Most of our games were in dominating fashion where we had a commanding 20 point lead at one time or another. We showed great cohesion and never got down when we were down. Fortunately, we had a second-year player in Balkman and a third-year player in Nate Robinson - who was MVP of the Vegas League. Wilson Chandler was very good averaging around 14 points and 5 rebounds. I really don't know why he slipped so far. Physically, he's very long, more than I thought (no homo). He's definitely NBA ready and athletic in every sense of the word being a strong, 6'8" SF. He also has very good skills - his shooting is very solid, as is his ball handling and passing skills. He's also a good defender and rebounder with as much potential as anyone in the lottery not named Oden or Durant. Based on what he showed in the summer league, Demetris Nichols was an absolute steal being selected 53rd in the draft. He's a very good shooter, something the Knicks have lacked on a consistent basis, and has a natural knack for putting the ball in the basket. He can get a little out-of-control sometimes dribbling too high. But overall he's very solid, especially considering he was almost undrafted. He's a solid defender also. Randolph Morris was also a pleasant surprise. My biggest knock on him was the fact he has the tendency to be sloppy at times, especially with the passes. He made some low-IQ passes especially when faced with a double team in the post or when the defense applied full court pressure in the backcourt. Despite this, he possesses a nice touch around the rim and even showed range out to around 15 feet. Morris was also active on the glass and provided some good shot blocking. He had one impressive block in the finale against Denver where, instead of swatting it, he cuffed the ball in midair, almost like vintage K-Mart in Jersey. Flying out of nowhere for rebounds, diving out of bounds for loose balls, and running up and down the court like a deer, Balkman was his usual self. He truly was a steal and the entire NBA world owes Isiah Thomas an apology for criticizing this selection—Balkman was an excellent pickup. He even played at the level, or flatly outplayed many lottery selections of his class in the in both the regular season and the summer league. Aside from out starting lineup and Brian Greene, everyone else was pretty disappointing and often times gave up our superior leads which were mostly around 20 points or more. It should be interesting who makes the team, though. Nichols definitely opened up some eyes and he doesn’t even have a guaranteed contract with us. So basically we have to get rid of 2 players via waive or trade to keep him on the roster, which I’m very willing to do. Besides, it would make little sense to trade a future second round pick to waive Nichols after an impressive second rounder. Anyway, like I often reiterate, summer league is extremely confusing. Many players who thrive in the summer league struggle during the regular season. Von Wafer just finishing dropping 42 against the Knicks (in a losing effort, I might add) and had a better summer league performance than Kevin Durant. Will he during the regular season? I think the answer is self explanatory. That means Nichols, Chandler, and Morris, though they had very good summer league performances, are still anything but “sure things”. Preseason and training camp should be interesting and should further show their abilities on the next level against real NBA competition.
I'll be following Nichols closely throughout his NBA career. I've always thought of him highly, and was surprised to see him listed as a mid-late second round pick in the Draft on most mock drafts. I think he will be an absolute steal for you guys, a solid bench player, who I think could start on some NBA teams.
I think Balkman is getting a lot better, just his dribbiling is kinda bad. I thought that nice play where he stole it, put it behind his back got into the lane, and lost the dribble. However, it was still nice. I had TIVO so I watched it like 3x.
Nate was dominant in the summer league. It seems like he's been working hard on becoming a better all around PG and he was just taking over in Summer League.
We all know Isiah drafts incredibly well and this is another example of that. The problem is that barely any of his draft picks stay in a Knicks uniform past their rookie contracts.
