fishmike wrote:

martin wrote:

newyorknewyork wrote:The plan should be to try and unload both Harrington and Jeffries in a package deal with scrub expiring contract players.

NYK trades Harrington and Jeffries
Minny trades Mark Blount, there 2010 2nd rder and a future 2nd rder
Washington trades Mike James

NYK gets Mark Blount, Mike James
Minny gets Harrington
Washington gets Jeffries, and Minny's 2nd rd picks

This would then clean up a lot of shots and mins for Gallo and Hill as well as clear up that extra 6.8mil for 2010. We could then put more focus on developing Gallo and Hill rather then trying to build up players values for trades hopefully. The step after that would be to bury Duhon on the bench and eliminated his negative presence.

Lee/Curry/Hill
Gallo/Lee/Hill
Chandler/Gallo/Landry
Hughes/Robinson/James
Robinson/Douglas/Duhon

While I agree that Harrington and JJ gotta go, the only type of team that would want either of them is a Playoff team needing firepower off the bench.

isnt that Wash? I mean early on they thought they would contend for a title. Injuries have slowed them but those two guys are good additions with short term commitment.

yeah, I usually only read first line or some of most posts, so I only saw Minny and not Wash

Yes, DW should have drafted a PG with the #8 pick. Not drafting Jennings looks absolutely foolish right now. I also agree that Hill needs to play and play alot. That way we know what we have with him. Hill is still a young player in basketball years let alone physical years. His skills actually match Speights' well from what we have seen. Speights is a nice player but in his first year was he any better than Hill is now? He averaged 7 pts and 4 rebounds last year in 16mpg. From what we have seen from Hill, is there any doubt he could do the same? I think he could. The problem is playing time.

I will agree play the young guys now. Get rid of JJ,AH,CD and EC if you can. I could care less what we get back, picks and youth would be ideal. Otherwise play the young kids, let them learn, let them have fun.

Gallinari is playing in his 38th game tomorrow night. 10th without a back injury. He has shown to be a smart player, good shooter and has some intangibles at 21 years old. Let him be...my biggest complaint is that he is not involved enough. That goes on him and the coach.

Does DW get a pass,Ithink until July 2010 he does. After that, the honeymoon will be over.

Paladin55 wrote:

nixluva wrote:Hill runs like a deer and already has shown he can shoot it. I LOVE Gallo's game. He's smart, has fire in the belly, a team player and understands the game. Gallo will be a star IMO. This isn't the best Gallo we're seeing right now. We just want to let him play this year out, gain experience and STAY HEALTHY! Then he can have a real off season to get stronger, more explosive and refine his skills. Remember he's 21.

The problem I see is that certain folks on UK are unable to understand that players, their games, and their bodies, mature at different speeds. Add to Gallo's situation the fact that he was not really able to play last year, and had back surgery which hurt his offseason development this year.

My take on our 4 young building block players:

Chandler, 22- Physically mature/developed body(hindered by injury)/ developing BB instincts/ grade B- skills

Hill, 22- Physically developing/ lacks muscle/ limited/developing BB instincts/ grade B skills

Gallinari, 21 Physically developing/ lacks muscle/ back issue/ excellent BB instincts/ grade B+ skills

Douglas, 23 Physically matured/ very strong/ excellent instincts/ Grade B+ skills

How I rated their skills is arguable, but Douglas, when compared to the other 3, is more mature and physically stronger (or as strong, relatively)than all of the others, and his skills and understanding are advanced. He will also be 24 yrs old by the end of this season, and considering everything, you could make a case that he is the most NBA ready of the 4.

Gallo has a great upside, but is, as Martin pointed out, and others, including myself have said, a few years from being at his peak body-wise. I would expect to see significant gains in his game by the end of the year, but you really have to wait before making comparisons such as the one made in this thread.

Hill, does not have Gallanari's feel for the game and skills, but is in some ways at his level physically, while Chandler has the body of a grown man, burt is lacking in other areas.

Briggs- I know you can start any thread you want, but sometimes you go a bit far and too fast. Wait a couple of years, my friend, and then we can really have a debate over the pick of Gallinari, Hill, etc..

I just try to be realistic. I don't think gallinari is a franchise player like what has been said. I would like him to take far less 3 pointers/get more involved with the game instead of standing 30 feet from the basket so much. Id rather lower expectations and be pleasantly surprised than over rate and put pressure on a guy. Speights looks like he is earning the right to be called a really really good young player with MUCH less experience than Gallinari for their years. I don't think Gallinari is as good as Speights and we are basing our franchise on him. Let Gallinari prove consistently that he is the man before calling him the man.

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:Briggs - I think people are saying that its too early to tell. We like Gallo, let him develop. Let Hill develop. If a year from now, they are the same players they are today then maybe you can make the case that Speights is better. At this point, you can't. I would take chance with Gallinari over Speights for the next 2 years....

Briggs is creating an argument and then bashing gallo under the guise of trying to "enlighten" everyone about gallo's game.. I can see right through briggs.. I want to know, who are these people that said gallo is a franchise player? for most, reading the post around here and other sites, would be happy if he is a legit #2 option, because we all know that walsh has been preparing to try and lure our franchise player via free agency.... So briggs needs to cut the bS.. for real...

BRIGGS wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

nixluva wrote:Hill runs like a deer and already has shown he can shoot it. I LOVE Gallo's game. He's smart, has fire in the belly, a team player and understands the game. Gallo will be a star IMO. This isn't the best Gallo we're seeing right now. We just want to let him play this year out, gain experience and STAY HEALTHY! Then he can have a real off season to get stronger, more explosive and refine his skills. Remember he's 21.

The problem I see is that certain folks on UK are unable to understand that players, their games, and their bodies, mature at different speeds. Add to Gallo's situation the fact that he was not really able to play last year, and had back surgery which hurt his offseason development this year.

My take on our 4 young building block players:

Chandler, 22- Physically mature/developed body(hindered by injury)/ developing BB instincts/ grade B- skills

Hill, 22- Physically developing/ lacks muscle/ limited/developing BB instincts/ grade B skills

Gallinari, 21 Physically developing/ lacks muscle/ back issue/ excellent BB instincts/ grade B+ skills

Douglas, 23 Physically matured/ very strong/ excellent instincts/ Grade B+ skills

How I rated their skills is arguable, but Douglas, when compared to the other 3, is more mature and physically stronger (or as strong, relatively)than all of the others, and his skills and understanding are advanced. He will also be 24 yrs old by the end of this season, and considering everything, you could make a case that he is the most NBA ready of the 4.

Gallo has a great upside, but is, as Martin pointed out, and others, including myself have said, a few years from being at his peak body-wise. I would expect to see significant gains in his game by the end of the year, but you really have to wait before making comparisons such as the one made in this thread.

Hill, does not have Gallanari's feel for the game and skills, but is in some ways at his level physically, while Chandler has the body of a grown man, burt is lacking in other areas.

Briggs- I know you can start any thread you want, but sometimes you go a bit far and too fast. Wait a couple of years, my friend, and then we can really have a debate over the pick of Gallinari, Hill, etc..

I just try to be realistic. I don't think gallinari is a franchise player like what has been said. I would like him to take far less 3 pointers/get more involved with the game instead of standing 30 feet from the basket so much. Id rather lower expectations and be pleasantly surprised than over rate and put pressure on a guy. Speights looks like he is earning the right to be called a really really good young player with MUCH less experience than Gallinari for their years. I don't think Gallinari is as good as Speights and we are basing our franchise on him. Let Gallinari prove consistently that he is the man before calling him the man.

I never call anyone the man until they attain they are worthy. I also know that an NBA career is a marathon, not a sprint, and the early leaders are not always the best finishers.

Don't hear you talking about Thabeet much these days, because skillwise, he is not ready for the NBA game, and he is riding a lot of pine. Do I think that he will achieve nothing in this league? No- I could still see him being a late bloomer and becoming a solid contributor. I have not seen him at all except for SL, so I can't make any predictions about his becoming a better than solid player, but I would not dismiss him as a player who will never succeed in this league.

My point with the above list was that players come into the league with different skill and physical sets, and develop at their own pace. It is no surprise to me that Douglas is emerging rapidly as a contributor because he is a good athlete, very strong, has some skill, and seems to have the mental makeup to be a productive player in the league. Gallo has got to catch up physically, while Chandler has to work on being a more instinctive player while he develops a better understanding of the game. Hill is the furthest behind, IMO, because at this point he lacks the physical maturity and BB IQ to the player that many envisioned him being.

You can make comments prior to these guys reaching their full potential, but if you do, I would expect you to come back and admit that you may have judged them too hastily when they turn out to be very good players in the NBA. I will be sure to give you a nudge to do so, if, and when, Hill, Gallo, or Douglas become better players than you anticipated.

I like Speights a lot. I'd love to have him along with Gallo to be honest!

djsunyc wrote:

nixluva wrote:I fully expect Gallo's game to expand in time. MDA sees him in practice all the time and he's said that right now, Gallo isn't ready to try and take people off the dribble and maybe he's trying to keep him out of major physical battering that he might take if he was posting up or crashing to the hoop all the time. He's still getting his body to come along and it's still somewhat early to try and put him in there with the big boys. I think MDA is taking it slow with Gallo.

I like Speights a lot. I'd love to have him along with Gallo to be honest!

every team jason kapono has played for has set double screens baseline for him to pop out and take a 3. he can't dribble, and he doesn't crash to the hoop. he just uses the picks to pop out and take an open 3. but i don't think that play has been drawn up...

D'Antoni has been doing that with Gallo at times in the 4th quarter (when we need 3s and are down). They should be doing it more often though and not saving it for the end of games.

fishmike wrote:Speights is out for 2 months. He's a bust. Lets stick with Gallo. Speights is obviously soft.

You just hexed him