Renaldo
August 4, 2008 – 1:41 pmJust reading the reactions on some of the other blogs to the Renaldo trade.
Were we watching the same Renaldo?
Yes, Renaldo was the best shot-blocker on the team. That’s not saying much when you have Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph up front along with Quentin Richardson. Chandler could have duplicated, if not improved upon, Renaldo’s blocked shots had he gotten any burn.
Yes, Renaldo was a fan favorite at the Garden. Renaldo is hustle player that will dive for the ball any chance he can get. But was Renaldo developing since we took him at #20 in 2006? What skills did he pick up since that first summer league in Vegas?
Renaldo has limited upside, especially because he can’t shoot. This is very important in D’Antoni’s system, and will be the reason why another fan favorite by the name of David Lee will eventually be shopped and quite possibly dealt for another piece to Walsh’s puzzle down the road.
I like Renaldo and I like Lee, but I realize that the Knicks have not been winning games so it is common sense to me that the makeup of the team should be altered. It is a little difficult right now to move Q or Jeffries or Randolph, so you start with a Balkman or Lee because they’re still on their rookie contracts.
Walsh is going after team players with clearly developed basketball skills. Not raw athleticism like Trevor or Renaldo, not a guy like Crawford that did not play organized basketball until he was a junior in high school (Jamal is 28, when are people going to stop talking about what Jamal will be, and start to really focus on what Jamal is). Well-roundedness, basketball fundamentals, sharing the basketball, being a good teammate, those are the qualities D’Antoni is looking for, and that’s what Walsh is trying to supply despite the salary cap quagmire.
Over the next two or three years, nobody is safe on this roster.
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In other news, the beginning of August brings us a reminder of some revered people.
Happy Birthday to a few of my favorite people:
Robin : August 3rd
Louis Armstrong : August 4th
my mom : August 5th
Patrick Ewing : August 5th
and, we have a birthday coming up here on Knicks Defense in a few days : August 6th 2007, our first post.
8 Responses to “Renaldo”
I am the best player in the world.
By knicksdefense on Aug 4, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Happy Birthday KnickDefense (the blog, not the man)
Here’s to many more posts and many team wins to celebrate.
C’mon, 08/09!
-Robin
By Robin on Aug 5, 2008 at 11:01 am
Happy birthday KnicksD
I got some points to hit you back with on the recent threads but not enough time this morning.
Best of to you and yours.
By Orange and Blue on Aug 5, 2008 at 11:22 am
I hope that Renaldo cracks the rotation in Denver, and as i have said before i think they are a nice fit together.
If he doesn’t though, i wonder if the Taz Oracles will conveniently forget the teeth-gnashing and simply fade away, similar to the once-powerful Jerrod Mustaf fan club?
Cooleyhigh wrote a crisp retort to my anti-”Scriptologist” rant on a previous thread that i wanted to briefly address, so i quote below:
“My Scriptologist Crystal Ball is signaling a Mighty Resurgence in the MECCA for its fledgling NBA Franchise and the Ole Southern Flim Flam of the G.W.H.’S (you might need some seasoning to decipher those initials and the one’s to follow) to the rescue from the Hapless and and Shameful D.A.N. But, if you follow the C.R.E.A.M., you will find the strand of Truth and the Script in the Safety Deposit Box, at the NBA’S Offshore Bank in Maccau…By the way, where did the USA Team just play its exhibition games?…Just a coincidence I guest…The Asian Gambling Mecca…As I always say, “Free your mind, and the rest will follow.””
i began writing a long-ass rebuttal to this, but it doesn’t play because the subject at hand is a slippery fish. i will simply stand by my original post. But i do have to ask - are you saying you think Stern asked the Dolans/Zeke to NOT settle out of court in order to dominate the back pages on the NY tabloid rags and keep Donaghy off?
i note that your crystal ball seems to indicate a resurgence of the (fledgling? really?) Knicks this season and undue credit going to the GWH’s. Does that mean you think Gallo will crack the rotation this season, and are you predicting a playoff seed and/or a first round series victory for our orange and blue?
For any other Scriptologists out there, do your crytal balls paint a similar or different picture than Cooleyhigh’s?
Gotta admit, the joint in Macau is pretty hot….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Macau
KD, i know the summer is slow but it is good to see Cooley and Tman and Lives and O&B, etc all the gang kicking it, dropping kah-nowledge and throwing the occasional jab.
Tman, nice post…i liked how you support Mr. Scala as a standup law enforcement officer rather than the typical “just another devil with a badge” slander.
But as far as “just fixing it” goes - how would you suggest doing it? A sideline referee with overrule authority and replay capability would do wonders towards correcting some calls, but would also drastically slow the pace of the game and make it less fan-friendly. Perhaps a rigorous emphasis on “letter of the law” rule enforcement (and public referee evaluation) would help, but again….after Jamal Crawford’s 800th palming violation of the year, wouldn’t we start to get tired of the new & improved product?
Is there some other specific method you can advocate that would be an improvement over what we currently have, and better than the two (flawed) examples i cited above?
By PaulNoize on Aug 5, 2008 at 11:35 am
Paul
I gots to give you a new monicker (a sub moniker if you will)… the riddler.
Good questions make for great responses or in many cases a blank facial expression.
I’ll try to answer some later can’t do it right now though.
By Orange and Blue on Aug 5, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Happy B-day Knicks D!!!
You have proven yourself to be a gentleman and a scholar, not to mention one hell of a Knick fan.
I look forward to another season of “postin’ and toastin’” with ya…
By Bronxboy in Md on Aug 5, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Congrats on your B-Day KnicksD!!!!!!
“A great place to blog”.
By D L T Knicks on Aug 5, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Not so many years ago it was quite common for people with particular heartfelt points of view to bring wooden soap boxes or step ladders to the corners on 125th St. in Harlem and evoke their particular points of view about any and everything.You found your corner and you said your piece.It was not all that unusual to have to defend your position against some very lively competition.Rumor has it that it may even have been the birth place of amateur hour at the Apollo.It was very American. I wonder if any of those speakers were hired by the local print or radio media to represent their points of view.I like Knicks D and Fanatics not because I agree with everything I hear.Hell, if I did I would know two things for sure, those being that I was both bored and boring.So let us tip our caps, insignia NY, of course, to KD, who reminds us all on his BD and anniversary, that it ain’t shyte if it don’t have a little Frank’s on it.
If I laugh, think and cry, it’s been a good day-Jim Valvano paraphrase.
Sometimes, on a good day, you guys will give me two out of three.On a great day ….who knows?Maybe a long time ago, when people in the media cared about what they wrote or said it might have been different, or then again maybe I was just young and listening with my heart.
Paul, liked your piece.As far as “fixing it”, my answer is another question.Riddle me this!Does the man make the office, or does the office make the man.Build a better mouse trap, create a smarter mouse.In my small opinion it’s not about another rule.There will always be another rule.It’s about an individual’s will to change things for a better, higher reason.If Obama wins this thing we’ll find out about his will.Will he be FDR or Jimmy Carter?History is full of men, and women who changed things because the had the will,certainly not because they didn’t.Maybe David Stern has picked the right guy with this new military man, maybe it’s another cover up.Point is this is his time.He can clean house and make a difference, or he can go down the pathetic road of baseball and professional wrestling.David, you can spend your time figuring out how to put an NBA franchise in Dubai,a very lucrative possibility, or you can answer the cry of “Say it ain’t so”, with, “I’ll do my damn’dest
By Tman on Aug 5, 2008 at 8:29 pm