On the ball defense: Seems to have the same short choppy steps footwork that Allan Houston had. Keeps his legs together and bends forward at the waste when he goes into his defensive stance. He works hard, but this is a very tough habit to get over, especially with the limited NBA practice schedule. Defensively he would have probably benefited from a couple years under someone like Calhoun. Obviously he also needs to work on his strength. He's gotten dunked on more in the last 8 games than most SF's do in their entire careers. He has a long way to go. I think added strength will help but I really don't see him ever being a great on the ball defender. Right now you really can't play him for more than 15-20 minutes without him becoming a liability. Ultimately I see him being a better defender guarding 4's than 3's, but that's only if he gets stronger. can he one day guard 3's? Mabye. Guys like Bird learned to do it with savvy. Gallinari is a savvy player so there is a chance, I just don't ever see him being great at it. His awkwardness will also hurt him as refs will call a lot of fouls on him

Off the ball defense-The best part about it is that he tries. He gives an effort to get in the passing lanes. He has very good instincts and seems to understand where he needs to be. He lacks great athleticism(at least from what I see) so his impact may be limited but he will definitely be a solid help defender. His pick and roll defense is about as bad as it gets at this point. He seems to be taking lessons from David Lee.

Rebounding-This is a tough one for me to analyze. He definitely pursues the offensive boards and this is a big plus. But on the defensive end he simply gets overpowered. Once again, strength is a major issue. He gets overpowered by SF's and PF's and that's a concern for me. Of course, he is going to get stronger both naturally and by working out, but he really needs to work at it. Combine that with him not being a great leaper and his strength becomes more important. The only positive I can say at this point is that at least he gives an effort. I want more than "at least he gives an effort" out of my 6-10, #6 pick, but for now I'm okay and will wait to see if his strength improves. Ultimately I see him as a player with a PF's body that rebounds like a SF.

Shooting-Not much question here. The man can shoot. We haven't seen it yet, but I suspect that there will be days when he hits 3, 4, 5 in a row and really has an impact on the game. Let's just hope he improves his defense enough to stay on the court long enough to make this happen.

Off the dribble-I said this in the summer league and I will say it again now. When he does his little shake and bake into a jumpshot he has a lot more room than he realizes. Nobody is going to affect it. They will either be to slow or too small. Two problems with that. The player has to realize it. Some never do. Some kind of do. Some have an epiphany and begin to shoot like it's practice. I have an inkling that once he gets used to the NBA he will figure it out just like he did in the summer league and one day he will take that shot on a regular basis instead of passing it off like he does now. Bad news is that the NBA is not the summer league and NBA players will adjust to that and use their strength to knock him off balance. Only time will tell if he learns to counter adjust. I have a lot of faith in him here and think he will be very good. Another offensive skill he has developed early is his ability to draw fouls. He doesn't blow by people but draws contact on both his dribble drives and his up fakes. He doesn't shy away from contact like many players and is already getting to the line 3 times a game in about 15 minutes per game. When he adds strength I think this will go up even more. Combine that with his awkwardness and he will get a few calls. He also seems to have learned that he doesn't have to get by people. He appears able to get close in shots even when bumped. More so on pullups than completed drives to the basket though. Haven't seen much creativity and passing which he is supposed to be known for.

Without the ball-Stands around too much. Can't tell if this is by design from D'Antoni to avoid having him do too much or if this is a bad habit he has developed. Either way, I hope it doesn't hurt him in the long run.

Let me know your thoughts.

That's a very thoughtful analysis. I haven't seen him play enough to offer an opinion, but next time I see him I'll watch with your analysis in mind. One thing that is clear even from just watching a little: He is a good shooter.

His inability to hold off players down low is a weakness right now. I'm not overly worried that he can't overcome that. It's similar to what I noticed with Lee and Frye when they both entered the league. Both got pushed way under the basket their first year when boxing out for FT rebounds. I think its a combination of lack of strength and knowing how to handle players that are attempting to move you.

I don't think that its Nate not wanting to pass Gallo the ball...it is that Nate is not a pass first PG. Maybe he lacks the vision, or maybe his mentality is to create something off the dribble. Also, Gallo is a rookie, and has to gain the trust of his teammates. I think that will come. The notion that Nate, or any player on this team is freezing out another from taking shots is jumping to major conclusions IMO.

Posted by Bippity10:

Without the ball-Stands around too much. Can't tell if this is by design from D'Antoni to avoid having him do too much or if this is a bad habit he has developed. Either way, I hope it doesn't hurt him in the long run.

Let me know your thoughts.

pretty much agreed with everything. I do think the above is by design.

Posted by Andrew:

I don't think that its Nate not wanting to pass Gallo the ball...it is that Nate is not a pass first PG. Maybe he lacks the vision, or maybe his mentality is to create something off the dribble. Also, Gallo is a rookie, and has to gain the trust of his teammates. I think that will come. The notion that Nate, or any player on this team is freezing out another from taking shots is jumping to major conclusions IMO.

I see your point. Nate does the same thing with DLee on the pick-and-roll. Nate rarely passes the ball to DLee in a pick-and-roll situation. Nate is an equal opportunity ball hog. We need a backup PG so Nate can concentrate at SG.

Posted by GKFv2:

Amateur.

Why I oughta........

Posted by islesfan:

You forgot about his stiff legs.

All jokes aside I was kind of hoping for a couple "anti-Gallinari's"(such as yourself) to give an honest assessment of what you thought his strengths and weaknesses are.

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by islesfan:

You forgot about his stiff legs.

All jokes aside I was kind of hoping for a couple "anti-Gallinari's"(such as yourself) to give an honest assessment of what you thought his strengths and weaknesses are.

I never seem to get an answer to this. I always end up talking to myself. That's very interesting and telling in it's own way.

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by islesfan:

You forgot about his stiff legs.

All jokes aside I was kind of hoping for a couple "anti-Gallinari's"(such as yourself) to give an honest assessment of what you thought his strengths and weaknesses are.

I never seem to get an answer to this. I always end up talking to myself. That's very interesting and telling in it's own way.

I agree

I can agree with most of your post (The Gallinari analysis) and I do agree that his on the ball defense has been very poor. At the same time though, I HAVE seen him come up with some big stops and I even saw him block the shot of his own man.

Overall though, his rebounding is extremely poor (Eddie Curry is better) and he really hurts us on the defensive end. I agree that he's gonna need to bulk up, just so he can guard PFs. Hopefully bulking up too much doesn't hurt his offensive game. Then again, it didn't hurt guys like Houston, b/c it made his game much stronger.

I guess Gallo will just be a "Lets wait and see in 3 years" type of deal.

I like him so far, but I can see why Briggs was angry we didn't get Lopez instead.

Good analysis.

I think he is intelligent enough to improve his man/man D as he plays more and studies his opponents. He needs some coaching on this aspect of his game.

I really like his helping D. He will get more blocks when gets stronger. I would want to see him average 1BPG and 1-2 SPG in the future.

If he plays 30+MPG, he has to get about 7-9 RPG with his size.

I have said this before- I think that the standing around on offense issue has more to do with MDA and his own deference to his teammates.


I assume that he will be a more significant option in the Knicks O over the next few years.

His eventual stats will depend on who we get in the future, but I would be disappointed if he is not in this range in 4-5 yrs:

16-20 PPG
7-9 RPG
4-5 APG
1-2 SPG
1 BPG

40% from the 3 PT line
85-90% from the free throw line