Knicks

The Knicks have made some moves lately starting with the drafting of Danilo Gallinari. Of course the Garden faithful booed him. Who can blame them? They are still waiting for Frederick Weiss to cross the pond; last time he was spotted he had Vince Carters nuts in his face. Plus to the common eye Gallinari looks dreadfully close to Andrea Bargnani.

But let us look at the facts. Gallinari was the go-to-guy for Armani Milan, a top tier Euro team. He can do everything offensively and with D'Antoni's offense who really cares about defense? He definitely will be at least a number two and is one of the only players in this year's draft who has the possibility of becoming a team's number one weapon. He should grow to be almost 7 feet tall and a true force in the league.

The Knicks also signed Chris Duhon. According to many he is the only true PG on the team. I disagree. I am one of the few who thinks Marbury is a real PG and a good PG but Zeke messed with his head. I do not know if he will recover to be a big time player ever again so I get the Duhon signing. Furthermore, it is only a two year deal so his salary will be gone in time for the Lebron-Wade-Bosh sweepstakes. Still, if the Knicks were going to try to sign a true PG to a short contract, why not go for a more high risk-high reward player like Shaun Livingston. The kid was billed as a Magic Johnson type PG and was just coming into his when he blew out his knee in 37 places. Not only would he come cheap but he could actually develop into an asset that would attract one of the 2010ers. Unlike Livingston, Duhon's maximum marginal benefit to the team is so slim to the point they probably won't resign him in two years. Why not take a chance?

My final thoughts stem from rumors on espn.com. Supposedly Baron Davis' first choice was the Knicks. Why? I am not sure. I do not see what they have to offer that the Clippers do not. Still, there were no reports that Donnie Walsh even looked into it. Furthermore it is being reported that Donnie turned down a deal in which the Clips would've taken Zach Randolph and his miserable contract. Walsh's logic was that he did not want to give away Z-Bo in something that
would amount to only a salary dump. My question is why not? Randolph might be the first player in the history of the NBA to die on the court! With him and Curry on the court the Knicks will be playing 5 on 3 for most of the game. They might be the first team to have the double cherry picking strategy with one staying on the defensive end and the other the offensive end so the team is constantly playing 5 on 4. Better than constant 5 on 3s with the two of them lollygagging back and forth between the 3-point lines. If I was Walsh I would've given the Clips Randolph for a bag of basketballs, they wouldn't even have to be new. They could be old with no grip. And flat.

So where does that leave everything? I am hoping not good enough for a first round playoff loss and just bad enough to get extremely lucky in the lottery in order to draft Euro PG Ricky Rubio and begin a new Knicks era with a European flavor.