Rockin’ Steady

From New York City, this is Rockin’ Steady.

1. The Horror, The Horror

I was there:

The great thing about this moment is that no more than maybe 25 people in that crowd could have possibly known exactly who they were booing. For starters, the booing started so quickly that no one could’ve heard the Commish get “Balkman” out. Secondly, even if they had, no one knew who he was. Renaldo had not surfaced on any of the popular draft boards prior to the draft–draft boards whose projections covered both the first and second rounds. Nestled in my customary Isiah Thomas-related dread in the very rear of the theater, I began–after spending about three minutes piecing together what had happened–fully imagining a horrible clerical error, in which the Knicks had inadvertently drafted the long departed Ronaldo Blackman. In my mind, Anucha Browne Sanders was the person who, before leaving the Knicks organization, had once been in charge of making sure that the Knicks did not draft players whose names happened to sound like those of former Knicks. Without her eagle eye and rubber stamp, we were doomed to picking up players with names like “Don Parks” and “Anthony Greg” or, worse yet, simply trading up to take CBS News commentator Anthony Mason.

And so we booed, forgetting that the NBA Draft is the one facet of management Isiah Thomas is unquestionably good at. And quietly at first, something remarkable happened.

2. Kool Wit’ a K

I tend to group Knicks into two simple categories: “Part of the Solution” or “Part of the Problem.” This dates back to two years ago, when the Knicks hit the absolute nadir of their cap woes and I would spend the better part of my days fantasizing about who we could release or trade if we could afford it. Renaldo Balkman is, without a doubt, Part of the Solution. The defensive effort and athleticism and rebounding ability for a guy his size are only part of it. What intrigues me is his handle.

I remember Isiah promising prior to last season to instill more of a “Phoenix-style” offense in the Garden. (Query whether this happened at all). Renaldo Balkman has an incredibly rare skill among non-guards: the ability to rebound and, in one smooth motion, turn the ball upcourt and bring it up quickly across halfcourt. The decisions and execution after that point are still a bit on the mortifying side, but that someone as defensive-minded as Balkman even has that mentality and basic ability to start a break is incredibly promising. Balkman adds another dimension to offensive opportunism, a term most would understand to mean simply picking up garbage points around the basket. Balkman does this AND start garbage breaks, and I’ve never seen that precise combination of skills before. I see Balkman as an unexpectedly intriguing amphetamine-laced amalgam of Anthony Bonner and Charlie Ward. And I mean that in the best possible way. What kind of player do you get when you give THAT mix a couple seasons of experience, maybe tack on a consistent jumper? I have no idea. And I mean THAT in the best possible way as well.

It also helps that Renaldo is crazy. Not Marbury-crazy, but crazy enough. He is a good cheerleader, and wants to be your friend.

Tik-a-tee-tee! ‘Naldo is, in my mind, among the more intriguing things about this new season, and I worry that he won’t get the time to develop in NYK’s perpetual forward glut. (For what it’s worth–is there any position where there ISN’T some sort of glut?) Anyway, I will be very disappointed if we trade Renaldo for, you know, something stupid.