Gallinari's game has slipped noticeably in recent weeks and especially since Tracy McGrady's arrival. Gallinari has been given less minutes and opportunity.

The Italian Stallion whose supposed to be the lure for LeBron James and a companion looks less aggressive on both ends. He's finishing out his first full season after playing just 27 games last year because of disc trouble.

In the three games with McGrady, Gallinari has scored 6, 5 and 7 points, respectively, and has taken no more than 8 shots.

"The rookie wall?. Did he hit it?,'' D'Antoni said. "I don' know. I don't believe too much on that stuff. Obviously he's got to turn his motor up. You have to be emotionally invested in the team or otherwise your game suffers. This game is too hard.''

D'Antoni's rap on Gallinari didn't sound all too different than his final evaluation of Darko Milicic, who was traded one week ago to Minnesota. The 7-1 Darko has averaged 18 minutes in three games for the Wolves, including an eight-point and eight-board outing in his debut.

Ironically, the Knicks could use a 7-footer center now for rebounding and blocking shots as they play out the string auditioning players. At 19-37, the Knicks take an eight-game losing streak into tonight's game vs. Washington.

D'Antoni pulled the plug on Darko in mid-November and feels Darko shut it down from there instead of fighting to get back in. D'Antoni said Milicic was the one who came to him in December and asked to be deactivated if he was not going to play.

In December, Milicic told The Post he could "practice like bleeping Michael Jordan'' and it wouldn't have mattered.

D'Antoni cracked this morning, "Yeah he was. What is Michael? About 59?.''

D'Antoni added, "It's an easy concept. You play really well, you play. If you're saying you have a lot practices where you dominate and I don't play you, I find that hard to believe.''

Topics
Mike D'Antoni LeBron James New York Knicks Darko Milicic Michael Jordan
Post Your Comments ⁄ (3) Comments
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knicksblog/antoni_gallinari_showing_signs_of_AhaEg1B26thR8S83oDacZN

So what D'ivatoni is sayin in a roundabout way is that Gallo is lazy and not givin 100 percent?

sebstar wrote:funny line about Michael Jordan.

So what D'ivatoni is sayin in a roundabout way is that Gallo is lazy and not givin 100 percent?

I thought it was all between the ears with Gallup, a lack of concentration and all.

Marv wrote:gallinari and chandler have both been huge disappointments to me. never more so than in the minnesota game, a very winnable game where they both turned into passive wallflowers in the second half.

these guys both have the ability to be consistent 20+ scorers, impact players, game-deciders. neither of them is showing the temperament or heart to be so.

we can keep saying they’re 2nd and 3rd year players, or count their total games played, or whatever.

they should both be having a lot more granger and durant type impacts on a game, and it's rarely happening. they could be all the difference in the world for this franchise or they could both be guys who never reach their potential.

Heh... Guy is in a shooting slump for most of the year. He doesn't create shots for himself. D'Antoni trying to deflect blame on this one. Know the guys on your roster and their strong points and utilize them. Develop and work on their weaker ones. What is Granger about 28 years old? You comparing them to a guy that has about 6 to 7 years on them. Hell Granger didn't play like Granger coming into this league and the guy was a four year college guy to boot. Granger only starting to get going when O'Neal and Harrington were booted from that team.

Durant is a special player. It could be possible that he will eclipse the top 4 wing guys in a few years to be known as the best player in the NBA.

sidsanders wrote:

King1 wrote:I have been saying this all along. These two players do nothing else to help the team win. Gallinari refuses to rebound and get less than 2.0 assists a game. Chandler despite his athleticism is getting 5.0 rebounds a game and hasnt made a big time shot all year. You can talk about the age but I think Wilson has no feel for the game and Gallinari isnt very tough

chandler getting 5rbs a game from sg position isnt good enough??? rebounds <> defense alone...

king has been trying to deflect off his guy for the longest. Basically is upset that neither Gallo or Chandler can cover Lee's man on a night to night basis. If these guys didn't have to worry about switching to help out Lee so much they could grab more rebounds just like Lee. When you don't bother to defend you can concentrate on other things.

King1 wrote:Let me help yoyu out Pharezone Lee will make more money per year than Gallinari and Wilson when they get the big contract. Besides the three I think Lee is better in any other offensive category than both of those guys.

?? What Lee has four years on Chandler and five on Gallinari. I should hope he is better than them. Dude is almost 27 years old. Let's stop comparing them like they were on equal terms. Do you want to compare their production based on years in the league??

King1 wrote:Lets see who has endorsed Lee this year. Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Shaq come out in the paper saying Lee should be a allstar. Kenny Smith, Barkley, and Webber said it was a no brainer. Willis Reed and Bill Bradley spoke highly of him after legends night. I am thinking I will listen to HOF before you. Bottom line Crawford and Zach were losers until they left New york the only constant is New York.

who cares about all star voting/game... can lee make some better efforts to play d. zr/jc are the same guys they were here. jc isnt even starting, and he still will have 20+ games followed by less then 10 with awful shooting (just like here). zr is doing what he did here except he seems to be allowed to shoot more in mem.

as to dg, hes not playing well lately. im more concerned about his off output as i see him trying to play d at least.

King1 wrote:Lee was awful against Miller and I think David averaged a double double his second year in the league. Wilson 3 point shooting has got worse each year. Your right comparing Lee to gallo and WIlson isnt right as Barkley said Lee is the only plyaer the Knicks have.

He average a double double his second year but missed about a third of the season. He got 30 minutes a night but average about 10 rebounds coming off the bench but Isiah moved into the starting lineup so his numbers jumped. But he was awful at the three and four defensively. When Isiah traded Frye to accommodate Lee getting into the starting lineup in his third year the Knicks frontline of Z-Bo and Lee were mauled on a regular basis. Lee's offense numbers increase slightly. His numbers didn't get to 16 points per game until last season. Let's not make it sound like he came into this lighting it up. Lee's advantage has been rebounds but his defensive numbers have suffer greatly each year. His point per game production doesn't even compare to Chandler's or Gallo's at their respective points in their career.