Gallo May Get the Nod

by Tommy Dee on October 30th, 2009 at 11:07 am

So it sounds as if Danilo Gallinari‘s shooting performance the other night may earn him a spot in the starting rotation, but if true, it would be interesting to see who sits.

I would not sit Jared Jeffries because it forces David Lee to the five. I would sit Wilson Chandler.

Darko Milicic, if cleared and it sounds like he is, needs to see more minutes. He makes them a much better defensive team and passes the ball really well for a big man.

Interesting note from Berman where he says that Coach D’Antoni “convinced” Walsh to draft Gallinari over Eric Gordon.

“…D’Antoni sometimes acts as Gallinari’s personal publicist, perhaps to compensate for convincing team president Donnie Walsh to select the Milan import at No. 6 in the 2008 draft over Clippers potential All-Star Eric Gordon, who played in college in Walsh’s backyard at Indiana.

As comfortable as Gallinari is from the 3-point stripe, he isn’t a versatile scorer. All but one of his shot attempts Wednesday were from beyond the arc…”

That’s news to me if Walsh was convinced by D’Antoni, but the coach has caught serious flack on this blog for numerous reasons. To me, I think the anger is coming from the fact that that the system is not your traditional offense. It appears that all the team does is chuck threes, that’s not what this system is. It’s based on space, and when a team has no one who can beat anyone off the dribble and attack the basket consistently, they are forced to settle further out from the basket.

I do think that this system can win and I think to knock the coach is a cop out. They have to  play hard defensively and to quit playing, like they did before the half, is inexcusable. It’s clear that they were frustrated that shots weren’t falling but they have to attack the paint.

My concern is that if the shots don’t fall soon, then the players, many of whom don’t expect to be back, will lose focus. But let’s be honest, these players are really playing for their lives and we should expect a better effort.

As far as those who are knocking Gallo (I’ve heard the excuse that he was left open because it was a blow out) I’m starting to realize that it has more to do with hate than anything. Gallo is a shooter and a very smart player. All we talked about was his injury, now the guy buries 7 threes and people say he didn’t take it to the basket? The kid is 6’10 with range and is a pure shooter. He’ll utilize the pump fake but when he’s open he has to fire.

Eric Gordon is in LA, and quite frankly I love Gordon, but it’s hard not to equally like a 21-year-old with range.
  • Bob

    Picking GALLO over GORDAN is one of the few things in the draft that WALSH did right.you’ll see in 3 or 4 years,GALLINARI will be a much better player than ERIC GORDAN,and he missed almost all of last year

  • DanL

    People need to let Gallo play more games before they kill him. He barely played last year and the Knicks were demonstrably better with him. It’s one game into the season and he scores 22 points and people are all over him.

    If teams start to crowd him at the three point line, he has the handles to put the ball on the ground or alternatively, the passing ability and court vision to take advantage of the extra space his teammates will have.

  • DanL

    And at any rate, why would you prefer Gordon? A shooting guard who can score 20ppg? Wow those are so hard to find [sarcasm]. If anything the Knicks should’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to take Lopez, but I’m not willing to go there yet because I think Gallinari will be great.

  • Bob

    the KNICKS havent been able to find a 2 guard who scores 20ppg!

  • Mucha

    1. I think it’s a toss-up between Gallinari and Gordon – Gallinari has a higher ceiling but you can’t go wrong with Eric Gordon, everybody knows that he will be an All-Star. But if Gallinari stays healthy and develops his midrange game and his ability to go to the line he’ll automatically become the better player.

    2. The Knicks have to showcase Jeffries against the Bobcats – MAYBE Larry Brown will be eccentric enough to trade Bell and filler for Jeffries if he plays well.

    3. D’Antoni’s system can win but they players have to play harder.

    Can’t watch the game tonight. Go Knicks.

  • Mucha

    Gordon not a special player???

    He’s a great shooter, he’s a great slasher and he’s powerful enough to draw contact and get to the line.

    He’s just a FLAT-OUT STUD.

    SG’s who can score more than 20ppg :

    Kobe Bryant, Brandon Roy, Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Vince Carter = HOF company.

    Andre Iguodala, Joe Johnson, Manu Ginobili, Richard Hamilton (and Kevin Martin) = All-Star company.

    Difference is, Gordon averaged 20 ppg during his ROOKIE season (in 2009).

    I love Gallinari as well – he’ll be a star – but come on.

  • DanL

    Someone had to score the ball for that team, which was a more pathetic squad last year than the Knicks record-wise.

    Other 20 ppg wings besides the likes of Kobe etc: Ben Gordon, RJ, Terry, Salmons, Mo Williams, Nate Robinson, Mayo, Gay, Vince Carter.

    Scoring 20 ppg in the NBA doesn’t make you a transformative player.

  • DanL

    Not to mention Jamal Crawford for a while there.

  • DanL

    Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace, Michael Finley and Wally Szczerbiak have all been 20 ppg game scorers.

    Eric Gordon, by the way, didn’t average 20 his rookie year. He averaged 16.

    Point is, as shown by the fuller list, it isn’t hard to find a guy capable of scoring 20 ppg from the wing. What Gallo represents is much harder to find.

  • DanL

    Ricky Davis, Larry Hughes, Cuttino Mobley, Barbosa. All these guys have broken 20 or scored about as much as Gordon.

  • DanL

    Jalen Rose, Peja, Stackhouse, Eddie Jones, Mashburn, Maggette, Steven Jackson, Mike James, Loul Deng, Monta Ellis. If this is all you are looking for, you can find it, and you don’t need to kill yourself for not drafting it.

  • HaS

    That’s a long list of names, but when you take away all the ones who weren’t able to do that in their ROOKIE year that list shortens. Then when you take away the players who showed the ability to defend at the NBA level (some of those guys even up until now) in their ROOKIE year, that list shortens even more dratically. Then out of who’s left, which ones showed the range on their jumper the way Gordon did in his ROOKIE year and not may are left.

    What does Gallo “represent”? Or do you mean what the organization has represented him as? He hasn’t showed much but a deadeye jumper as of yet. Give him time. We’ll see how he turns out. If he turns out to be a 6’10″ Steve Kerr or Jason Kapono I for one will be highly upset.

    You don’t have to devalue Gordon’s ability or his skill as a player to prove your love for Gallo. Just say you love Gallo and you’re willing to be patient to wait for his ability to catch up with the hype, after all its only his 2nd year and his 1st 100% healthy.

  • HaS

    not to mention the knicks would kill to have more than half of those players1

  • Mucha

    @ DanL – What is your point?

    Eric Gordon is 20 years old – the fact that he ALREADY averages 20 points per game is just remarkable. He’s just 20 years old!

    And he did average 20 points per game in 2009 last season (2009!!!). The first weeks of the season did not count in my opinion because he wasn’t playing much (which is why his statistics were down).

    Plus he’s a verstatile and efficient scorer : he doesn’t need to have the ball in his hands to be effective, he’s not a chucker (he’s not Jamal Crawford) even though he’s a great shooter (he’s not Jerry Stackhouse). The fact that he averages 20 points per game doesn’t mean that he’s in the mold of Jerry Stackhouse/Larry Hughes/Eddie Jones/Monta Ellis! If this is really your logic then you should compare Gallinari to Radmanovic. It doesn’t make sense!

    And Mo Williams, Nate Robinson, Leandro Barbosa and John Salmons have never reached the 20 ppg/per season plateau so they do NOT belong in this conversation.

    Like Has said, “you don’t have to devalue Gordon’s ability or his skill as a player to prove your love for Gallo”.

    Peace.

  • DanL

    Guys who had about the same as Gordon’s production their rookie year:

    Stackhouse, Eddie Jones, Finley, Mashburn, Ben Gordon, OJ Mayo, etc.

    All very good players yes. All-Stars. Enough to carry your team to victory? No. None of them franchise players (OJ remains to be seen) None of them have any rings.

    The Knicks could have played it safe and taken Gordon and been guaranteed a productive player. Or they could’ve gone for the home run with a potential franchise player.

    Granted, there is no guarantee that that is what Gallo is going to be that but the original point was that people need to wait and see before they say that the Knicks should have picked Gordon. We’re not talking Joe Alexander or Patrick O’Bryant (or Jordan Hill) here. The guy can obviously play. So lets see how it pans out.

    Gallinari hasn’t scored as many points as Gordon yet, but his range and stroke are the same or better. His defense is also underrated.

    I did not mean to denigrate Gordon. He is clearly very talented and can definitely score the rock very very well in a number of ways, I was just trying to make the point that that’s not the only thing you need to look at.

    Let’s just wait and see?

  • DanL

    Edit: They can carry your team to victory…obviously, but not alone like a franchise player can.

  • DanL

    @ Mucha, see above.

  • DanL

    Just to clarify about the 20ppg plateau, to be fair, neither has Gordon.

  • Mucha

    Man how many times will I have to say it?

    In 2009, TWO THOUSAND NINE (!!!!) Eric Gordon averaged 19.78 points per game (sample : 47 games).

    He was 0.22 ppg from the 20 ppg plateau. So with a LITTLE BIT of generosity you’d agree with the fact that he has reached the 20ppg plateau!

  • HaS

    I’ll go ahead and pare tat down to the players that play defense liek I mentioned: Eddie, Stackhouse and Finley out of that group that’s left (OjJ like you said is too soon to tell, but he seems to have some defensive instincts) and they all have had long careers and enjoyed success on a few winning teams.

    Like I said you’d love to have any of those guys manning the 2 here right now. You should have stopped while you were ahead.