That's right, for those Serious Playas who've been dozing off in the heat. You'd better recognize that the NBA talent gurus are finally waking up to reality. No longer do they draft the undersized 1s, 2s, and 3s from the NCAA. They may have scored 20 ppg or averaged 7 apg in college but everybody knows that doesn't translate into NBA success. Mateen Cleaves, Bobby Hurley, Mike Sweetney, I could go on... but why don't you look at it for yourself. Check the history of the
NBA Draft and see the numerous blunders of NBA GMs who were wowed by stats and "potential" and ignored what truly makes an NBA player: size and work ethic. I contend that if you draft a player who is of "NBA size" and you determine that his "work ethic" is in the top 2 percentile of potential draftees, that player will be immeasurably more valuable than any amount of high schooler and foreigner stockpiling you could do based on "potential."
And this is exactly what Isiah Thomas has done with the 20th pick of this year's draft. Instead of closing his eyes and hoping to land some unpronouncable Dirk-esque European minor league phenom (Let's please not forget when you look at Euroleague stats that Charles Barkley could probably average 15 and 8 there STILL even at 300+ lbs), Isiah, in a notoriously weak and undermanned draft due to the exclusion of 18-yr-old draftees, chose the player with the best "energy" and the best "work ethic" available:
Renaldo Balkman.
NYK GM Isiah Thomas drafted Renaldo Balkman because he couldn't draft the one college player everyone wanted: Joakim Noah.
Being that I was born and raised and recently moved back to Columbia, SC you probably will say I am biased. In fact, I'm sure shaman will say I'm biased. But don't underrate the players on this team, especially if you are a Memphis fan. Taken as the first pick in the unofficial 3rd round of the NBA Draft (i.e. rookie free agent signings), your Grizzlies took arguably the best player from the back-to-back NIT champion Gamecocks:
Tarence Kinsey, a tall-enough, sharp-shooting specialist who always wore oversized white tees underneath his jersey to compensate for his lack of bulk (Trans. Jerry West - Get this boy in the weight room now!).
Although Kinsey led the 'Cocks in scoring and 3s, Balkman led the team in energy and effort. In fact, having been to a few games this year myself, when Renaldo wasn't on the floor or missed a game due to injury or suspension, the Gamecocks were positively listless and mostly settled for 3s (which Kinsey usually hit) at the end of the shot clock in their patented motion offense. Kinsey averaged 15.8 ppg/4.6 rpg/2.3 apg/1.6 spg/0.3 bpg in about 35 mins/game. Balkman, who often played with foul trouble and was on an emotional rollercoaster all year long averaged a fantasyballers' spread stat dream 9.6 ppg/6.3 rpg/1.9 apg/1.3 bpg/1.7 spg in only 26 mins/game. Not only that, but these averages include a stretch of about 5-7 games at the start of the SEC season when Renaldo was struggling to stay afloat in school (Rumor has it he has trouble reading.) AND was dealing with the emotional burden of having just learned he was to be a father come summertime.
But it's hard to explain the importance of Renaldo Balkman and the energy he brings to someone who is not and has not been a USC Gamecock fan their entire lives. The closest thing I can think of to describe what it's like to be a South Carolina sports fan is this: try being a Chicago Cubs fan. Our team is the perpetual underdog, always striving for the best, and even when they're positioned for a grand statement, they fall flat on their face. In all sports.
So it was with great expectation that the new USC basketball season came in last fall. We had just won the NIT and were poised (we thought) to make a run at the SEC East crown and get a top-tier seed in the NCAA tournament. And against the patsy schedule that most Div 1 teams put together for their fall games, we thought things were going well. We reached the finals of the Great Alaska Shootout only to lose in overtime. Balkman dominated the 13 pre-conference games but USC could not pull out a win against a tourney-level team. Losses to Marquette, Clemson, Temple, & Pittsburgh did not bode well heading into the fiercely competitive SEC. Remember that the SEC comprised half of this year's Final Four (LSU, Fla) as well as the eventual winner (Fla). And sure enough we started the SEC season off with 3 consecutive losses during which Balkman was actually moved to the bench. Coach Dave Odom said that it should not be considered a demotion but rather something the Gamecocks needed to do to get some firepower off the bench (This year's team was notoriously shallow and undersized). Balkman and USC trudged through the regional broadcasts of the early SEC season and then began to see the light when they almost knocked off Kentucky at Rupp losing by 2 points on national TV. Balkman and only netted 6 points and 5 rebounds in that game but he vowed that would not happen again.
Many SEC observers would say that the tenacity Noah displayed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament was something he learned from playing against Renaldo Balkman.
In the next game, an ESPN game against then #2 ranked and 17-1 Florida, came the turning point of Renaldo Balkman's (and Joakim Noah's - but that will be a story for next year's draft) career. The Gamecocks' rail-thin long-limbed PF Brandon Wallace could not contain the spirited and strong play of UF's Joakim Noah (Noah ended up with 12 and 13 for the day) but Renaldo soon replaced him and powered the Cocks to the upset of the season. His line that day would only intimate things to come: 6-7 FG, 6 rebs, 2 asts, 3 stls. 14 pts. But, as it always is with hustle players, the box score did not belie his true impact on the game. Renaldo had been challenged and he had succeeded. However, this success did not translate into success at the ensuing non-televised away games against lesser SEC talent.
This year's 3 SEC battles between Noah and Balkman will go down in legend, with Balkman winning 2-1.
And then the Gamecocks played Florida (and Joakim Noah) again, this time at Gainesville. The previous game (a loss v. Arkansas) saw Balkman play a total of 6 minutes. Sensing his frustration, Odom reinserted Balkman into the starting lineup and charge him with one thing: Stop Noah from killing us on the boards. And he did. Though his stats for the game are unimpressive (8 and 8 + 5 To's in 35 mins), Joakim was held to only 3 boards. And it was that rebounding margin that gave the Gamecocks a 4-point victory on the road. Remember this is the NCAA champions we are talking about! And the MVP of the NCAA tournament we are talking about! And Renaldo led USC to a 2-0 record against them in the regular season. Talk about contributions beyond the box score!
But still the Gamecocks struggled. After their second Florida victory, they would endure another 4-game losing streak against SEC teams, in which RB averaged 5 ppg and Kinsey went cold from the field. And then came the SEC tournament with the Gamecocks 15-14 and needing to win at least one probably two games just to get into the NIT!
Big Baby Davis can't do this! Hustle, hustle, hustle!
But they did more than that, beating Kentucky and Tennesse to advance to the finals only to lose on a last-second tip-in by Noah. Here are his stats for the SEC tournament:
Florida, scored 12 PT w/ 11 REB (fourth double-double of the year), 4 STL, 1 BLK in 34 MIN off bench
Kent., scored 8 PT, 8 REB, 3 ast, 2 stl, in 29 min off the bench
Tenn., scored 16 PT, 7 REB, 2 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk in 27 min off the bench
Miss. St., scored 12 PT, 3 REB, 2 blk, 1 ast, 2 stl in 28 min off the bench
The NIT Tournament is a wonderful consolation prize for those regular-season winners of lowly Div 1 conferences and middle-of-the-pack power conference teams. It is certainly not a tournament that lacks talent. It is also a tournament that plays its Final Four in Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks. But in order to get there the Gamecocks had to play at traditional collegeball powerhouses Florida State and Cincinatti. In an NIT second round OT win at Florida State, RB resuming his starting role due to the academic ineligibility of our transfer center Antoine Tisby, pulled in 13 REB (6 off, 7 def) w/ 8 PT, 3 AST, 1 BLK, 5 STL (tied career high) in 42 MIN. And then in the NIT quarterfinal at Cincinatti, he played 17 min before being carted off the court having broken open a gash on his chin from going after the ball. Again hustle, hustle, hustle. It WILL get you PAID in the NBA. No one thought he would be able to play again in the season. The descriptions on the radio were brutal and we all attributed the injury to the Chicken Curse (Much like the Cubs'
Billy Goat Curse South Carolina fans attribute their lack of success to the "Chicken Curse" which I guess is attributed to the university's mascot-naming committee - after all, we are called the 'Cocks... and we sell memorabilia emblazoned "Go Cocks"). Surely, this would mark the end of our season. However, Kinsey and some other sharp-shooting Cocks pulled out some 3s from their butts and we prevailed 65-62 to advance to MSG.
At MSG, RB had the best two games of his life. He returned to the team and started just five days after his head-splitting injury. In the NIT semi-final win vs. Louisville, he scored 23 PT w/ 8 REB, 3 AST, 4 BLK in 36 MIN. And in the NIT finals win over Michigan, he scored 10 PT w/ 12 REB, 5 BLK, 4 STL in 35 MIN. He made it look easy. If I were Isiah sitting in the stands at MSG those two nights, I'd have drafted him too. But I would have probably waited for him to fall to the 2nd round. But then again, this year's draft was weak and RB was considered a top-5 performer at the Orlando spring workouts. He might not fall that low (even to the NYK's only other pick this year at #29). So he pulled the trigger, knowing full well that the Knicks need someone willing to go full-bore and sacrifice for the team, someone who will work harder than everyone else in the league, someone who will not be intimidated by other teams, the media, his coach, etc., someone who will be thankful for his opportunity. If you don't think that RB is worth Isiah's risk, you obviously haven't been watching basketball this past year. Not only did Noah sure the importance of hustle and grit during the NCAAs, but Ben Wallace, Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier, Tayshaun Prince, Rick Mahorn, Dennis Rodman, Mark Madsen, Luke Walton, Reggie Evans, etc. etc. etc. have made a career of it in the NBA. And if the Bulls are willing to put down $10 mil per for someone who averages 7 ppg, you should too. It is these types of players that define their team and inspire them to play better than they truly are. In the new energy paradigm in the NBA, you look for these types of guys a priori because it is with them and only with them that the whole team becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Can you put a price on that? Can you tell me what pick I should draft that at? In previous years, true, RB would go undrafted and have to fight his way through Europe, the NBDL, numerous training camps, trades, etc. much like Wallace did. But now, the long failed history of NBA Drafts have led NBA GMs to try not to waste their precious draft picks looking for another 20+ ppg scorer or 7' phenom. They need parts. And RB is definitely the type of player that every team needs. It's just that now teams finally realize it.
