Wow, This Made My Freakin' Day
by fuhry on Mar 12, 2010 10:52 AM EST
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PrintIf you don't subscribe to Newsday, maybe you ought to think about it, or maybe you can read this without subscribing, I don't know. But here's a good example of why Alan Hahn is worth money and Berman and Isola aint worth God Shammgod's shoelaces.
From the Knicks Fix - Hahn is interviewing Gallo:
“That's what I really want; every game to play defense against the best,” he said. “That's what I asked Mike and that's what I'm trying to do.” Gallo has recently matched up against LeBron James, Joe Johnson and, on Wednesday, Manu Ginobili. And while he had a strong fourth quarter scoring wise -- eight of his 14 points, including a wild back-to-the-basket, over-his-head flip -- Gallinari was grumbling about Ginobili's 28 points. I told him those minutes in crunch time against a team like the Spurs mean a lot for his development. He didn't want to hear it. “It means a lot, especially means a lot when Ginobili is kicking my ---,” he grumbled.
Go check out the rest of the article if you can at http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/the-knicks-fix-1.812055.
Why do I love this so much? Because here you have a young Knick, who's driven - driven- to play great defense against the best players in the world. He demonstrates an understanding and a chutzpah that really separates the great scorers from the great defenders. Along with Toney Douglas, that's two guys that get the importance of defense. And Chandler is no slouch on the defensive end himself. Most teams have only one of these kind of defenders on their team. The Knicks have three, they're all under 25, and all three are far from being one-dimensional players. They can all score the ball as well. But the defensive thing gets me excited because I'm a Knick fan and these three guys are Knicks.
It's true that David Lee isn't really one of those D guys, but I think with a couple of defenders setting the tone out there, the rest of the team steps up its D as well. Defensive leadership on the floor is a quality it seems every championship team has. And I think the Knicks have it. They lack some critical pieces, but to me the future looks bright right now.
I don't give a frak about LeBron (though you think he doesn't notice this?).... If you add another great rebounder at the 5 to this squad, I think they'll win more games than they lose. And if you add a great crunchtime scorer, watch out.
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striving for perfection!
i think it’s important to keep our young guys together. and i think david lee is a great teammate. he is being forced into being the best player on the team. but gallo seems to be the inevitable leader or second in command, depending on this summer. he’s just got to put his stones out there.
twitter.com/aighttho
http://aightthen.tumblr.com/
Amen
"Dishin' and swishin' in transition"
by Serious Garbage Time on Mar 12, 2010 12:49 PM EST reply actions
Somewhere,
Eran Ilyasova is reading this, laughing his ass off.
by al's brick foundation on Mar 13, 2010 2:27 AM EST reply actions
And not to rain on the parade but....
Most teams have only one of these kind of defenders on their team. The Knicks have three, they’re all under 25, and all three are far from being one-dimensional players.
Yet somehow I think we would find it difficult to stop a solid AAU player from driving down the lane. I love Chandler, and I love TD, I’m just not sold on Gallo. He seems to spend a lot of time just standing outside the 3 point line, and he bricks a lot of wide open shots for a great shooter.
by al's brick foundation on Mar 13, 2010 2:32 AM EST up reply actions
Dude's 20
And he’s played more games this season than he’s ever played in his life. Look for the good, friend. Look for the good.
Well, not to nit pick, he's 21
and so what? What does that mean? How many players in the league are 21 and under nowadays? All we heard about was how he played with grown men professionally in Italy and he should be ready blah blah. He shows signs of brilliance, but most of the time he just stands out by the 3 point line, chucks up contested 3’s, and is a non factor. Besides pure shooting, Chandler is better then Gallinari in every phase of the game. If Gallo wasn’t D’antonis pet boy from Italy, would we be so lenient? If he was just a normal college player that came into the league, got hurt, and then did next to nothing outside the first 15 or 20 games in his second year, would we all be so high on him? I’d love for Gallo to turn into Dirk, I’m just skeptical. If I had to choose between Gallo and Chandler, I’ll take Will in a second.
by al's brick foundation on Mar 13, 2010 4:06 PM EST up reply actions
OK
but by demonstrating that he is passionate and competitive about defense, to me that says that the guy is going to be one of those extremely rare NBA players – a great defender that doesn’t need a coach yelling at him to play D. At that point, if he has any offense at all the guy’s an asset. I’m excited about defense because these are the Knicks.
Besides which, I don’t see him as a non-factor on offense. He may not be a beast, but I think he has a pretty good idea of how to play the game and has some offensive skill besides chucking up threes.
But yeah, I like Chandler too and on a lot of days he looks like the better player.
but anyway,
It made my day… your mileage will vary and I’ve been known to be over-optimistic…. but so what, that’s the way I roll.
Bravo..however..
I’m not as skeptical as you seem to be. If Gallo had a full year last season, he would better now by far. It is funny how people can look at the same game, but remember it differently. We all want Gallo to be special, but how can somebody say he’s the best defender on the Knicks?! Not right now he aint! In fact, right now Chandler is the best all around player on the Knicks. His only problem, is his game is too soft right now. Gallo even looks like he’s developing his game on the fly, like a rookie normally does.
that's true
But I’m a firm believer that with NBA players, they’re all pretty athletic and being a great defender is all about having the right mindset and really being competitive about it. And players that really have a thing for defense are much rarer than players that have a thing for offense.
I’m a believer that if you can get a few of these defensive guys on the same team, you can fuck up other teams and you can find enough offense to win even without the big names. Like, Toney Douglas will probably never be as famous as Brandon Jennings or score 55 points, but on any given night he will get the better of Jennings by playing D. It’s like how Ward and Childs used to get the better of Marbury.
i agere 100%
to me, defense is all about basketball IQ.
To understand its importance, and to work on it and study it shows a smart ball player. A guy who is 100% offense to me shows a lack of comprehension about the finer points of the game.
I loved how in the beginning of the game yesterday, they were talking about how Tony D was studying Kidd and watching tape so he knew how to stop him better. smarts.
False
Early 90s knicks teams had some of the worst basketball IQ ever, but they kicked the shit out of you.
Reference: Winning Time.
http://scribingaccountant.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/wmarv
I'm not sure
one stupid foul against Miller gives you the worst basketball IQ ever, but I digress.
by al's brick foundation on Mar 16, 2010 3:10 AM EDT up reply actions
I wonder if Eran would read this while he’s in Turkey?
Master of the squeegee
by FreeBradshaw on Mar 13, 2010 7:10 PM EST up reply actions
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