Where’s Balkman

January 13, 2009
by Jeremy

By BeefySwats

Through the first games that Balkman played with the Nuggets, he displayed a great deal of energy and “hustle” that the Nuggets have sorely lacked, particularly in the most recent game against the Pistons.

He’s long, can defend, and is very strong on the offensive glass. He also moves without the ball extremely well, which, as we have seen, has been amongst the determining factors for a Nuggets W. He’s at least as capable at scoring as Dahntay Jones and arguably a better on the ball defender when matched up against similarly-sized players.

So where has he been?

With the trade of Chucky Atkins to OKC for Johan Petro and Carmelo out the next 3 weeks, there are now more minutes available to play Balkman. Karl, however, has decided to dump these additional minutes on the turnover-prone Anthony Carter and the offense-less Jones.

Balkman NEEDS to get back into the rotation. I feel that the Nuggets are severely underutilizing his prowess on the defensive end of the court, his ability to scoop up offensive boards and make cuts to the rim when everyone else on the team is just standing around. A secondary lineup that would make me very happy:

KMart-Balkman-Billups-Andersen-Kleiza

You bring a lot of size, very good defense and scoring potential with that 5. Obviously, if Kleiza’s shot is not falling, JR Smith can be reinserted so long as he makes good decisions with the ball.

In summary, with Melo sitting and Chucky Atkins traded there is absolutely no reason to not play Balkman. He brings the speed, hustle, and athleticism that the Nuggets sorely need on both ends of the ball night in and night out.

Posted on January 13, 2009 at 1:26 pm | filed in | 7 Comments

7 Responses to “Where’s Balkman”

  1. CCH says:
    January 13, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Couldn’t agree more. He would of been a perfect matchup for Prince the other night when he was scoring at will. Whats it gonna take Karl?

    Reply
  2. Josh Hopp says:
    January 13, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    I suspect that there is more to the story. It wouldn’t make any sense if there wasn’t.

    Reply
  3. BeefySwats says:
    January 13, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    Loving Bird’s hustle tonight.

    Reply
  4. BeefySwats says:
    January 13, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    God damnit, this is looking exactly like the second half against Detroit.

    Wake the FUCK UP ON OFFENSE, DENVER!

    Reply
  5. BeefySwats says:
    January 13, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    hey karl…

    p l a y b a l k m a n

    Reply
  6. NuggetsandRockiesGirl says:
    January 16, 2009 at 12:32 am

    Great win tonite, but wish we could have seen more of Balkman than just shots of him on the bench..PLAY BALKMAN!

    Reply
  7. jakester says:
    January 16, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    From George today, in the RMN:

    “We’ve kind of been a running team early in the game and not a running at the end of game,” Karl said. “Maybe it’s a substitution pattern of getting (Linas Kleiza) and our runners on the court earlier or maybe extending the rotation another body to keep fatigue down.”

    … gosh, George, what a concept! I have refrained from trashing you in the past, but it’s getting a little ridiculous.

    Reply

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