Last updated: 9:56 am
June 30, 2008
Posted: 4:14 am
June 29, 2008
WHEN you're the Knicks and picking sixth in a top-heavy freshman draft, and your isolated asset (David Lee) and the slot weren't ample inducement (assuming another obscene contract was out of the question) to move up to harvest Derrick Rose, O. J. Mayo or Kevin Love, the inevitable conclusion is singling out an unfinished product.
Danilo Gallinari, we have since learned, is flawed (young, athletically and defensively challenged, stiff-legged making his move to paydirt) in certain areas!
You don't say!
Well, guess what, the Italian Scallion also happens to be gifted (tough, mature far beyond his 19 years, clever passer, impressive feel for the flow, and a good - not great - 3-point shooter) in other areas. Just as each and every player chosen afterward (before, too) is defective and accomplished one way or multiple others.
Otherwise, 7-footer Brook Lopez would have been gobbled up at No. 4 by the center-less Sonics, as projected by many experts, instead of falling into the (safety) Nets six stories below.
Otherwise, Jerryd Bayless would have been snatched from the Green Room by the Clippers, who crave a pure playmaker yet opted for shooting guard Eric Gordon at No. 7, instead of dropping four places to the Pacers.
Would Joe Alexander, elatedly embraced by the Bucks at No. 8, have been a more astute alternative? Donnie Walsh was pulled in both directions. Had Gallinari been gone, the 6-8 marksman would have been targeted, NYAC workout maharishi Milton Lee assertively predicts Alexander will prove to be the third-best player (Rose and Michael Beasley) in the '08 draft five seasons from now.
Fine, but what about this coming season? At this moment, is Alexander (or Bayless) any more prepared than Gallinari to help turn around the NudKnicks?
Alexander's encounters against stiff comp got a late start. Gallinari was bred by a pro to be a pro and carried a pro outfit in Milan. I'm just wondering - would Knicks fans be comforted to know his father played defiant defense as a D'Antoni teammate and his mother was a 200-meter sprinter?
