Yeah he can play, no doubt.

I have no doubt he'll be significantly better than Nochbar, Nocioni, somewhat better than Hedu (b/c Hedu was spooked by NBA play for several years). I think he'll have Lamar Odom type skills, but with a great perimeter shot. In other words, the kid will be an all star by year 3.

Dude can play. Say what you want, good scouting report by Isiah. I saw all the qualities that he reported back to Walsh about. Good team guy. I love the fact how he and Chandler kept speaking to each other about positioning on defense. Looks very coachable too. I think he is still a project and hope it can translate to the NBA. I don't know about all star.

Posted by purple012870:

somewhat better than Hedu (b/c Hedu was spooked by NBA play for several years).

i think breaking into the nba as a euro 8 years ago is different than breaking in today.

The first 26 minutes I would say fear is the best way to describe it.

That nice little burst--the word hope came to mind.

I spent a lot of time watching all of the SL games and this draft class is BY far the most talented in years in terms of 1-35 if you dont come away with a good player 1-35 you did something wrong

The biggest surprise about Gallinari to me was his size. He looks physically enormous compared to what the tapes showed. He's got to be 6-11 235

The first 2.5 quarters I was wondering where the hell his offense was, but even though he wasn't playing offense he was playing some D, hustling, grabbing a few boards. Then midway through the 3rd he took off.

I honestly don't care about how many points he scored, he showed me he doesn't back down (Tractor Traylor kept going at him in the post) he has a nice little cross to the left, he has an absolutely PURE jumpshot, is an able and willing passer and he has a never ending motor. I think this game atleast shows us he can play in the league.

[Edited by - nyk4ever on 07-15-2008 10:15 AM]

Posted by martin:

Legs not stiff.

His legs are stiff

still holding firm to my Kukoc comparison... dunno if he'll be better or worse but they play a similar style game... i'm pretty confident he won't be a bust tho.

Posted by TMS:

still holding firm to my Kukoc comparison... dunno if he'll be better or worse but they play a similar style game... i'm pretty confident he won't be a bust tho.

I am still holding on my Bird-lite comparison. Everything about him reminds me of Larry Legend. Wishful thinking? Most likely, but his skill set and deficiencies are just so spot on. Bird too had a stiff leg but was able to move. Bird too had a quick release. Bird too had a great motor and hustled all the time. Bird too had vision and passing abilities. Bird too can handle the ball for a big man.

Yeah I am sticking to my Bird comparisons.

I love the fantasy, but style wise(yes I'm talking about style of play), other than the fact that they are both white, Danilo's game is nothing like Bird's.

He looked like a player. Give him the name of John Smith, and you would have had no idea that he was a European player.

He is definitely not matured physically, even though his body looks solid. He is going to be significantly stronger and somewhat quicker in 2-3 years as he fully matures and the results of his strength training kicks in. You could see the looseness in his young body.

You CANNOT teach the outside jumper he has, and I think anyone who understands shooting should have realized from his Euro clips that this guy's shot was never in question. In the second half he actually started looking like the player we had all been watching on the YouTube videos of his European years: lots of fluidity as he goes from handling to shooting, an ability to drive and pick up fouls, good ball handling skills, and a sweet shot. You could see him evolving as the game went along, although throughout the game he hustled and showed the kind of defensive movement that nobody was expecting.

The funniest read on this forum is the Official Summer League thread where guys are commenting as the game progressed. Gallinari goes from being a chicken at the beginning of the game, to the Rooster by the end.

The Gallo haters must have had a hard time by the end of the game after seeing their post draft rantings on Gallinari come into doubt, but most of those guys are probably realizing today that the Knicks may have found a good one, even though it was a SL game. I saw NOTHING yesterday that makes me think he cannot evolve into a very good player in this league. He made some rookie blunders, but I think he has the intelligence and desire to learn from his mistakes. None of the things he did not do or did wrong yesterday, in my opinion, are the types of things he cannot learn to do or not do over time. The defensive rebounding is the one thing I would be concerned about if he is going to play PF, however this can be minimized because Chandler should be a better than average rebounder for a SF, and I assume that the Knicks will eventually find a center who understands the concept of rebounding. If he does put on some pounds and strength, I don's see why he can't become an adequate rebounder. He was actually boxing out yesterday, a lost art in the NBA, although he got moved around at times, even when he was in position.

Don't know about comparisons with other players. Bird was stronger, but remember he turned 23 shortly after his first pro season began. He was a 10+ rebounder from year one and much stronger when he started than Gallinari is now. How did bird look at 19/20? Kukoj was 25 when he came into the NBA. Gallinari is still a bambino.

Over the years I have seen lots of guy who reminded me of great players, but they never met the expectations people had for them. Other than Randolph (No, I did not want him over Gallinari.), I consider Gallinari to be the most intriguing player in this draft (I agree with BRIGGS, too- this will be looked on as a very good/deep draft someday), but I just can't decide how good he is going to be. At the very least, we have a guy who is a PERFECT fit in a team oriented offense that does not rely on 1 or 2 players to dominate the game, and a guy who can do a little of everything for you to win a game. I learned about this game from watching the 68-73 Knicks, and I don't recall any superstar stats on that team. Those guys played to win, and that was all they cared about. If you have a guy who can contribute to a championship game you have a keeper. That is ALL that matters.

And can we get over the stiff legs thing? Look at clips of Bird, Magic, and McHale, by the way. Check out those stiff legs. I don't care if the guy is playing on stubs, as long as he can play.


The Knicks should also be happy about the way Collins and Chandler played. The only thing I was concerned about with Chandler was his shot- and he showed range and creativity on it yesterday. His jumper is much better than I remembered last year- somewhat flat, but accurate. Collins just needs confidence in his shot and his game. If they let this guy play, and don't bench him if he has one bad game, we have a nice backup PG who, as a legit 6'4"+ player can also be used to play D against certain shooting guards. It really looks like he worked on his shooting.



Good start for the Knicks yesterday. I'm looking forward to the next 4 games.

[Edited by - Paladin55 on 07-15-2008 12:04 PM]