CrushAlot wrote:I really do not get the 'level of upside' comparison between Lopez and Gallinari. I also do not get the Zo/Shaq comparison. Shaq was the most physically dominant player of his era and his numbers were better than Zo's right away. If the comparison between Lopez and Gallo has Gallo represented by Shaq I think that it is minimally a bad example. Both Gallo and Lopez have shown growth in their second year and the increase in their numbers almost mirrors the other. The biggest difference is one guy increased his blocks to over 2, his points to just below 20 and his rebounds to 9. I must be missing something but I still think having a franchise type center who consistently shoots a high percentage from the field and the free throw line, rebounds, and blocks shots and isn't injury prone is a positive step toward building a championship team and a rarity.

It really wasn't a zo/ shaq comparison.. what i am trying to say is that some guys peak early. I am sure when zo came into the league averaging 21/10 that a lot of people thought that his upside was endless.. I can even remember some saying that shaq was not that much better.... despite shaq being a physical force, you still could see the room for growth in his game...

what I think most people see with gallo is a lot of growth physically and a lot of skills that can be refined even more, skills with a lot of room to grow.....

Paladin55 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Juice wrote:If we drafted Lopez and he produced like he has the past several, several, several games would we as Knick fans honestly be capping his potential? I think not!!!

I would be yes thrilled to have gotten Lopez where he was picked. Especially with Lee already in the mix. What nice tandem to have!

The point of this thread was to make fun of the snap judgements people come to around here. Many many posts have been dedicated to how bad a pick Gallo was. We had to listen all summer long about Anthony Randolph's summer league games while Gallo rehabbed from surgery. Its silly.

The Lopez drama is just that. I think Gallo's skills set, size and athleticism gives him a higher ceiling than Lopez. I think the same things that help Lopez back in school are holding him back now and thats not going to improve because those things rarely do. I also said Lopez is ahead of Gallo right now developmentally. No doubt. Both are good picks. Who will be better has yet to be determined.

I have also said that people often complain about the Knicks taking low ceiling players (Frye over Bynum and Hill over Jennings come to mind.)

So what do you think Gallo's ceiling is now? Quite a lot higher than what was thought this summer no?

This is what I see, too. For folks like me, who were happy with the pick, or did not see him as a foolish choice, it was hard to sit back and defend Gallinari without gameplay evidence for support. At this point in the season we have some evidence, though. Still too early to reach final judgement about where he stands in this draft or how good he will end up becoming, but supporters of the Italian have a lot more to feel good about. I could have seen myself starting this kind of thread the middle of next year, if he continues to evolve, in response to the guys who have constantly attacked him as a player while having wet dreams about the ones who got away. It seemed like every day there was another "We should have taken this guy instead of Gallo" thread. Don't see many of these now.

Compare him to anyone in his draft at this point, and he is in the conversation about who might end up being the best player in his class. You can make legitimate cases at this time for picking Lopez or Gordon, but you can now defend Gallo without being laughed at.

Quite a turnaround, IMO, and quite worthy of a thread like this one, even if it is a bit premature.

excellent post.. it was tough for me as well. I remember defending gallo the same way I do hill, and that is just give him a chance.. the problem I had is that some posters were just ruthless and unreasonable.. it went beyond personal choice to just bashing him, because they can... So now, I am really happy he is doing well and look forward to the future for sure...