreed and at the time rondo was underated. And starbury was well past his prime. Everyone was saying I was wrong to say I'd take rondo over marbury any day tht year

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Marbury was an all star player, but I never thought he was a team player. The trade for him was good, his contract was bad. Steve Francis trade was worst. The Knicks were in need for a back up pg that can pass but questionably passed Rondo for Balkman and later picked up Mardy Collins, disaster.

Stephon Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski for Howard Eisley,Charlie Ward,Antonio McDyess, Maciej Lampe

Steve Francis for Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway

Before picking up Balkman the Knicks already had Trevor Ariza. Ariza was having problems on the court but I still thought he had potential. Never thought of him as a starter but a defensive role player. Balkman wasn't needed and was similar to Ariza, so why pick him.

Steve Francis game i thought was also similar to Marbury, which also didn't make sense. In a team you need players that can reflect off each other and contribute in different ways. The Knicks didn't do that and ended up with old used up Francis.

I also wanted the first pick to be a pg and instead got Mardy Collins, DISASTER!

I was totally against that Marbury trade when that went down, i knew with that contract and Marbury's bad history with KG it would be a disaster. A lot of my idiotic HS friends said i didnt know a thing about basketball back then.

Wow, what a disaster Marbury turned out to be. A meaningless playoff appearance in which the team didnt even try + setting the franchise back 6-7 years was what that trade did.

Asimov said:

I was totally against that Marbury trade when that went down, i knew with that contract and Marbury's bad history with KG it would be a disaster. A lot of my idiotic HS friends said i didnt know a thing about basketball back then.

Wow, what a disaster Marbury turned out to be. A meaningless playoff appearance in which the team didnt even try + setting the franchise back 6-7 years was what that trade did.

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Word. I think it really was the centerpiece of Zeke going bonkers too. He dug himself into a hole that he just maniacally digging into.

In a sense, it epitomizes the lame ass, but not rare, strategy of franchises tethering themselves to maybe-mediocrity, through a gamble no less, vs just rebuilding like mensch.

It plagues NYC, yankees aside, barring times when we have elite, truly game owners and gms.

supercelo24 said:

I'm sorry to you all for the misleading title of this thread. None of you, nor I, should care at all about a pinerider out west. We blew that pick, but hey, the past is the past, and there's no such thing as a crystal ball. If there was, we would have picked Rajon Rondo then, right?
Seriously speaking, all Celtic jokes aside, this guy is just a phenomenal PG. It kills me watching this dude play, knowing he could've been dropping dimes at MSG...or would he have? Would that have worked under D'antoni's system? Or is this elite PG a product of Doc's coaching? Pick no. 21 is all the evidence you need to show that nobody saw this guy coming.

Click to expand...

did we honestly pass up on Rondo for the BUM Renaldo Balkman!?!?!?

Nothing beats the Frenchie F-Weiss over Ron Artest.

By the way, also in that 1999 ill-fated draft, we selected JR Koch in the 2nd round over Manu Ginobili.

To recap, the NY Knicks... after making that miraculous run to the Finals, totally whiffed.... and that draft was so bad.... is set the rebuilding process back a decade!

Again, we drafted Weiss and Koch, when we could have taken Artest and Ginobili.

There was also carry-over to this epic blunder. We so missed out on the local St. John's product (Artest), that the next year we pounced on the local St John's player in the 2nd round to atone for the previous year's mistake... We draft Lavor Postell this time, even though it was SO OBVIOUS that the better SG should have been taken.... His name was Michael Redd!


Still, the Ewing deal, the trade for Mcdice and Starbury all set this franchise back eons. Combined with the 1999 boner... WOW. And, let's not forget dumping Camby b/c Dolan was peeved he forgot to show up for a PR meeting.

Now, imagine what the Knicks are like had they just let Ewing play out his contract and get that off the books. Never dealt Camby.

The last 8 years would have been centered around:

Marcus Camby (C)
Ron Artest (SF)
Manu Ginobili (SG)
Michael Redd (6th man)

PLUS a top free agent (with Ewing coming off books) and another one when Houston came off the book.
PLUS our first round picks we dealt away in all those foolish moves.

That was a solid core. Would have probably even competed for a title, if we surrounded them with the right pieces. Talk about defense.

p0nder said:

Rondo only does well because he's got an all-star cast to pass it to. His moves, speed, vision and play making are all above average, but he's no where even close to MVP caliber PG. He's not steve nash, he's no jason kidd, he's not allen iverson or chris paul. He's just the average NBA PG, who happen to play with one the most stacked teams in the league. Felton is just as good, he just hasn't had the luxury of being able to pass to gay allen or paul peirce or KG.


Still, it was a blown pick. But the draft is a crap shoot anyways. No one would of expected Feilds to be a starting 2 guard, so there ya go. You win some you lose some.

However, lotto and high draft picks are very important. The "Big Country" #1 pick in Vancouver basically sealed the fate of the franchise and sent it into a tailspin until they were moved to Memphis. (That and another high draft pick, steve francis refusing to play there).

Click to expand...

Funny guy!!!!

Rondo is waaay above average and if you watch him play you would notice that he has great court awareness and is a master at getting his teammates in position for a high perccentage shot. Do not discredit his skill set. He is the real deal. Obviously his shot could use some work but if he ever developed a consistent jumper then he would surpass Nash easily with the addition of his waaay above average defense.

He would have made last seasons knick team way better for sure and there were a few bums on that squad.