So after six breakthrough quarters, in which he looked very much like a potential star, the 22-year-old Gallinari swiftly punctured the notion of his stardom.

“I know you expect a lot from me, and people expect a lot from me,” Gallinari said late Wednesday night, “but I’m not a superstar, I’m not an All-Star, I’m not LeBron, I’m not those great players. I’m an important player of the Knicks. And that’s what I’m trying to do, to help the team every time. Sometimes, can be these type of games, sometimes not. But as long as we win, it’s all good.”

..............................

D’Antoni interpreted Gallinari’s remarks as overstated modesty.

“He’s very secure in who he is and he’s very confident,” D’Antoni said. “He can tell you one thing, but he may think another. But I think he knows he has a lot of work to do to get where those guys are. He’s not up there. I don’t think that says he can’t get there, he’s just not them yet.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/sports/basketball/19knicks.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

Seriously Gallo have some self confidence dam.

Bippity10 wrote:Yeah, I read that. Don't know what to think.

when i first read something to that effect a week ago, i thought "damn, this kid is shook." when i saw the comments again today, i thought the same thing d'antoni thought. this is a show of false modesty.

whether he says he's a star or not is not what will make him a star. only his play can do that. when marbs was rambling about being the best, did that make him the best? no.

martin wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:

eViL wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:Yeah, I read that. Don't know what to think.

when i first read something to that effect a week ago, i thought "damn, this kid is shook." when i saw the comments again today, i thought the same thing d'antoni thought. this is a show of false modesty.

whether he says he's a star or not is not what will make him a star. only his play can do that. when marbs was rambling about being the best, did that make him the best? no.

Yeah, I'm looking at it the way you are, but in the back of my mind I can't shake the feeling that he doesn't know how good he can be.

while I agree this is true, we want to have it both ways.

We all kill Marbury for saying he is the best PG in the league. Ewing is killed for making so many outlandish predictions of winning.

So which is it? We kill our players for not predicting their greatness or are we killing our players when they do?

Personally I could care less what the players say. I didn't even have a problem with what Marbs said. I think it was silly because he could not back it up, but it didn't really bother me. The only reason why this sits in the back of my head is because there clearly are nights were it seems like Gallo is content being one of the guys, when it's painfully obvious that we need him to do more. Hopefully these last five games are a trend and we can look back at these comments as just humility.

Yeah, some of it sounded like a victory lap, I can give him a pass as long as he doesn't revert to the player he was in the beginning of the season.

NYKBocker wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:I think he sounds arrogant and egotistical. "I’m an important player of the Knicks." Where does he come off saying that?

English is his second language. My father has said some pretty weird things in english but if you translate it in Filipino it made perfect sense.

It's not up to him to say he's important. He should keep his mouth closed. By keeping his mouth closed, he may also avoid losing a tooth and infecting someone's arm.

BasketballJones wrote:

NYKBocker wrote:

BasketballJones wrote:I think he sounds arrogant and egotistical. "I’m an important player of the Knicks." Where does he come off saying that?

English is his second language. My father has said some pretty weird things in english but if you translate it in Filipino it made perfect sense.

It's not up to him to say he's important. He should keep his mouth closed. By keeping his mouth closed, he may also avoid losing a tooth and infecting someone's arm.

Jones, many people don't get you. I get you.