eww, no thanks.  I am not a Balkman fan. 

Why not?

I would love, love, love Balkman's addition to this team. 

This team does not have a physically powerful wing after Pierce: Ray, Pietrus, Sasha, Marquis and Dooling are all smaller, lighter and weaker than garden variety NBA SFs.  None of them can rebound like a forward either.

Balkman is very powerfully built, very tenacious, a good rebounder and defender.  Capable of filling in as a small-ball 4 without killing us on the boards.  Capable of playing alongside Pierce at the wing to physically maul softer opposing wing combos.

Sure he can't shoot, but he can play off-ball pretty well, hits the offensive glass (a huge need on this team) and can be very effective in transition.

I'd cut Sasha or Daniels to bring in Balkman.

Balkman is a tweener who is not really quick enough to be a great defender at SF, and not big enough at PF.  He also is one of the worst offensive players in the league.

He is a high energy guy, and very tenacious, but he is not really an NBA quality player.

Quote from: snively on February 17, 2012, 12:38:34 PM

Quote from: Chris on February 17, 2012, 12:27:43 PM

eww, no thanks.  I am not a Balkman fan. 

Why not?

I would love, love, love Balkman's addition to this team. 

This team does not have a physically powerful wing after Pierce: Ray, Pietrus, Sasha, Marquis and Dooling are all smaller, lighter and weaker than garden variety NBA SFs.  None of them can rebound like a forward either.

Balkman is very powerfully built, very tenacious, a good rebounder and defender.  Capable of filling in as a small-ball 4 without killing us on the boards.  Capable of playing alongside Pierce at the wing to physically maul softer opposing wing combos.

Sure he can't shoot, but he can play off-ball pretty well, hits the offensive glass (a huge need on this team) and can be very effective in transition.

I'd cut Sasha or Daniels to bring in Balkman.

Pietrus is pretty strong and was going for some boards last night. Sasha is deceptive too.

Balkman won't make a difference and I doubt he would see much PT.

No point.

Pietrus is a swing man, but he's much closer to a guard than a forward: he plays almost exclusively on the perimeter offensively and his defense is oriented more towards the perimeter and guards (where his quickness and length come in handy) than the mid-post and in (where his guardish size and girth put him at a disadvantage).  On the boards, he's solid as a guard, but a little weak at the forward (4.6 boards per 36 this year).

Sasha's got some beef, but the early season match-ups against Melo and LeBron showed how overmatched he was physically against power 3s.

This team is lightweight on the wings after Pierce.  Balkman's a missing ingredient.  I think he could play a significant chunk of minutes as the 4th wing.  Right now, we're wasting those minutes on Dooling.

Given how bad Marquis has been I'm fine with bringing in someone else to fill out the bench.

Me too.  But I would shoot much higher than Balkman.  

Quote from: Chris on February 17, 2012, 12:49:54 PM

Balkman is a tweener who is not really quick enough to be a great defender at SF, and not big enough at PF.  He also is one of the worst offensive players in the league.

He is a high energy guy, and very tenacious, but he is not really an NBA quality player.

He's not a great defender against all match-ups, but he's very useful against powerful 3s like Melo. 

And his offense isn't so bad for a hustle-oriented bench player, especially on our team.  Look at the guys he'd be replacing:  Marquis Daniels has been worse this year than Balkman ever has; Sasha shoots 40% from the field and 30% from 3.  And neither of those guys has a high-level skill comparable to Balkman's rebounding.

But I am not comparing him with Marquis Daniels, I am comparing him against other guys who might be (or are already) available.

If we are going to cut someone to bring in a free agent, from guys who are already available, I would take all of these guys before even considering Balkman (and I won't even include Przybilla, since he is biding his time):

1. Al Thornton
2. Jamario Moon
3. Julian Wright
4. Leon Powe
5. Kyrylo Fesenko
6. Kelenna Azuibuke
7. Either of the Graham brothers

In other words, there are a lot of NBA players that are not on rosters right now.  The only reason Balkman was over them was because someone signed him to a dumb contract a couple years ago.  

If we are going to cut someone to bring in a free agent, from guys who are already available, I would take all of these guys before even considering Balkman (and I won't even include Przybilla, since he is biding his time):

1. Al Thornton
2. Jamario Moon
3. Julian Wright
4. Leon Powe
5. Kyrylo Fesenko
6. Kelenna Azuibuke
7. Either of the Graham brothers

In other words, there are a lot of NBA players that are not on rosters right now.  The only reason Balkman was over them was because someone signed him to a dumb contract a couple years ago. 

1.  Thornton: Balkman's the better rebounder, defender and role-player.
2.  Moon: Not the rebounder/stat sheet stuffer he once was.  Past his prime.  Balkman more likely to able to contribute.
3.  Wright: Fascinating player.  I'd like him.
4. Powe: no longer an NBA quality player after the injuries.
5.  Fesenko: more of a Stiemsma replacement.
6.  Azuibuke: Didn't he suffer a career-ending injury?
7. Graham brothers: dumber players than Balkman.  I think he'd play a small role better.

In his first 3 years, Balkman produced in rotation minutes.  I think he's well worth a roster spot.

Balkman? Is this what our world has come to now?