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D’Antoni Loves “Gallo”

by Tommy Dee on July 13th, 2008 at 7:59 am

“I’ll tell you and I hope I’m not getting ahead of myself, but he’s really good,” D’Antoni said. “Like today, he just goes over to Herb [Williams] and tells him [a player] hasn’t had a shot the last six times up, call something for him. He automatically knows.

“He’s stronger than I thought,” D’Antoni added. “He’s more athletic than I thought. And he shoots the heck out of it.”

Gallinari’s toughness quotient has pumped up D’Antoni’s spirit. D’Antoni questioned it during the winter when he saw a tape of the Milan standout.

“He can bang,” D’Antoni said “When he takes a hit, his expression does not change, He got clobbered and was right back in his face. He doesn’t get fazed by it.

“He’s got a chance to be really special,” D’Antoni added. “Toughness and being more athletic that what I thought [were] two questions from watching film. Until you see him.”

Thanks to TKB’s own eyes in Europe, we also feel Gallinari can have an instant impact, and look forward to the debut tomorrow at 4pm EST.