Lawson and the short timers vs Amare and the D-leaguers

[The Rebel]

7pm Altitude.

[Wigginstime]

Is JR hurt or is Karl on his period again?

This is bizarre. JR played terrible for the first several games of the season. Plays good against LA and has been MIA since?

[eathb_au]

He just got beaten by Forbes for PT which is fair enough.

That said, Afflalo as much as everyone loves him has become a bit selfish with the ball lately.

[eathb_au]

Not impressed with Gallinari at all.

[The Rebel]

Nice that the rest of the Nuggets finally showed up to help harrington and Forbes those last couple of minutes.

Afflalo does seem to be passing less, I don't know if it is what he is being told to do or if he is doing it on his own. Of course it does not help most of the team does not seem to be moving the ball much these last few games.

Eath, I agree the only Knicks player that impresses me is Fields, but he is a lot like Forbes.

[el loco]

Forbes and Harrington played well again tonight. Fields continues to play well for the Knicks, he has probably been their most reliable player so far this year. I thought Melo was trying to give it away at the end.


The Nuggets just need to stay above/around .500 until they can get healthy and this win keeps them on target.

[el loco]

One of the things I didn't understand was GK not going to a zone late in the game against these guys. The Knicks have proven over and over again that they cannot break down a zone. I know GK hates to use it, but if it is proven to work against an opponent, why wouldn't you use it?

[The Rebel]

A zone and some effort would have allowed us to blow them out, killing the whole keep it close mentality this teams seems to have this year.

[alphad0gz]

Not impressed with Gallinari at all.

Rebounded well, played defense very well, and moved the ball. He is a very good shooter who happens to be struggling with his shot right now. I'm not puffing him for trade value, I just know he is much better than he is looking so far this year. 21/10/3/1 on 19 shots is not great but it isn't horrible either. The only thing that stunk about his game was the %. He should have had 2-3 more assists, too.

He and fields will be very good in a couple of years. Very good. The kid is 22. Gallo is much better when the ball goes through him frequently. As a shooter in D'Antoni's offense, his talents are wasted.

[The Rebel]

Not impressed with Gallinari at all.

Rebounded well, played defense very well, and moved the ball. He is a very good shooter who happens to be struggling with his shot right now. I'm not puffing him for trade value, I just know he is much better than he is looking so far this year. 21/10/3/1 on 19 shots is not great but it isn't horrible either. The only thing that stunk about his game was the %. He should have had 2-3 more assists, too.

He and fields will be very good in a couple of years. Very good. The kid is 22. Gallo is much better when the ball goes through him frequently. As a shooter in D'Antoni's offense, his talents are wasted.

Did you watch the same game I did? harrington and williams were wide open all night, while Chandler and Fields were guarding Melo. Meaning Gallo was guarding nobody.

I will give you that he did pretty well with rebounding, but that is because he was doing nothing else on defense, and all but 2 of the Nuggets put in no effort last night, which it takes for rebounds.

as for his shooting, that is the last of my concerns, but honestly I have always thought he was overrated on that as well, for being such a supposed great shooter, he was not even as good as Afflalo last year.

Also at 22 plenty of players in their 3rd year have shown who they really are on the court, the fact that Galinari has not taken any steps towards developing his game past being anything more then a shooter, does not bode well for the idea that he is ever going to be more then a poor mans Peja.

[sutrick]

I watch a lot of Knick games and The Rebel is 100% accurate in his evaluation of Gallinari. Wonder what is wrong with D'Antoni since he was the reason they choose Gallinari. Very little development and minimal competitive fire.

[alphad0gz]

I assumed you actually knew what you were watching. Gallo played Melo when both were in the game. He forced two turnovers on Al and fouled him out. Williams was never his man. Even the analysts on TV commented on his good defense.

D'Antoni was not the reason Gallo was drafted. His father and D'Antoni played together in Italy, that's all. They remain friends but don't see each other often. Actually, Isaiah Thomas was the one who recommended him after scouting him in Europe.

I'll take you up that list of 3rd year 22 year olds that are (or have) made their mark. Forgotten in all this was the fact that Gallo's first year was cut short by injury. He is, for all intents and purposes, a 2nd year player. He was, de facto, a 15/5 player in his first year.

Like I said, I don't give a rat's butt what opposing fans think. I'd just as soon have Gallo come off the bench to spell 'melo and Amar'e. Trading won't make that possible. Keep dreaming about what you think you will get for Anthony. He's walking in July because he knows that is the way to get to a team without gutting it. Any trades before then will be for scraps.

[The Rebel]

I assumed you actually knew what you were watching. Gallo played Melo when both were in the game. He forced two turnovers on Al and fouled him out. Williams was never his man. Even the analysts on TV commented on his good defense.

D'Antoni was not the reason Gallo was drafted. His father and D'Antoni played together in Italy, that's all. They remain friends but don't see each other often. Actually, Isaiah Thomas was the one who recommended him after scouting him in Europe.

I'll take you up that list of 3rd year 22 year olds that are (or have) made their mark. Forgotten in all this was the fact that Gallo's first year was cut short by injury. He is, for all intents and purposes, a 2nd year player. He was, de facto, a 15/5 player in his first year.

Like I said, I don't give a rat's butt what opposing fans think. I'd just as soon have Gallo come off the bench to spell 'melo and Amar'e. Trading won't make that possible. Keep dreaming about what you think you will get for Anthony. He's walking in July because he knows that is the way to get to a team without gutting it. Any trades before then will be for scraps.

I think anybody can tell who actually understands a little about basketball, and what they are watching.

As for this crap about Gallo only being in his 2nd year, that is foolish, if a guy plays almost half the games in the season it is not thrown out the window just because he is a rookie. He was in camp, he was on the roster, he was under contract with the Knicks, and he played in that season as a knick, meaning he is not a 2nd year player, and using that to justify his lack of progression is just a sad way of a homer trying to justify it.

As for a list of guys who were 22 or younger and showing what they could become by their 3rd year. off the top of my head here are a few you may have heard of.
Amare
Melo,
lebron
Tyreke Evans
Garnett
Kobe
howard
JR Smith
Derrick Rose
Al harrington
Telfair
Josh Smith

Fact is I could name off these, and if I choose to do a little research it would not take long to find many more. While some improved a little after their 3rd year, by then it was pretty obvious what each of those guys would become. Most with Knowledge all say that if a player is not showing it by their 3rd year the odds are they will never show it. Given that could you provide me a list of players near as long as I gave you off the top of my head, who improved dramatically after their 3rd year if they had been given playing time in their 1st 2 years as Gallo has. Don't worry I have time so that you can research.

AS for keeping gallo with Melo coming as a free agent, you are naive to think that Melo is ever going to be a free agent next summer or that you will be able to get him without giving up some good pieces just to clear the cap space, but good luck.