Who in Naismith's Name is Renaldo Balkman?
A Look at the New New York Knick
But not today.
Running below is a lucky thirteen of informational bits about the enigma not quite known as Renaldo Balkman, certain to go down in history together with Temple guard Mardy Collins as the last first-round picks of the Isiah Thomas era in New York.
- Playing for prep school Laurinburg Institute, Renaldo Balkman led the team to a 40-2 record and no. 1 ranking.
- Led the USA Score International Basketball Outreach team in rebounds and was second in points per game in the 2005 Nation's Cup held in Germany.
- Renaldo Balkman is not, despite heartfelt beliefs of coach/general manager Isiah "Captain Smith" Thomas, Rolando Blackman. (Ah, that joke's already an oldie, but still a goodie.)
- In his junior year with the South Carolina Gamecocks, Renaldo Balkman averaged 9.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, not quite two assists, and 1.7 steals per game.
- Since Renaldo Balkman ran up such numbers in just 25.7 minutes per game often in a sixth-man role, the new New York Knick represents the first-round pick that played the least in 2005-06.
- Renaldo Balkman turned in an impressive all-around performance in the 2006 NIT championship over Michigan, with a line reading 10 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks and four steals.
- In fact, Renaldo Balkman was named MVP of the NIT tournament in 2006.
- Renaldo Balkman's best game to date may have been his February 2006 performance against Alabama, producing a stat line reading 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go along with 16 rebounds and four steals.
- At number 20, Renaldo Balkman was the first selection of the 2006 NBA Draft not in attendance at the ceremony.
- The selection of Renaldo Balkman was booed heartily when announced. But you knew that already; heck, that's part of the reason you're reading, no?
- Renaldo Balkman's Temple team won back-to-back NIT championships in his sophomore and junior years.
- Renaldo Balkman's agent is Leon Rose, of the same partnership managing Balkman's fellow first-rounder/trivia fodder Collins and LeBron "King" James.
- Renaldo Balkman claims that he "will never cut his hair again." Now that is a statistic worthy of a first-round pick.
Published by Os Davis
Os Davis is an expatriate living in Budapest. He currently writes the "The Lives of the Monster Dogs" screenplay and non-fiction on CRM, environment and sports. He has two children: Nikolas, 14, and Zsuzsann... View profile
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2 Comments
Post a Commentrenaldo is fun to basketball with
Renaldo Balkman played at The University of South Carolina, not Temple.