Renaldo Balkman traded to Denver

[NYC2BGI]

Balkman is a real hustler but don't expect big number from him. You guys will love him in Denver.

[Searching4BrianWilliams]

This actually was a pretty good move, and therefor was clearly a mistake. Mark Warkentein must have thought is was getting Rolando Blackman.

[Paeds]

Knick fan here

I am pissed, I love Balkmans game, he will be a Fan favorite.

GFood Luck and take care of him

[Knicksfan20]

Well it looks like he wears a headband, an arm sleeve, and smokes weed, so he'll fit in perfectly. And i'm sure he'll be happy with the weed we have up here(at least Travis Henry sure did..).

But seriously, the reaction of Knicks fans should tell us how good this trade is. And most of them seem pretty pissed over on their board. He'll be a good Najera replacement.

And weed is legal in Denver isnt it? Up to an ounce i think correct?



Edit: To the other guy....Najera **** sucks, who are you trying to convince? Just because your a hustle player, and can make a shot now and then...doesnt make you a good player...Then again...thats exactly what balkman is..a hustle player who plays Defense...He isnt that great either.

But dont act like Najera is such a great player, and I think Balkman is here to replace him, since he is going to jersey is he not?

[Ballito]

Great move by the nuggets front office. I hate Walsh. I wish he would jus go to his funeral home and fall a sleep playing checkers. he sucks!!

[SoupOrSonics]

As good a trade as this was for Denver, it still doesn't clarify where the team is going. They gave away their best defensive player, and let their second best defensive player walk, so they try to make up for it by picking this guy up? They're still a worse defensive team than they were last year, by far, and they were hideous defensively last year.

What is your team doing?

[truth serum]

Egh! Hate to see Balkmania leave the Garden. This guy is fun to watch so congrats. He won't be a huge difference maker, but like I said, he's fun to watch and he plays his balls off from start to finish. Defensive intensity and work on the glass for a guy with his frame is excellent...and he's a high flyer. Great value for a second rounder, and I can only hope this means bigger moves to be made for the Knicks later this offseason. Otherwise, this leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

[Reks]

God knows the Nuggets need a strong defensive minded player. It's a good move.

[Luv those Knicks]

Najera's replacement and an upgrade at that. Love the trade, should of kept Camby

Balkman IS NOT an upgrade over Najera

I still love this move, why on earth would NY trade Balkman though??

Knickfan here (my name probably gives that away).

Without doubt, Balkman is better than the 2 guys you sent us, so you win the trade int hat sense, and balkman is probably worth a 2nd round pick. Your team got money, which from a fans perspective is inconsequential. So certainly for the next year your team wins this trade.

Here's the thing on Balkman, if you look at his numbers, his rookie year was clearly better than his sophmore, and if you watched him play, he was all over the place his rookie year and last year he didn't seem into it anymore. last year he was, I think it's safe to say, below average - even for a bench player, while his rookie year, he was showing signs of being a great 6th man one day.

That may have been due to his injury and missing pre-season, but Balk didn't show the passion last year that he had the year before - hek, maybe it was playing for Isiah that turned him off. I can't really say if it was injury, lazyness, chemistry, misuse, but, Balkman was sub mediocre last year. It's funny how many knickfans are overlooking that.

On the plus side, NY is looking at 2010 cap space, and that's balkman's contract year. If NY had no intention of signing him, and if he's below chandler in our SF rotation, why not trade a guy you don't plan on using, or keeping - so it he might still be a nice player for you guys.

But I have to wonder, given that dantoni's had time to watch these guys in Vegas Practice for a week or two, he might not have been that impressed with Balkman, and Balkman might be one of those guys who had a good rookie year, but will never be anything special.

I'd love to be wrong. I like Balkman. he's a fun player and I'd have no problems if he bounces back and gives your team rebounds and steals and blocks and boundless energy. Hek, during his rookie year, Balkman was given the assignment of guarding Yao when Yao was killing the knicks during an ugly blowout game and Neither Curry nor Frye nor Lee was up to the task. Balkman forced a handful of turnovers and covered Yao better than any of our other players - he's got the tools to be a fun fan favorite. But I'm not sure he has the drive - he might have Bison Dele issues, of wanting to chill and not wanting so much to play.

He'll still be better than Jones and the other guy you gave up for him, but he might not be as good as you expect. But If you could transport him back to his rookie season, then you'll be very happy with the player you got.

Time will tell which Balkman will show up in Denver.

[eathy]

do we really need another defender who can't shoot?

[Luv those Knicks]

Oh and just for the record,

If Balkman's 6'8 then Camby's 7'4. He's the shortest 6'8 player in the league, but he does have long arms and good bounce, so he plays bigger than he is. I think he was measured 6'5 and change in pre-draft camp. That being said, he has played PF at times, and didn't play it badly.

[Ewingfan]

I like the trade. Balkman is an energy player. He can defend. He cant shoot but thats one of the problems i had with Najera. There were many nights when he was just a 3 point shooter. With all the scoring we have we dont need Balkman to score. I dont know if this trade makes us better. It definitely replaces Najera in the hustle department. I dont know how Karl is going to utilize him.
The Nuggets still need better defense out of their starting 5. I cant see this team improving without getting consistent defense from their starting 1,2 and 3 positions. Kenyon is the only starter that i trust on defense and thats not enough.

[Clincher]

Knick fan here and while I wont go on suicide hotline for the Balkman deal I will say this

- He absolutely FRUSTRATES Dirk when guarding him. He will hard foul a guy and play hard and hustle. He will dive to the ground for a ball as well. He has the tattoo that resemble hustle and reckless(I forgot the exact tattoos) but he takes his hustle game very seriously.

- He has no jump shot and will play way too reckless at times where he will get sloppy with the ball. Underrated athletic wise though, he can do a decent enough dunk. Just isnt a very good ballhandler so he will need to be fed the ball to be able to dunk it. He will have 1-2 games where his heart wont get stopped and he get will pickup buckets. Dont expect him to get 20 pts by doing it but he will be able to get a good 7 and 4 for you in limited minutes, at least IMO. I can see him averaging that total, depending on how Karl uses him.

- Never was a distraction in the locker room and did what the coaches told him to do. Definitely has a great sense of chracter, which is something needed in Denver. He will lose his head a bit though and get in the face of someone. He was right in front of Lebron James's face after he hard fouled Lebron(Happened 2 times in his rookie year). He also was very close to getting on the court in the Nuggets/Knicks bench brawl until being restrained.

And the Knick fans on the board arent necessarily mad about losing Balkman, so much as what we got in return for Balkman considering he was our 1st rounder 2 years ago. We have also loved guys like Mike Sweetney, Channing Frye and Trevor Ariza in the past so dont take some of the Knick fans input here. We just love to see guys who get drafted by NYK to succeed and will maybe cover the secrets up.

Good luck with Balkman though, can never bash a guy who tried hard here and went through a coach like Isiah Thomas.

[Princerod]

Good news. That's not enough, but maybe there are things that'll come soon.

[NYC2BGI]

Many of us Knicks fans are sad to see Balkman go. He along with David Lee were Knicks fan's favorites. With a decent amount of playing time, Balkman plays really well except for his outside shooting. He can rebound, finish on the break, block shots and play D really well. Maybe he will get a better chance to play in Denver than he got here in NYC. We wish him luck out there.

[EMB6903]

Well it looks like he wears a headband, an arm sleeve, and smokes weed, so he'll fit in perfectly. And i'm sure he'll be happy with the weed we have up here(at least Travis Henry sure did..).

But seriously, the reaction of Knicks fans should tell us how good this trade is. And most of them seem pretty pissed over on their board. He'll be a good Najera replacement.

And weed is legal in Denver isnt it? Up to an ounce i think correct?



Edit: To the other guy....Najera **** sucks, who are you trying to convince? Just because your a hustle player, and can make a shot now and then...doesnt make you a good player...Then again...thats exactly what balkman is..a hustle player who plays Defense...He isnt that great either.

But dont act like Najera is such a great player, and I think Balkman is here to replace him, since he is going to jersey is he not?

I never once tried to hype up Najera, you just made an ignorant comment saying Balkman is an upgrade over Najera, which he isnt... thats all I was pointing out

[Luv those Knicks]

I do want to add that Balkman had a way of "going to war" against Lebron. He took it personally if Bron had a good game, cause he prided himself on his D.

You'll probably have the occasional night when Balkman will frustrate Kobe or Dirk or Durant. Especially if he steps up from his rather unimpressive sophmore season last year, you might be quite happy with this guy.

[MHZ]

I guess I like the move. I'd like to get a guy a little more skilled, but having an energy guy like him off the bench is a good thing, especially when you're losing Najera.

If anything, at least the Nuggets are moving to improve rather than shed salary/get worse.

[#1knickfan]

Najera's replacement and an upgrade at that. Love the trade, should of kept Camby

Balkman IS NOT an upgrade over Najera

I still love this move, why on earth would NY trade Balkman though??

Apparently, the Knicks front office is of the mindset that Diantoni can save Quentin Richardsons career. Walsh said he wanted to free up minutes for Chandler and with the euro guy not expected to be a huge factor in his first year and Jeffries rarely playing it is obvious that Q will be getting starters minutes with Chandler being his primary backup. No room for Balkman in that scenario but if they would have just gotten rid of Q instead of Balkman then Chandler would have found his extra minutes and we would have been better off as a team.

[el loco]

^^^ That's the part I don't get. D'antoni said that there weren't going to be minutes for Balkman playing behind Chandler, the rookie, Q, and Jeffries, so what do they do? They trade him to a team where he will still be looking to find minutes by playing behind Melo and Kleiza. I like the trade and pulling the trigger on it was a no brainer for the Nuggets, but where will he get his minutes?