Official Draft Thread

How many picks will we have on draft day?

  • More than two

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Still have two

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Less than two

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

The 1 and Only

Rotation player
Isiah does it again....now let's see if these rookies pan out. Everybody must realize that you can't draft somebody like a James White or Marcus Williams at this pick because anyone with real talent is not going to get minutes at all unless they're playing at SF. So when picking these two defensive talents, you're not only going to get better when playing these kind of scrappy players in practice, but if the team needs an injection of energy on the floor you can put nate rob, Ronaldo Balkman, and David Lee all on the same floor. This is a good pick since offensive players rot on the bench and defensive players get hungry on the bench...
 

sxmarbury516

Benchwarmer
i guess its not quite as bad as i thought @ 1st. i thought balkman was like 6'5 (way to small to play sf). but hes really 6'8 and is a monster on defense. and to think that he wouldnt have been their for the 29th pick is kind of a sigh of relief that we grabbed him when we had the chance. he wasnt on the top 100 prospects but yet he turned so many heads @ the workouts he ended up the 20th pick, and from isiah none the less.

and collins could be that guy we can use to guard those taller guards on opposing teams (arenas, bryant, wade, ect.). he'll let us run our offense thru curry, marbury, and frye. it deft seems to be a great idea. we picked up 2 key role players. thats exactly what we need. ben wallace even said it.
 

portega1968

El Cacique
I'm trusting Isiah on Balkman... it's nice to have a shotblocker for the 3spot. He says that he'll never cut his hair again, so I'm thinking those sweaty, stinking dreadlocks will wreck havoc on opponents at the very least.

Collins is a solid pick and covers one of most glaring shortcomings (defense by our backcourt). To be honest, he may be the best playmaker on our team right now.

Of course, I was pulling for Marcus Williams at 20 (once Shawne was gone) and Hassan at 29, but I'm no GM so fuck it.

What pisses me is that Memphis got Rudy Gay so cheap for Shane Battier straight up... why the fuck didn't Isiah trade for him? David Lee and Nate may have done the trick and would've been worth it. This guy will be one hell of a SF with that wingspan and upside.

But no use crying now... rather turn my attention to following our rookies' progress in summer leagues and the upcoming free agent period.

November, you're syu fucking faaaar awaaay still.
 

portega1968

El Cacique
New Jersey got Marcus Williams, Josh Boone and Hassan Adams? Uffffff, dang, fuck, shit @$*&%@

That trio will thrive with all that practice time they'll get with JKidd, Jefferson and Vince.

This smells like a historic rivalry is brewing for the next decade... Brooklyn Nets vs. Knicks in a couple of years will be the hottest ticket in the world!!!

NYKnicks15, what do you think you know that the rest of us don't concerning Collins being traded?
 

Trin_Starr

Starter
I think isiah did pretty well on this draft.

Our team has tons of players who can score at will, but we have no lockown defenders.

Defending the 1, 2 and 3 spots have always been a problem for us.
Balkman is a lockdown defender at 6-8 - so while we may not have much scoring at our SF, we know for sure neither will the opposing team with him defending them.
They also say balkman is quick enough to effectively guard the 2 spot as well.

Mardy collins will make a great backup point to Steph. The dude is also an exceptional defender and at 6-5 that's a great size for a PG.

Our picks were defensive minded. I can't wait to see our SL team in action!


REPORT from the Orlando Predraft camp:

ANALYSIS: Not overly tall or big, Balkman moved around the court at June's Pre-Draft Camp with an ease and speed that was astonishing. He was in the middle of every big play, snatching rebounds from bigger players, dribbling upcourt like a guard leading the fast break and arriving on the scene of every loose ball first and controlling it. Both players and camp coaches (who are mostly former NBA players) were shaking their heads at the ubiquitous Balkman. Balkman consistently makes plays, including those on the offensive end when no play is called for him. His high-energy, game-altering play was one of the most surprising developments in this year's camp.
 

portega1968

El Cacique
C - Frye
PF - Lee
SF - Balkman
SG - Nate
PG - Collins

I guess that'll be our summer team starting 5...

With Aldridge, Roy and Sergio, Portland got much better...
 

Trin_Starr

Starter
Orlando Predraft Camp: Day 3

Renaldo Balkman - 14 points, 11 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 6-12 FG, 2-3

Balkman had a surprisingly effective showing, using his combination of athleticism and hard work to track down loose balls and rebounds relentlessly while also finishing a lot of shots around the basket. Balkman is about 6'8, long, athletic, and provides a constant energy on the floor. He was most impressive today attacking the glass, where he'd frequently grab rebounds away from opponents much larger and stronger than he is. In terms of the NBA, his game appears to best translate to a small forward, where he would serve a type of player role, as he is not particularly skilled at any one thing. He hasn't shown much proficiency with outside shooting, though he did have quite a few nice passes today and handled the ball fairly well. He also has a good touch around basket and finished a lot of baskets both in the halfcourt and transition today.

Orlando Predraft Camp: Day 4

Renaldo Balkman

Renaldo Balkman continued to help his draft stock considerably with the energy he showed and the versatility he’s brought to the table here in Orlando.

Balkman was hustling all over the place from the minute he stepped out on the floor, being all over the place both offensively and defensively and doing everything humanly possible to help his team. He was on or around every single loose both whether it was by getting in the passing lanes or hitting the offensive glass, igniting the fast break at times on his own with his above average ball-handling skills and being quicker and more motivated than anyone else on the floor to prove himself. He had two excellent blocks today, one on the perimeter on a switch, and a number of offensive numbers that he occasionally converted into a made basket before anyone could react. He didn’t show any resemblance of an outside shot, but still managed to use his slithery quickness to get to the basket and score either with a layup or an emphatic dunk.

All in all, Balkman has a legit case to be considered MVP of the entire pre-draft camp, and a likely draft pick should he decide to stay in. Sources in Orlando claim that he’s already picked an agent and will announce that fact in the coming days once he gets a final read on his draft stock.
 
Balkman sounds like a solid hustle player, but there is no excuse for passing on Marcus Williams. Isiah should have drafted Williams and then traded him for Al Harrington or a future No. 1 pick. I would have been happy with taking J. Boone at No. 20 too.

The only place I read that said Balkman was going to get taken by the Suns was in an Isiah Thomas quote. I'm betting its bogus. The Suns are in a money crunch and were in sell mode. They weren't drafting any players to keep. If anything they probably would have taken a foreign player to stash over in Europe for a few years. Balkman would have been available at No. 29 and beyond.

He seems like the kind of player I'd root for, but he'll probably be sitting on the bench next to David Lee while Malik Rose, Maurice Taylor and Jalen Rose are stinking up MSG.

Congrats to the Nets for benefitting from Isiah's stupidity.

Stop drinking the Kool-Aid folks. Isiah is clueless.
 

sxmarbury516

Benchwarmer
so u woulda went with josh boone. that being about our 6th pf. i can tell u know which way to bring this team, that is if we dont even wanna make 20 wins. and i would love to stop drinkin the kool-aid but it just tastes so goddam good
 

portega1968

El Cacique
quoting Isiah from knicks.com:

"We had a couple of chances to move up in the draft but the player we would have moved up for didn’t excite us as much as the ‘B-man’."

The B-man being, of course, Balkman.

Which player was Isiah thinking of moving up for?

Rudy Gay or Hilton Armstrong?
Shawne Williams or Saer Sene?
Randy Foye?

guess we'll never know...
 

Allen

Benchwarmer
With Isiah's history of good drafts...I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Steven A Smith and Greg Anthony really tore into the Knicks and Thomas on the ESPN broadcast.
 

furious lord

Benchwarmer
:afro: I can't give Isiah a thumbs up or a thumbs down at this point..I know everybody in the media laughed at Isiah for the Balkman pick, but last year everyone laughed at him when he said he would have taken Frye over Bogut..First game they played each other, Frye dropped 30 buckets on him...If this kid is as good as Isiah thinks he is, then we got one of the steals of this draft....Balkman is 6'8, but what nobody in the media is talking about is that he has a 7'1 wingspan, and for his size blocks shots and rebounds well. He played pf in college, he has the speed and quickness to play sf in the NBA, and he is said to be a good defender...Think about a JYD-type that can guard wing players....You put a defensive-minded small forward who can rebound, block shots and get steals with two skilled bigmen like Curry and Frye on the front line and you can afford to have undersized guards on the court, I assume Isiah will play more zone defense....If he pans out, then he could really improve us defensively and allow us to run more by getting out on the breaks...Last year we had NO ONE to guard the 1, 2, or the 3, so drafting Collins and Balkman instead of marcus Williams made sense in that we have so many pg's already but none that actually play "D"...Now we gotta trade Francis...
 

The 1 and Only

Rotation player
I can't see why ya'll want to trade the franchise. First of all we're not going to get the same trade value in return when we trade him so we need to get the backcourt rotation of JC, the franchise, and starbury. Like what I said, there isn't a backcourt rotation that can match the talent and the ability of the current rotation that we have. We need to leave that alone, we can do some damage with the franchise on our roster. We need to trade Q-Rich or J. Rose and David Lee or Nate Rob for Al harrington...that's a must. Next we need a bruiser at the PF behind Frye. Other than that I think we need to stay quiet until the season starts. We might be in for a pleasant surprise this season.
 

Pedro De Pacas

Benchwarmer
I think Isiah did well, at least as much as I read about the two picks.
Collins is a big defensive minded, pass first pg who could give our smallish sg's Marbury and Nate some time on the two spot.
Balkman doesn't need the ball that much and plays a heck of a defense, so he really fits well in our team.
It's still a gamble but if it pays out....
 
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