July 28th, 2008 – Dr. Dime
We posted a link to the NewsDay article this morning in our Daily Dimes section that outlined a potential trade discussion getting serious between the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets for a swap of Renaldo Balkman for PG Taurean Green and SF Bobby Jones. Well one of our boyz who works for the Knicks organization has told us that the deal is all but done as the teams have no agreed in principle to a deal that would have the New York Knicks sending the Denver Nuggets SF Renaldo Balkman in exchange for Bobby Jones, Taurean Green, and a future draft pick. We have not heard if that pick will be a first or second round pick yet. But regardless of what the pick is the deal appears to be all but signed for.
If you are a Denver Nuggets fan you can’t help but be happy about this trade. Balkman’s style of play should fit perfectly with high scoring players like Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony who require a lot of touches and shoot in bunches. Balkman is a huge hustle type player who will immediately give them an improved defensive presence whenever he’s on the floor. He can shut down opposing players and rebound the ball relentlessly. Not only is he an excellent defensive rebounder, but he is a scrappy player that gets to a lot of offensive boards and loose balls.
Allen Iverson has always played well with these types of role players during the bulk of his career in Philadelphia. Remember the days of Matt Harpring, Eric Snow, Aaron McKie, George Lynch, and Tyrone Hill. Whenever Philly had a successful run with Iverson it was when he was surrounded by role players that would play defense, rebound, and get to loose balls. Denver once again feels like they are one or two moves away from being a contending team. That is why I am still baffled as to why they gave up Marcus Camby. If you have Camby, Balkman, Nene, Kmart, Iverson, Melo, Kleiza, and Smith you would have an excellent balance of offense and defense. Ah well, that horse has left the barn. This move still should be an improvement to the Nuggets defense and toughness. Balkman really seems to be a Terry Porter type of guy.
For the Knicks it is a move to cut costs, as it was mentioned in the NewsDay article, our sources tells us that both players can expect to get waived if this deal is completed.
