Lost in this team's 12-4 start has been the lack of playing time and production from forward Renaldo Balkman, who, BTW, just got a 3 year, 5 million dollar extension.

Balkman's averages so far this season are horrendous:1.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.4 apg, 1.9 fouls per game, 0.6 TO per game in 8 minutes per game.

I know that Balkman's main contribution is in hustle-ness, but Joey Graham has kinda taken over that role.

Balk has only played in 7 games, with 4 of those games having gotten single digit minutes. His two most productive games have been the ones in which Kenyon Martin has been out, and even those weren't that great. The only game in which he has made meaningful contributions have been the Miami game, when he got a season-high 15.8j minutes and put up 6 points, 6 rebounds, a steal, a block, and 3 fouls. In the game the day after that against Atlanta, he put up 5 fouls in less than 11 minutes of play. In all the other games (Indiana, NJ, Lakers, Chicago (2nd one)), all his minutes were in garbage time.

Looking at this, it is evident that Balkman isn't getting much PT from George Karl, but he hasn't helped himself with his 13-10 fouls-points ratio and his 44% FG shooting.

I don't have any news relating to Balkman, but I hope that he's just going through a cold stretch or an injury and that he'll be back to his more normal playing time soon. He's never been more than an energy player who can get offensive rebounds, but he's at a 1.3 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes rate, way less from his 4.0 last year and his 3.4 career average.