Posts Tagged ‘Danilo Gallinari’

New York Knicks center David Lee will join the Eastern Conference NBA All-Star team replacing Allen Iverson. Prior to being named to the team today, some thought Lee was snubbed of an All-Star spot. He has arguably had a better season than some of the players named to the Eastern Conference’s team.

Lee is the first Knicks player to be named to the All-Star team since 2001 when Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston represented the Knicks in the game.

Lee joins fellow Knicks Nate Robinson and Danilo Gallinari in Dallas for the weekend. Robinson will take part in the Slam Dunk contest while Gallo will be in the three-point shootout.

Amare Stoudemire might not get a contract extension with the Suns. Instead, he may be traded. According to Yahoo! Sports, the Suns have stepped up their efforts to trade Stoudemire. A list of possible trade suitors include the Bulls, Heat, 76ers, Nets, Pistons, Warriors, Cavaliers and Timberwolves.

The Knicks do not appear on the list of teams interested in Stoudemire and the reason for this is they have an abundance of forwards and are in desperate need of a point guard. Stoudemire doesn’t fill an immediate hole, but acquiring him now and signing him to an extension would behoove the Knicks.

The Knicks probably wouldn’t be able to land Stoudemire in a trade, even if they were interested. They don’t have the pieces to make a trade with the Suns and I’m not sure Suns general manager Steve Kerr would want to send Stoudemire to D’Antoni’s team. Also, acquiring Stoudemire and signing him to an extension may mean no LeBron or other all-star free agent. Depending on the team’s finances, they may not have enough cap room to sign another superstar this summer if they were able to get Stoudemire and sign him to an extension. The Knicks seem more focused on getting LeBron, Wade or Bosh.

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The Knicks’ early season woes are behind them and they are climbing the ladder in the Eastern Conference hoping to be one of the top eight teams in the conference by season’s end. If they keep playing like they have of late, they’ll at least get in the playoffs as the 8th seed. 

It’s too early to tell where teams will be when the season ends, but after the Celtics, Cavs and Magic, the East takes a bit of a dip. The Knicks will have the opportunity to be in the mix for the 6th, 7th or 8th seed as long as they keep inching toward breaking the .500 mark.

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The New York Knicks are going to look back to their loss tonight to the Bobcats and kick themselves. The Bobcats, led by Stephen Jackson, beat the Knicks 94-87 and snapped the Knicks’ four-game win streak. The Knicks led through three quarters and looked good in the process but collapsed in the fourth quarter and were outscored 28-13 in the period.

Each of the Knicks starters scored in double figures but nobody made any big baskets in the fourth quarter when they needed it the most. Knick turnovers also aided in the Bobcats’ come from behind win. Their defense also fell apart in the last quarter and the Bobcats’ defense got stingier late in the game. 

The game was a let down. When Chris Duhon leads the Knicks in scoring with 18 points, that’s not a good sign. Al Harrington only shot 4-13 from the floor and 1-7 from downtown and totaled 11 points. Danilo Gallinari was 2-7 and 0-5 from beyond the arc and had five points coming off the bench.

The Knicks can get back on track Thursday when they play the Bulls in Chicago. They follow that game up with the Clippers at the Garden on Friday. 

On a side note, only eight Knick players saw minutes in the loss to the Bobcats.

The Knicks’ ties to Italy will be even greater now that the Associated Press is reporting the team will play exhibition games in Italy during the preseason next year. Second year player Danilo Gallinari and Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni both played in Italy. D’Antoni also coached in Italy.  

The AP says the games will be played in Milan, but the amount of games to be played is uncertain.

Two days, two games, two different Knicks teams. Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks followed a 126-99 win over the Suns with a 118-104 loss to the Magic. It’s amazing the difference a day makes. The Knicks ripped D’Antoni’s former team by 27 points. By the fourth quarter the Suns had most of their reserves in. The Knicks reached 100 points in the third quarter and really broke the game open in the second quarter. They took a 71-58 lead into halftime. It was a spectacular offensive performance for the Knicks.

The following day’s game against the Magic wasn’t a carry over from the night before. Orlando, a much better defensive team than the Suns, held the Knicks to just 39 points in the first half. The Knicks did, however, get good performances from their up-and-coming players Danilo Gaillinari and Wilson Chandler. Gallo had 27 against the Suns and 20 against the Magic. Chandler put up 14 on the Suns and 24 on the Magic. 

The future of this franchise may hinge on the development of these two players. A free agent’s choice to come to the Knicks may depend on the cast of players that will surround him. Gallo and Chandler are locked into the Knicks next season and you know D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh want to get them developed quickly, meaning they’ll be on the floor for extended minutes this season. 

The Knicks, meanwhile, would like to play teams that have an uptempo style of basketball similar to theirs every game. They have a better chance at outscoring teams in a 140-130 game than beating a team in a 95-90 game. When it comes to teams that play good defense, the Knicks won’t win. They have to hit open shots when they get good looks against better defensive teams or else they’ll be held to under 40% shooting and lose by 20. 

The Knicks have some building blocks. Their development of those blocks this season will be key for the future of this team.

Of the Knicks’ current roster, only Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Toney Douglas, and Jordan Hill are locks to be on the team next year. Nate Robinson, Eddy Curry (player option), Chris Duhon, Al Harrington, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries (early termination option), David Lee, Darko Milicic, Marcus Landry and Cuttino Mobley will be unrestricted free agents while Marcus Landry will be a restricted free agent after this season.

Donnie Walsh hopes to stock and reload the roster and obtain at least one NBA superstar. The Knicks players who are in their final year of their contracts know they probably don’t fit into Donnie’s plans. They know the organization is eyeing superstars like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, to name a few. The point is that the current Knicks will be free agents too and looking to sign contracts themselves. They need to play well in New York this season to get paid by another team next season. Players like Al Harrington, Larry Hughes, David Lee and Nate Robinson won’t get great attention because of the glaring star-power in the free agent class but they’ll be expected to make an impact on the teams that sign them. A poor showing in 2009-2010 will hurt their chances of signing good contracts.

It behooves the current Knicks to play well and win games. It behooves the organization because they don’t have a first round pick and want to show potential free agents there is a good, young group of players to build around. Most of the current Knicks know they aren’t in the team’s future plans, but they are playing for themselves right now as much as they are playing for the team. The team just isn’t that good.

Chandler, Gallinari, and Douglas could be a good trio Donnie Walsh can build around. Hill hasn’t played enough to get a feel of how he’ll be. The roster will be completely overhauled before next season and an entire city is hoping Donnie Walsh can put together a playoff caliber team.

The Knicks got their second win of the season in a comeback victory at Indiana. The Knicks were down by as many as 13 in the third quarter and pulled out a 110-103 win. They played good defense in the second half and outscore the Pacers 34-17 in the fourth quarter. Larry Hughes scored 22 and Al Harrington scored 26, both came off the bench. Eddy Curry, who hasn’t played in two years, made his season debut and put up 10 points and four rebounds. Second year Knick, Danilo Gallinari, who averaged just under 16 points per game in the first 10 games, didn’t score bucket in the game.

The Pacers only scored 34 points in the second half and the Knicks scored that in the fourth quarter alone. The Knicks were down by 15 at the half and let the Pacers score 43 in the second quarter. 

The veterans played most of the second half and the younger players didn’t have much of a hand in the comeback win. It’s good to see the veterans, who know the Knicks are trying to put together a strong, young nucleus for the future and probably won’t involve them, play hard down the stretch. 

The Knicks could make it two in a row when they host the 0-12 Nets on Saturday.

Allen Iverson to the Knicks. It’s a hot topic around New York since he and the Memphis Grizzlies parted ways. It feels like Donnie Walsh is going to put Iverson in a Knicks uniform. The whole city is in a trance over Iverson. It’s being discussed by anyone with sports knowledge around New York city. Although Iverson wants to go to a contender, contending teams probably won’t give Iverson a look because he wants to start and will bark if he doesn’t. This makes the Knicks a great team for Iverson. He can start and will score points in Mike D’Antoni’s offense.

The people who don’t want Iverson on the Knicks say he will stunt the growth of their young players such as Danilo Gallinari, Toney Douglas and Wilson Chandler. They’ll also say he doesn’t play defense and that’s what the Knicks are missing. To answer those people, the Knicks need a lot more than one strong defender and he can give the young players open looks when defenders key on him.

Iverson isn’t going to get the Knicks into the playoffs but he’ll waken up a fan base that needs a “brand name” on the team and will also sell some tickets. Bring AI to MSG, Donnie. Prove you can bring a “name” to the Knicks before 2010 when the pressure is on.

AI officially becomes a free agent Thursday at 6:00 p.m., if he clears through waivers, which is expected. All signs point toward the Knicks extending an offer to Iverson. 

There are some great opinions floating around twitter on the Knicks and Allen Iverson topic. Follow @alanhan, @TommyDeeTKB, @LeBron23NYK, and @Knicksfanblog.

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