Italian import Danilo Gallinari is creating a buzz in the Garden, along with David Lee and Wilson Chandler, that hasn’t been heard for far too long if you’re a Knicks fan. In his second season we’re seeing signs of a potential All-Star player.
Thursday night in the final minutes of the fourth quarter — and with the momentum starting to shift to the Bobcats — he coolly hit a big 3. Then a couple possessions later he knocked home the dagger from 5-6 feet behind the arc.
Not everyone has what it takes to make that shot, especially in New York, and we’ve seen Gallinari do it several times this season. I like his makeup: he missed a couple clutch free throws some weeks back and whereas a lot of young players might get down on themselves, he didn’t — instead going on a free throw tear over the next few games. We know he has the three — he’s living up to Coach D’Antoni’s pre-season praise by leading the league in 3-pointers made — and this year we’ve seen him play off it and get to the rim with an improved first step.
If Gallinari continues to develop his game the sky is the limit and the Garden could be rocking like the days of old. In fact, after a terrible start the Knicks may even slip into the playoffs this year — which will be a good experience for the young guys. My only knock on Gallinari: he’s no Sinatra.
He looks like he can become a player and i think the Coach is right about his make-up but if i were the knicks i’d try to package him with Curry to get Curry out of town ASAP. I don’t trust players with a history of back issues and Curry’s cap space next year could be used on another proven top-flight player. If the Knicks can’t sign two max free agents, it’s going to be tough to get just one guy to sign