TMS wrote:i like how he's playing these first 3 games & love that he's starting games now... the kid definitely has game, u'd have to be blind not to see it... it's funny the people who proclaimed this kid a bust before they'd ever seen him play don't have much to say when he has a good game.

After the first game he was attacked by some for not hitting his shots when the Knicks were in the game.

After game two some people were talking about him not going to the basket often enough, even though he was starting to drive a little more.

After game 3 I guess they are going to have to say the Knicks still should have taken Gordon or Lopez while not being overly critical of Gallo's game, although some are still criticizing him for only being an outside shooter and not doing other things on the floor, though he has averaged about 5 RPG, had a few blocks and some steals, and 1.5 APG. He also plays some decent D, individually, and when helping out.

If he keeps it up people will have to turn to the Hill pick to criticize Walsh and give up hammering at him for the Gallo pick.

UK will be an entirely different world without having Gallinari to pick on.

eViL wrote:

Gallo 'bust'-ing out; Knicks to follow?

12:42 AM By Alan Hahn

Here's how you know Danilo Gallinari gets it.

Asked if he could enjoy his career-high 30-point performance in the furious overtime loss to the 76ers on Saturday, the 21-year-old said no.

"It doesn't mean nothing, we lost," he said. "I don't care how much I score or what I do. I just want to win with this team. My game is not important. We lost. I'm not happy."

A night after Chris Duhon called out his teammates for what he viewed as poor pregame focus before Friday's double-OT loss to the Bobcats, the Knicks had yet another awful first half against the red-hot Sixers. But they mounted another comeback -- again fueled by the shooting of Gallinari along with Al Harrington's determined offense in his new role off the bench -- and showed some more optimistic signs that there is something to work with here.

But unlike last season, when the Knicks seemed to feel good about merely competing in an 0-3 week against the Cavaliers, Lakers and Celtics, complacency wasn't allowed to grow around the post-game locker room of this 0-3 team.

"It's positives and negatives, but I think we need to focus on the negatives to get better," said Harrington, who ran his butt off up and down the floor in this game. "We just have to find a way to play with a sense of urgency. We can't keep giving teams 20-point leads, fighting back and then coming in here feeling good about ourselves. That's not what it's about."

The Sixers were just on fire for much of this game -- Lou Williams hit 10 of 12 from the floor...I mean... -- but the Knick defense was way too soft, especially on the inside, where the Sixers recorded 54 of their 141 points. Mike D'Antoni tried to make defense a focus in training camp and through the preseason, but in three regular season games so far, the same issues from the past are coming back: interior defense.

David Lee struggled in foul trouble once again and is clearly overmatched guarding centers and athletic bigs. Opponents have one simple remark in the scouting report on Lee: go right at him. It hurts the Knicks when he gets into foul trouble because he is so effective in the pick-and-roll. But they also can't afford to have him play a surrender defense (just puts two hands up) so he avoids foul trouble.

Darko Milicic (13:53) didn't bring much to the table tonight in that deparment and neither did Jared Jeffries, who looked rattled by the Garden crowd, which jeered him on three missed field goals.

This is where Jordan Hill is going to need to develop. You watch Marreese Speights (20 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks) and see a player Hill should emulate. The Knicks desperately need someone to emerge as a stopper in the paint.

* * *

Let the Gallinari Gushing begin. You don't hear much talk about the 2008 sixth overall pick being a bust anymore. In fact, if you ask Sixers forward Elton Brand, "he was defnitely worth the pick if you ask me."

Three-point specialist Jason Kapono was impressed, as he told Newsday's Mark Herrmann (a hockey pal who teamed up with me on the coverage tonight): "He can shoot it, man, he's tough."

* * *

Nate Robinson left the game in the fourth quarter with a sprained ankle. He left the Garden on crutches. We'll get an update on Sunday, but if he's going to miss any length of time, it makes Harrington's role as an scorer off the bench that much more important and, of course, it means important minutes for rookie Toney Douglas, who was left on the bench for this one in favor of Larry Hughes who played very well. We'll have more on him in the next blog.

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eViL wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Were you able to view this for free or do you subscribe? Thank you for posting it.

you're welcome. i don't subscribe. i was actually able to click through to the post via a link on realgm. looks like they fixed it because i couldn't click through just now. oh well.

every person gets 1 click-through a day. about the dumbest policy i have every heard of but I guess that's what Newsday is offering.

TMS wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

TMS wrote:i like how he's playing these first 3 games & love that he's starting games now... the kid definitely has game, u'd have to be blind not to see it... it's funny the people who proclaimed this kid a bust before they'd ever seen him play don't have much to say when he has a good game.

After the first game he was attacked by some for not hitting his shots when the Knicks were in the game.

After game two some people were talking about him not going to the basket often enough, even though he was starting to drive a little more.

After game 3 I guess they are going to have to say the Knicks still should have taken Gordon or Lopez while not being overly critical of Gallo's game, although some are still criticizing him for only being an outside shooter and not doing other things on the floor, though he has averaged about 5 RPG, had a few blocks and some steals, and 1.5 APG. He also plays some decent D, individually, and when helping out.

If he keeps it up people will have to turn to the Hill pick to criticize Walsh and give up hammering at him for the Gallo pick.

UK will be an entirely different world without having Gallinari to pick on.

i don't see any reason to believe this kid won't continue to improve, the kid is young, can shoot the lights out & has shown an eagerness to learn from his coaches & help his teammates any way he can... i love his attitude & approach to the game, & at least to me from what i've seen i think he's gonna be a very good player when all's said & done... it's funny when u listen to people run through a list of guys they'd rather have than Gallinari from last year's draft, but name me how many other 2nd year players are averaging 23 & 5 over the first 3 games? short sample, sure, but how awesome is it to see a kid like Gallo starting to show signs that he maybe able to fulfill expectations, even of demanding & overly critical Knicks fans?

To be honest, after his pre-season, where the only positive game I thought he had was the second Boston game, I felt it would take him about 25-35 games to get his game going.

I am a little surprised that he has come out of the gate so quickly. He still has a way to go, but I find it hard to believe that some have knocked his play so far, even though we are 0-3.

I think he is at about 60-70% of where he will eventually end up as a player. Decision making will improve, he will be more comfortable going to the basket and scoring or dishing, and he will learn about the tendencies of the players he guards. Add to that the physical maturation, which will really help his interior D and rebounding, and we have a guy the team can build around and free agents will enjoy playing with.

I really hope that Hill, Douglas, and even Landry can eventually get regular playing time and make a potentially disappointing season worth watching, even if we don't come around record-wise.

Man if we had Curry's fat butt on the low block, we might actually have a devastating offense. Guys like Duhon, Chandler, and Harrington are all better 3 pts shooters when they can catch and shoot as opposed to taking a 3pt shot off the dribble or on the fast break.

TheGame wrote:I don't think many people questioned whether DG could play. Coming out of the draft, I questioned whether he could defend, and he has proved that he can be an adequate defender. Now the only question is whether he can stay healthy. It is too soon to answer that question. It is good though that he looks like a legit 20+ scorer.

Man if we had Curry's fat butt on the low block, we might actually have a devastating offense. Guys like Duhon, Chandler, and Harrington are all better 3 pts shooters when they can catch and shoot as opposed to taking a 3pt shot off the dribble or on the fast break.

Don't count on Eddy Curry to do anything productive on the court, its just not going to happen.

TMS wrote:it's funny when u listen to people run through a list of guys they'd rather have than Gallinari from last year's draft, but name me how many other 2nd year players are averaging 23 & 5 over the first 3 games? short sample, sure, but how awesome is it to see a kid like Gallo starting to show signs that he maybe able to fulfill expectations, even of demanding & overly critical Knicks fans?

I wanted Speights at 6 and thru 3 games in a reserve role he is avging 17 and 7 with an assist and a block shooting 75% and is getting to the line 6 times per converting 82% of em. big man #'s.

gallo gets props for hitting a bunch of 3's with the knicks down 20 to getem back in games but that 23 & 5 has been more fantasy gold than actual games.

Bippity10 wrote:Some of you guys are dying to find something to be outraged about. A 2nd year guy literally hit clutch shot after clutch shot to try to bring a bad team back from the brink and you can't be a little bit happy about it? I understand wanting lopez and some of these other guys over him, but at some point you have to let that go and actually pay attention to what you have. No? We aren't talking about a 10 year vet hitting meaningless shots in years of losing efforts. We are talking about a guy that is essentially a rookie(say that to yourself again, essentially he is a rookie) hitting shot after shot deep in games where misses are devastating. Not only is he not afraid to take the shots, he's actually drilling them at a ridiculous rate. How can you not be excited by this.

If he's still hitting 3's in losing efforts a couple years from now then you can complain. But I see a guy developing before my eyes. How can you not be excited?

I'm excited. I was excited about Nate, Lee, even Frye, and Balkman, and Ariza, and Chandler... they've all had their months of great performances.

Remember Nate's game against the Clips where it looked like he figured it all out? Remember that stretch of games with Collins where he was almost averaging a triple double?

I'm excited about Gallo, what he's doing so far and his attitude. Still, from the day he came here until his rookie contract is up, its going to be about where he was drafted versus the other players in the draft, and its the kind of player he is. If Randolph has a cold shooting night he can play solid defense and impact the game that way. If Gallo is cold, we're probably going to lose right?

God bless the kid. If we didn't have Gallo we'd be in a much worse spot, but that doesn't change the history of how he got here and the circumstances surrounding the pick.

We're a terrible team. You're going to have to have an insane stretch of performances sprinkled with at least a few wins to get the media/fans to start looking at anyone, let alone Gallo in a different light.

JohnWallace44 wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:Some of you guys are dying to find something to be outraged about. A 2nd year guy literally hit clutch shot after clutch shot to try to bring a bad team back from the brink and you can't be a little bit happy about it? I understand wanting lopez and some of these other guys over him, but at some point you have to let that go and actually pay attention to what you have. No? We aren't talking about a 10 year vet hitting meaningless shots in years of losing efforts. We are talking about a guy that is essentially a rookie(say that to yourself again, essentially he is a rookie) hitting shot after shot deep in games where misses are devastating. Not only is he not afraid to take the shots, he's actually drilling them at a ridiculous rate. How can you not be excited by this.

If he's still hitting 3's in losing efforts a couple years from now then you can complain. But I see a guy developing before my eyes. How can you not be excited?

I'm excited. I was excited about Nate, Lee, even Frye, and Balkman, and Ariza, and Chandler... they've all had their months of great performances.

Remember Nate's game against the Clips where it looked like he figured it all out? Remember that stretch of games with Collins where he was almost averaging a triple double?

I'm excited about Gallo, what he's doing so far and his attitude. Still, from the day he came here until his rookie contract is up, its going to be about where he was drafted versus the other players in the draft, and its the kind of player he is. If Randolph has a cold shooting night he can play solid defense and impact the game that way. If Gallo is cold, we're probably going to lose right?

God bless the kid. If we didn't have Gallo we'd be in a much worse spot, but that doesn't change the history of how he got here and the circumstances surrounding the pick.

We're a terrible team. You're going to have to have an insane stretch of performances sprinkled with at least a few wins to get the media/fans to start looking at anyone, let alone Gallo in a different light.

See I actually agree with you. We don't know what we have with him, that's the whole point. When he did nothing last year, we didn't know what we had, but people called him a bust. Now he's showing some potential. Potential to actually be worth the 6 pick(agreed we don't know if that is going to come to fruition) and those same people calling him a bust are now telling fans they need to be patient and relax with their excitement.

Personally I have been as skeptical as anyone regarding Gallo. I've been disappointed just like you. But I'm not going to let that get in the way of analyzing what I'm seeing now. He's got a long way to go but he is showing as much upside as any of the people drafted last year. I can't hold it against him just because he's a jumpshooter. 22 highly efficient points is 22 highly efficient points whether its from 2 feet or 20 feet it does not matter. So I have a much easier time understanding a fan that may go overboard in their excitement than I do a fan that wants to proclaim every draft pick a bust before their career even starts.

For the record, New Jersey is 0-3 and I am yet to hear anyone say that Lopez' numbers are hollow. I'm just not sure I understand teh inconsistency.

McK1 wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:Some of you guys are dying to find something to be outraged about. A 2nd year guy literally hit clutch shot after clutch shot to try to bring a bad team back from the brink and you can't be a little bit happy about it? I understand wanting lopez and some of these other guys over him, but at some point you have to let that go and actually pay attention to what you have. No?

he made 8 but he missed 8 too and him being in the lineup to start did nothing to stop ny from giving up 40 1st qtr points and being down 15 at the end of it nor prevent a 17-0 (who gives up that many points in OT) run to close it out.

would love to see the diversity in his game that made Walsh pick him 6 but if a 3pt chukker is going to be gallo's calling card then I maintain walsh coulda gave steve novak (who is alot better than the hack who doesn't even watch basketball hollinger gives him credit for) a million to properly space the floor move the ball and shoot and make a bunch of 3's in this offense.

#1-I would love to see diversity in his game as well. Everyone would. With time and strength you may see him more in the post and more on penetration. Remember he's being guarded by guys at least 3 inches shorter than him on average so yes, this could be a part of his game. We are all hoping for this eventually. This is the way he played in Europe, so the hope is he develops this in the NBA as well. Too early to say he won't develop this, or have you already decided this.

#2-If he continues to put up 20 points a game I could care less where it comes from. On dunks, on 3's, please as a basketball genius explain to me why this matters. Of course if he can't penetrate, and dish and to all the versatile things he will never be a superstar, but 20 points a game and shooting 40% on 3's in clutch situations because defenders can't affect your shot is as important as having a post up game.

#3-Enjoy the dead eye shooting and see if the guy develops. Again he's played 31 games.