Renaldo Balkman is a legend

How funny would it be if, amidst all the current articles bemoaning this year’s rookie class, one man emerged…unveiled himself…grasped his destiny…and saved them all?

And what if that man was oft-criticized New York Knicks rookie Renaldo Balkman?

With everyone on Earth saying “play the kids, play the kids” to NYK coach Isiah Thomas, last night he did. Guess what?

Renaldo goes for 18 and the Knickerbockers beat the Wizards, getting their first home win of the season. (Albeit before an announced crowd of only 14K or so.)

“I just had to sit back and wait my turn,” Balkman said. “I had a chance to shine tonight. My teammates said, ‘Welcome to the NBA.’ [I] can’t wait for everybody to come around talking to me. I’m shocked everyone’s around now.”

“You know Nate, Lee and I…that’s all we do,” Balkman said. “We just play as a team and just try and outrun everybody and get the other team tired.”

Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis continued to struggle… [snip; ed note: tee-hee]

Let’s do Renaldo first, then come back to that snippered (new word!) portion.

Dude seems refreshing and likable; eager and refreshing. Refreshing and big-nosed.

As much as we were dumbfounded by the pick, we’ve always maintained he’d be a popular player in NYC if he’d been picked in round 2. He’s all hustle and nose – people like that. With the other rookies sucking so bad (outside of Brandon Roy (injured) and maybe Marcus Williams), Renaldo may be okay as is. He could even thrive.

We’ve received some comment and email criticism lately of our “Renaldo: Holy Shit” t-shirts, but the magical thing about those shirts – they totally still work. Just change the context of your “Holy Shit”. It’s good instead of bad – simple.

As for Steph and Stevie…as we stated: tee-hee. More for the former than the latter, but the “tee” and the “hee” work for both the poor lads. The only question remaining is how long until the citizens of Lakersground.net start suggesting trade scenarios.

NOTE: Anyone else feel like the Knicks are the biggest enigma of a team in the history of basketball? We have no idea on a minute to minute basis whether to root for or against them; whether we like them or hate them. They have both the most likable guys and the least likeable. And then there’s Isiah, who we’ve covered in-depth, of course.

NOTE 2: Yes, Jones, we all know you’ve said they’re gonna make the playoffs. And yes, “Tony Parker”, we all know you hate (insert anything) and think (insert something negative about the author that implies average writing ability and/or concept generation).