Gallo was the guy many of us hoped and prayed would take another step forward in his career. It was rough at 1st, but man has he come on strong. How many of us have been BEGGING to have Gallo drive more and now he's killing teams with his pump fakes and drives. Mike finally got thru to him. He said it simply. If you're open shoot, if they close out drive. That simple directive is propelling this kid into the next level. He's unguardable if he's gonna drive too. WIth the way he hits FT's it's got to be a huge part of his game for the rest of his career. Just imagine how good he'll be when he develops a midrange jumper and post moves? His passing is also a very good thing that comes with more touches and his teammates are respecting his game more. I still think he doesn't shoot enough, but that will come.

These 2 guys are the key to this season. If you have 3 starters that consistently get it done for you, you have a team that will be in the playoffs. We're developing our mini big 3 and I hope they get better and better as the year goes on.

Fields and Turiaf are also stepping up as quality role players. We've needed, and lacked, guys like that for years.

That's the thing I like about Gallo. It's obvious he studies the scouting report and follows up on what he reads. I think back to when we had him guarding Rondo last year. He had no business covering him. Rondo could go by him at will. Rondo was a far better offensive plaeyr then Gallo was a defensive one. Yet by following the scouting report he actually did an admirable job against him. Guys like him and Landry and Turiaf make a huge impact just by using their brains.

Best part about Gallo is he is only 22 and playing in his second full season. Will he get better? Come on people, stop coveting all these so called superstars on other peoples rosters and realize what you haev on your own. This guy can play. He's young and will have more ups and downs, but he can clearly play.

fishmike wrote:

NYKBocker wrote:Gallo is a very crafty defensive player. He will force you to uncomfortable positions. He owned Wallace last night. He took out Evans in the other game by forcing him to shoot from the perimeter. He is just a very smart defensive player. Everything is positioning for him and he has very fast and active hands.

great call... Gerald Wallace is a bigtime scorer and a hell of a player in this league and Gallo really gave him problems.

I'm loving Felton's defense right now. That ball denail leading to the TO on DJ last night was awesome. Havent seen a play like that in years. Hope his back is OK or that Douglas can do a better job as the backup PG. MDA is riding Felton pretty hard right now, but its tough not too.

Our success this year will really be determined by our internal development and coaching. Felton's improvement on the P&R, Gallo's development, Chandler's development, Douglas's improvment backing up Felton (we know he can score). Turiaf staying healthy (its a problem with him), the emergence of another bigman (AR or Mosgov). All this and I fully expect us to be a winning team when Dec starts.

Still not sure MDA is the guy but we are definatly seeing some good adjustment translating into wins (ball movement)

TMS wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:You don't hear a lot of the "Gallo is a bust talk", "Gallo is damaged goods" or "we should have drafted Bayless" talk anymore

no stiff legs talk either... he must be doing his stretching before every game.

Some suggested he didn't have the handle or speed to drive the ball against smaller players. He's been an equal opportunity abuser of defenders. Big and small have had trouble stopping Gallo. It's that pump fake. He makes it look good and since he's hitting shots people have to respect it.

TMS wrote:

nixluva wrote:

TMS wrote:

Bippity10 wrote:You don't hear a lot of the "Gallo is a bust talk", "Gallo is damaged goods" or "we should have drafted Bayless" talk anymore

no stiff legs talk either... he must be doing his stretching before every game.

Some suggested he didn't have the handle or speed to drive the ball against smaller players. He's been an equal opportunity abuser of defenders. Big and small have had trouble stopping Gallo. It's that pump fake. He makes it look good and since he's hitting shots people have to respect it.

i have always been a Gallo supporter... this season he went away from playing his all around game & became a 3 pt specialist, but over this winning stretch he's been handling the ball more & even leading the fastbreak at some points... this is the style of ball i want him to play... be like Toni Kukoc & use his overall skills, cuz he can do a lot more than just chucking up 3's.