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…where personal opinion can actually be wrong

by Steve Conoscenti on June 27th, 2008 at 11:44 pm

I’ve been a Knick fan all of my life. I’ve been through the best of times, I’ve been through the worst of times. I’ve seen good fans come and I’ve seen good fans go. All of those good fans that went… I’m begging you, please come back. Last night’s display of fanhood at the NBA Draft was close to sickening, and for the first time in my life, I found myself doubting the credibility of the Knicks fan base.

Now please don’t get me wrong, I’m fully aware that the people who attend the NBA draft, the feeble-minded callers on ESPN radio or WFAN and the 13-year-old message board posters don’t represent the entire Knick fan base, but if that’s all the rest of the country is seeing, reading or hearing from our fanbase, then… yikes.

Last night, I saw a 19-year-old Italian kid who has more potential than any current Knick or any draftee available at the time get booed on and off the stage after Donnie Walsh made him the 6th pick in the Draft. People have opinions. I have one, you have one. You probably think mine sucks, I probably think yours sucks. But if you’re going to have an opinion, you better have some reason for it.

I’ll keep this short and sweet. Mike D’Antoni has done nothing but win and he knows foreign players better than any coach in this league. Donnie Walsh built the teams that beat our beloved 90s Knicks. Analysts and scouts love the kid and touted him as the best player in Europe this year. ESPN even gave the Knicks an A- for the pick… something proven to be hard for ESPN to do. 

But the people who represented the Knicks fanbase at the WaMu Theatre last night know better, right?

The same people who turned to me and said, word for word: “well we just drafted the next Bargnani.” The same people who thought David Lee‘s first name was Jason. The same people who don’t know the Collective Bargaining Agreement exist and continued to propose impossible deals to each other all night. The same people who thought Gus Johnson was Mark Jackson.

Gallinari is the polar opposite of Bargnani, Jason Lee is in “My Name is Earl”, any Knick fan who survived the Isiah Thomas era should know the CBA exists and seriously… how could Mark Jackson be on the stage on TV and in the lobby talking to fans at the same time?

My point is, there is no reason Danilo Gallinari should have been booed last night simply because people don’t know anything about him. If you refer to him as “the Italian kid” then that means you haven’t watched a single clip of him or paid attention to anything the past two months. The constitutes you as not being able to have an opinion. I’m not one to limit speech — I worked on the Howard Stern/Scott Ferrall shows — but please, for your own sake, just keep your lip zipped.

So now the rest of the NBA fanbase thinks the Knicks fans hate their pick. Does the Knicks management REALLY need something else on their plates? In reality, this was the best, most logical pick the Knicks could have made last night. But the same fans who want to tank already for Ricky Rubio next year disagree. Incase you don’t know, Rubio is a 20-year-old point guard from Spain expected to enter the draft next year. I’m sure those same fans have seen just as much of Rubio as they have Gallinari… none.

Read some articles, watch some videos, listen to some interviews. For the rest of the fanbase’s sake.