The Bright Side of Isiah

[Mr. J]

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Isiah Thomas is a bit sneaky.

Isiah Thomas is a bit belligerent.

Isiah Thomas is a bit mathematically challenged.

But if I was rebuilding an NBA team, Isiah Thomas would be the first person I'd call.

Why? Renaldo Balkman.

I was sitting in Madison Square Garden the night Isiah made Balkman the 20th pick in the 2006 NBA draft. I heard the boos and the scathing criticism. I also couldn't believe he didn't select UConn guard Marcus Williams -- at least for the purpose of having tradable talent.

And yet here we are, seven months later, and I can't find another rookie picked outside of the top 10 that makes more of a consistent impact when he's in the game than Balkman. I'm not saying Balkman's going to be a star, but I am saying it appears Isiah has done it again.

For all of Thomas' shortcomings as a general manager -- and he has his fair share of them -- his greatest strength, identifying talent, is among the best in the league. When you consider that eight teams passed on Tracy McGrady, six teams passed on eventual Rookie of the Year Damon Stoudamire, he swapped a faltering 34-year-old Kurt Thomas for a fairly talented 26-year-old Quentin Richardson, he plucked David Lee (the only second-year player averaging a double-double) with the 30th pick, and he watched Chicago overpay for 32-year-old Ben Wallace while 24-year-old Eddy Curry is developing into one of the best centers in the league, you begin to see that maybe, just maybe, Thomas isn't the fool so many pundits paint him to be.

Yes, the Knicks are below .500 and have been for much of his three-year tenure. But like it or not, they are only one game out of first place heading into Wednesday's game against Philadelphia. And while it is true that the Atlantic Division is downright awful, of all the teams that did not make the playoffs last year, the Knicks have the best core of young talent. Consequently, they are a lot closer to regular playoff appearances and being NBA Finals contenders than you may think.</div>
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...ht&lid=tab1pos2
Very interesting article. Despite the criticism he gets, he has made some good moves.

 

[Really Lost One]

I always knew Renaldo Balkman was going to be a good player

Btw, nice sig

 

[Mr. J]

<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I always knew Renaldo Balkman was going to be a good player

Btw, nice sig</div>
I hope you'll be saying that about your avi tonight!

And yes, Balkman is better than many rookies. It's a wack class though.

 

[Really Lost One]

Renaldo Balkman sort of reminds me of Ronny Turiaf.

I'm not sure about Balkman's dance moves, but they both seem like fan favorite, high energy, hustle type players.

 

[Chutney]

The problem is almost all of his good moves are wasted, because he gets carried away every offseason. Just look at the talent he's drafted/traded for as the GM (Nazr Mohammed, Trevor Ariza, Jackie Butler, Ime Udoka) and look at what he's replaced it with, because of his overly-aggressive strategy (Malik Rose, Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jared Jeffries). I'm sure we'll see some of his current crop of young talent (Nate Robinson, David Lee, Channing Frye, Renaldo Balkman, Mardy Collins) be traded away or lost too, if Isiah remains the Knicks' GM.

 

[Mr. J]

<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The problem is almost all of his good moves are wasted, because he gets carried away every offseason. Just look at the talent he's drafted/traded for as the GM (Nazr Mohammed, Trevor Ariza, Jackie Butler, Ime Udoka) and look at what he's replaced it with, because of his overly-aggressive strategy (Malik Rose, Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jared Jeffries). I'm sure we'll see some of his current crop of young talent (Nate Robinson, David Lee, Channing Frye, Renaldo Balkman, Mardy Collins) be traded away or lost too, if Isiah remains the Knicks' GM.</div>
Some of the talented players you mentioned could not have been acquired without taking some bad contracts in return. For example the Nazr Mohammed deal. The Spurs were looking to acquire Nazr and the Knicks got back Rose and two first round draft picks. Essentially the Knicks traded Nazr Mohammed for Malik Rose, David Lee, and Mardy Collins. As we see, that was a good trade.

If Jackie Butler were still here, he would be riding the injury reserve list, especially after Curry's play of late. The Spurs are not even giving him any burn despite paying him I think 3 million a season. The Francis move was definitely a mistake, but it was a move Larry Brown demanded. I liked Ariza on the team, but Balkman replaced him as our spark off bench. Jerome James was an awful move and the verdict is still out on Jared Jeffries. I think Udoka is getting a bit overrated putting up these stats for Portland. Jeffries is better for this team than Udoka was or would have been.

 

[Chutney]

No, I didn't mean to say that getting rid of those players has led directly to only those bad contracts. The point was more that Isiah always seems to have good, young talent on his hands, but inexplicably feels that he needs to replace it with high-priced free agents instead of letting them develop. He just refuses to rebuild and it's a shame, because he continues to waste his excellent drafting.