As the team head into the final week of preseason, Coach D’Antoni still isn’t set on his rotation 
and wouldn’t commit to his rotation saying it’s not quite there yet.
Reporters hovered around Al Harrington after practice to get his thoughts on whether he should start. Big Al, who I spoke to one on one just prior, flashed his patented smile and only said that of course he prefers to start, but it’s up to his coach. There shouldn’t be too much to read in here.
Yes, Al is the team’s best player and that should mean he gets the starting nod, but there needs to be balance. David Lee is not a 5 against most teams, so the idea should be to put Jared Jeffries there, which leaves Lee to the 4. D’Antoni would love to play Al at the 4, but if he moves him to the three then he has to sit either Danilo Gallinari or Wilson Chandler.
Either way Al is a professional and is always one of the last to leave practice, constantly working and helping younger players like Jordan Hill.
“It will come, the good thing about it he has it in him he just has to keep working and I have to keep pushing him.”
As far as team camaraderie?
“Offensively we are struggling shooting the ball but defensively, every day, we are getting better, the (defensive) rotations are getting better,” he told me. “In the locker room everyone likes everyone and hopefully that should translate on the court.”
Coach D’Antoni had simple response when posed the question if he would consider starting Darko against the bigger lineups.
“No.”
But he was sure to point out, that despite his lack of aggression offensively, Gallinari has been very solid defensively.
I think if you start Al at the 3 then both Galinari and Chandler should sit. Neither of them is an off guard. His resistance to starting Darko against bigger lineups is disappointing, he reminds me more and more of Don Nelson. Nellie’s strategy has always been to force the other team to adjust their lineup to his. What was the sense in bringing in the big man if not to play him in a more traditional lineup (size-wise)?
unlike most people, i actually like D’Antoni and praise him..
but i must say hes a complete idiot for not wanting to put Darko in more often, especially vs bigge lineups when we could use him the most
David “Defensive” Leeability is incapable of handling those situations
So we should start a slow offensive liability (Darko) in place of our most efficient scorer and only interior scorer (Lee)?
I would like a better front court defensively but starting Darko is NOT the answer.
Starting Darko against bigger lineups was the topic in question. Darko has been touted as a better jump-shooter than “The Matador”, a shot blocker and a good rebounder, so there shouldn’t be that much of a drop-off production-wise if you supplant him into the Center position when facing bigger teams.
Shouldn’t be that much of a drop off??? Darko is just plain not capable of 20pt performances. And Lee has been hitting his jumper more consistently than Darko has this preseason.
Maybe later in the season if Darko gets mroe comfortable with this offense, but to sacrefice Lee’s rebounding and scoring in the paint now? No way. I don’t care how big the team is. Out run them, get their bigs in foul trouble and force them to go small.
The things that Darko brings should cancel out the things that he doesn’t. Yes you lose some scoring, but you gain some defense and some stops. Things that Lee can’t or won’t bring. Maybe it will light a fire under _avi_ to start playing some defense, take a charge, block/challenge a shot, for god sake just foul someone without giving them the the bonus!
I’m not sure if you lose a significant amount of rebounding with Milicic in there either. He takes up space and the rebounds he doesn’t get others can get if he boxes his man out on defense.
“Maybe later in the season if Darko gets mroe comfortable with this offense, but to sacrefice Lee’s rebounding and scoring in the paint now? No way.” I was talking about merely starting Darko against bigger lineups, while I wish _’antoni would play a more traditional lineup I realize that’s not going to happen. Darko should be able to run against big lineups anyway.
Tommy, when should we offically be concerned with Gallo? He says the back is fine but has his conditioning been slowed by the surgury? I say there’s NO WAY D’antoni should consider him starting at the beginning of the season. PS, HaS, if Chandler sits, who’s your 2 guard, N8 or Larry Used?
yeah,how could GALLO look good all summer long and now since the pre-season started look so lousy.a mans shot just doesnt stop going in all of a sudden.i sense something is wrong with him,and lets face it,without the gleem of hope that GALLO is gonna be the offensive star of this team,all looks lost for this season.TOMMY,have you seen anything in practice?
Saw him make about 12 straight 3s after practice.
His shot will be fine.
Please pay attention to the other things he’s doing well, specifically defensively.
Didn’t Gallo foul out in like 20 minutes against Maccabi?
yes he did.
the only guy i got high hopes on
is t.doug..
To be fair, he’s averaging 23.6 MPG this preseason and yes he fouled out in 22 yesterday.
If only they were points.
Gallo has been decent on the half court D, but he sometimes loses his man on the transition D.
I’m not worried about Gallo, but I was expecting more from him early. I think he’ll get more comfortable as the season progresses and chemistry solidifies.
It’s not that simple. First, Gallo is clearly not ready to be a starter and hasn’t really shown much to show his coach that he should have heavy rotation minutes. Yeah, he’s shown glimpses of great plays and passes here as well as attentiveness on D, but most of all, you see him there in the wing waiting to get the pass and try to shoot (because he’s also not shooting that much, he should try to make more attemps). On another hand, you got Lee who cannot play the 5, because he lacks the size and because his D isn’t strong. But at the same time he’s a strong scorer who rebounds a lot and drives well to the basket when he decides to, which brings me to my concern: when’s the serious, constant playmaking going to happen? I really do get that it’s only preseason but this is the time where the offense needs to find its rythm and synchronicity, instead of just running up the court and taking long jumpers or 3 pointers. I appreciate the focus that has been placed on D, which was much called for (and also I thank Mike D for seeing the need to get intense when defending). Maybe the focus on D has deviated them in upgrading their play making arsenal or polishing the PNR, who knows. Anyway, the D is working and I hope improves, but I know the shot will start falling, but the question remains: when are the improvements coming on those plays that’ll allow those open shots to happen?
I would start Larry on the condition that he strictly drive to basket unless he is wide open (if only Nate were 6’5″). Chandler will average 5 turnovers if he starts at the 2 this year. He is not a 2 and he will have trouble dribbling against 2′s that pressure him or dribbling without space period. He dribbles very high and doesn’t seem to have total control of the ball.
Buy out Hughes and bring in Gerald Green for pennies.
Is this a sad revelation that Darko really doesn’t “got game.” Hope he comes alive at some point. Maybe he needs a firecracker lit under his @$$.
DTR
I agree that Harrington is our best player and will get his minutes. Duhon, Lee and Robinson will also get their minutes. After that Chandler, Gallo, Douglas and Hill will get minutes commenserate with their effectiveness on the floor. Milicic will get minutes as he is needed interior defender. Hughes is the big question mark in my opinion. While he is a veteran with skills, he has not really impressed me. While it is constantly said that D’Antoni is going into the season with the same line up as last year, this is not true. This roster came together after numerous additions and deletions during course of last season. This year should be a more consistent group of players who hopefully will play more like a team.
I really think it’d be interesting to let lil nate start and later guard up with Toney because they really do bring a different air to the team in terms of pushing up on D. If Toney could actually polish his range (I think he pushes too much his 3 pointers) and try to blow through the middle more, his game could gain a whole new angle that could help a lot this team. If there ever came a time when Nate could actually give advice to another player, now would be it (Duhon as well). I do agree that this group has gained consistency and will gradually gain a stronger bond, which is likely to show on the court (if our coach does his job). Al has pretty much embraced his leadership status and the group’s chemistry will definitely channel through him. I still have my doubts on what the starting line up will be and who will get those heavy rotation minutes, but one thing that’s clear is that our 29th pick will gain some great experience and will get a whole lot of minutes this season.
AL is the knicks best offensive player
unless he shows more this year
LEE is the knicks best player..
practice is great
but what u see in real time game is what the player really is
in practice i can look like the greatest player som1 seen so practice is good but the reality is what they do when it counts
Harrington is the (our) most talented and professional player, I got love for him. He’s definitely underappreciated in my opinion.
But like I said, either Gallinari or Hill has to be in the starting line-up, period. The Knicks have to send a message (like “we have a future”).
My favorite line-up would be :
Duhon
Robinson
Harrington
Lee
Hill
or
Duhon
Chandler
Gallinari
Harrington
Lee
if your talking about WE HAVE A FUTURE meaning players
duhon an al should not be in the lineup..
how bad of a team do we have,if AL HARRINGTON is our best player?its like maybe you just shouldnt watch the KNICKS this year
^^^^^^meaning young player^^^^^^^
Yeah but you need balance – young players have to be surrounded by veterans to be effective – and Toney Douglas is NOT particularly enticing…
AL will not be more than he was in atlanta
period end of story…
Gallo has been something very good defensively is not it throw something diffrent out and i’ll get back.
As far as the starting line up I think Nate should start hes playing defense as a starter so I say leave him so he can keep it up. For the next game I would put AL in the SL with Nate and see how it goes if not good then stick Wilson back in there and AL comes off the bench, it shouldn’t happen but we still have rotation crippling David Lee on this team so it has to be done.
PG – Chris Duhon
SG – Nate Robinson
SF – AL Harrington
PF – ugh David Lee
C – for 3 Jared Jefferies
Wilson brings better help D but is offense is erratic, early on we need to score and play D with this line up I think we can.
Mike D could always do what makes the most sense and bring Lee off the bench.
PG – Chris Duhon
SG – Nate Robinson
SF – Wilson Chandler
PF – AL Harrington
C – for 3 Jared Jefferies
That might be our best line up, my question what does Lee do so well that he can’t come off the bench.
i agree one hundred %…lee should be coming off the bench..
1. duhon
2. nate
3. will
4. al
5. jeff
- i think after a few reg season games people will realize that t doug is fit enough to run the point as much as duon…duhon doesnt impress me much at all, i like what im seein with t doug a lot thus far…his shooting doenst look to good but the d is good and nate al galo and will are all decent shooters…
I think Duhon will pretty much start throughout the whole season but Toney will definitely keep getting more and more minutes as the season progresses (as hoefully will his game). I like your line up because on heavy rotation you can have Gallo, Douglas, Lee, and Darko (whose minutes will depend on how much he ends up producing on offense since what he has shown in D is pretty much what he can bring all season long) are a strong and energetic players who wouldn’t bring the Knicks production… In any case, if the rotation we have just discussed actually happens (which I don’t because D’antoni likes Lee too much to bench him) it can have a much more balanced Knicks team throughout the season.
a backcourt of duhon an nate will get abused
like a son by his stepfather..
David Lee coming off the bench?
Really?
So DW resigned him for nothing?
We need his ability to get rebounds anyways – I think DW should have traded him before the trade deadline last season but he’s too good/valuable to be a bench player in my opinion.
How bad is this team? Plenty bad. They have been gutted and restocked with the only available mediocres, and by design. Looking forward to 26-32 wins, no inside game, no defense up front, lots of brick nights and blowouts. No point in harping on everyone’s exposed weaknesses — this roster is not very talented. Next summer DW will begin the star hunting and we’ll be going nuts with anticipation. Forget this year.
DTR
I fully agree with your analysis but there is no need to forget this year. I am expecting to see some real improvement from a number of our players. Stay tuned.
Of course! Hoopfully…….