Knicks Draft: You Can't Make this Up [J.Mark English]

Howard Beck, New York Times --

After all the Knicks' recent mayhem and misery, Isiah Thomas would like to look forward. But draft night detoured into a referendum on the immediate past, and a stinging reminder of the franchise's failures.

Angry chants began echoing through the Theater at Madison Square Garden before a single player was chosen in Wednesday night's N.B.A. draft, prompting Commissioner David Stern to remark from the dais, "This is a very rowdy crowd."

Two hours later, the Knicks chose Renaldo Balkman, a 6-foot-8 forward from South Carolina, with the 20th selection. The home crowd booed. The Knicks later took Mardy Collins, a 6-6 guard from Temple, with the 29th pick.

But it is the pick the Knicks did not make that inspired chants from the disenchanted. The Knicks earned the No. 2 pick with a 23-59 season, but it went to the Chicago Bulls as part of last year's Eddy Curry deal.

A chant of "Where's our draft pick?" broke out just before the Bulls selected, followed by a mock chant of "Eddy Curry." Chicago drafted LaMarcus Aldridge, a 6-11 forward from Texas, and later traded him to Portland for Tyrus Thomas, a 6-9 forward from Louisiana State. While Knicks fans winced, Isiah Thomas did not.

"No, because I stand here before you today in all honesty and I say I would still rather have Eddy Curry than any player in this draft," said Thomas, the Knicks' president and coach. "And every G.M. polled would take Eddy Curry in this draft. And if we had the second pick, I would have traded the second pick in the draft for Eddy Curry."

What the Knicks did obtain were two defensive specialists who can guard the perimeter, a skill the Knicks sorely lacked last season.

A junior last season, Balkman led the Gamecocks to the N.I.T. championship and was named the most outstanding player of the tournament, purely for his defense. His hustle, tireless effort and rebounding have earned comparisons to Dennis Rodman, Ron Artest and Jerome Williams.

"Going into the draft, we wanted to get defenders," said Thomas, who last week added the head coach title to his résumé after the Knicks fired Larry Brown. "Balkman is a very unique talent, a very unique player. He reminds me a lot of a Rodman or Artest kind of player with his energy, with his defensive abilities."

Balkman is not a scorer — he averaged 9.6 points a game last season — but as Thomas noted, "We have enough offense."

Balkman's defensive statistics were more telling: 6.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.7 steals in 25.7 minutes a game. Although he was benched late in the season because of turnovers and inconsistency, Thomas called him "the guy that we wanted coming into the draft."

Fans at the Theater booed the selection. They chanted for Connecticut point guard Marcus Williams, who was later taken by the Nets. Balkman was not even included in the N.B.A.'s official draft guide, which profiled 133 players. The ESPN analyst Jay Bilas scoffed that Balkman was a second-round pick.

Thomas disagreed. He said the Phoenix Suns were ready to grab Balkman with the 21st pick. The Knicks were more confident that Collins or another player they liked would be available at No. 29.

Collins has played mostly point guard, but is regarded as a strong defender who can play both backcourt positions.

"He has good skills, he has a good understanding and a good feel for the position," Thomas said.

The Knicks now have six guards, but they are expected to trade at least one of them — most likely Steve Francis or Quentin Richardson — this summer.

There were several chants of "Fire Isiah" — a sentiment that came just two days after Thomas was given a one-year deadline by management to show progress or lose his job. Fans also made derogatory chants referring to James L. Dolan, the Garden chairman.

"I've been in sports all my life and I've been called a lot of bad names growing up on the west side of Chicago," Thomas sad. "And being in an arena where people jeer and shout and say bad things about you, that's all right."