No Sleep ‘Til Vegas!
July 7, 2008 – 6:37 pm 
Anybody see Spike Lee at the draft two weeks ago? That must have been the first time in years they didn’t cut to a close up reaction of Spike after Stern announced the Knicks’ pick. Maybe he’s on location shooting his next film. Or maybe Spike knew it was Gallinari and was boycotting the pick. It would have been interesting to see if he would have gas-faced Gallinari the way he gas-faced a then unknown David Lee back in 2006 at #30.
I think what happened recently with Gallinari and Knicks fans may mirror Spike’s initial reaction to David Lee. Nobody except for a few knew David Lee in 2006, just like right now, not a lot of Knicks fans have seen Gallinari play basketball. They haven’t seen him, but just because he’s a Euro, they think he’s weak, or not athletic enough, or too scared to come over (Fred Weis) to play in the NBA.
If any rookie comes to the garden, and shows he can play, the fans will change their minds, just like Spike changed his mind about David Lee.
35 Responses to “No Sleep ‘Til Vegas!”
Can’t wait to see what Nilo G’s got!
By Orange and Blue on Jul 8, 2008
Sacramento must be sick of this guy’s antics by now.
By knicksdefense on Jul 8, 2008
Seems like someone on the Kings misled Artest about what future plans they had for him in the KNigs organization. Fuck the Maloofs if that’s the case.
Artest to the Lakers!
Fuck Boston!
The Knicks under the cap by 2010… the year we make Contract… proposals that is!
By Orange and Blue on Jul 8, 2008
O&B do you think Yao would be someone walsh would look at if he’s free by 2010? I think he has an option through 2011 but you know China wants their players in major markets, which Houston simply is not.
Walsh liked Rick Smits, wonder if he’d pull the trigger to get Yao if project LeBron fell through.
By knicksdefense on Jul 8, 2008
I guesse we would have to monitor Yao’s health to determine if the series of injuries in the recent past indicates that he is injury prone or just unfortunate.
I wouldn’t mind having him on the Knicks. Imagine that a legit 6′10 Italian Kid, and 7′4 Chinamen drawing in the international contingent of Knicks fans.
Actually I think that might sell LBJ more towards the Knicks. Since the King is a businessman and marketing is part of business… so why not market himself to an international crowd watching a truly international team.
What did you think of my three way trade? I thought it would work b/c it would get us under the cap by 2010 nab us rebounders at teh 4 and 5 to replace Lee and Z-Bo short term.
By Orange and Blue on Jul 8, 2008
O&B:
with regards to your trade, the lakers could have used artest during the finals, but would they have got to the finals if artest was there? artest is good as long as he focuses on basketball, but he hasn’t been able to stay focused. he’s constantly making headlines elsewhere.
Mihm was good in LA but I don’t like him for New York. That said he’s probably an upgrade over eddy curry who was one of the worst centers in the league last year statistically. Miller seems to be winding down his career, but you know walsh still likes him. odom is versatile but would he get in the way of gallinari’s development who is not yet strong enough to play the four?
all that aside, I like trades that gets rid of zbo’s contract and attitude, but do you think zbo would be more valuable in a d’antoni system than the lumbering, out of breath eddy curry?
we should try to keep lee. maybe d’antoni changed his mind about lee, the fact that d’antoni skip passed chi-town over hinrich, there must be some reason other than the C.R.E.A.M that made D’antoni come to new york. there are some that believe d lee is the best player on the knicks. jalen rose, for example. lee is a scrapper. somebody please teach him how to shoot and play defense. he did beat out cp3 for mvp in that rookie game.
By knicksdefense on Jul 8, 2008
KnicksD
I am actually with you about keeping Lee.
I am sort of getting somewhat tired with all this 2010 “A Cap Space Odyssey” talk we keep hearing.
The way I understand it is that [D]‘antoni wants an engine to power his 7 seconds or less race car.
BUT
No engine can run w/o pistons, sparkplugs etc. The stuff that powers the engine ergo secures the ball via either good rebounding or defense so that the 7 second or less auto can get out on the break.
Lee is important to that end. The knicks need good rebounding. Running teams don’t run off of an opposing team’s scoring b/c that allows the other team to set up their defense and slow down the run.
Thus even if Lee is traded to avoid the salary cap reprecussion, we still need to get rebounders in return to spark the offensive streak down court.
By Orange and Blue on Jul 8, 2008
I’m with O&B on this 2010 stuff………….
LBJ needs a team around him.Who will we have.Curry?Crawford?Gallinari?
Is that enough to make LBJ think he will win a championship with the Knicks?
What about the Nets? They have Jay-Z,LBJ’s amigo.
Why are we sure Cleveland will let him walk? He’s from Cleveland!!!
Wade leaving Miami? I think not.They have Beasley,Marion.
Bosh leaving Toronto?For what?Their team is on the rise!!
Other than the money(which their own teams can match any offer),these guys need a good supporting cast.We need to think about creating our own team and not praying,hoping for a superstar.
@KnicksD
I’m worried about the Gallinari pick.Yes,I like his talent and youth.I’m worried about his ability to defend.On a team that is near the bottom on defense(and remember, defense wins championships)the last thing we need is another player who can’t play defense.
“CALLING ALL TEAMS,CALLING ALL TEAMS,THE N.Y.KNICKS PAINT AREA IS OPEN TO ALL!!”
As Zach,Curry and now Gallinari welcome all in the paint.We are going to have to score 130 point a night to win a game.We need defensive players.Duhon is a good start…………..Gallinari may have skills,but WE NEED PLAYERS WITH DEFENSIVE SKILLS!!
But…..I’m a Knicks fan,and I’m hoping for the best.
By D L T Knicks on Jul 8, 2008
…….And now we have to deal with Elton Brand 3-4 times a year.
Where’s the interior “D” coming from?
…….Not Zach or EC!!
By D L T Knicks on Jul 9, 2008
I hear that DLT. Brand in the Atlantic = bad news.
and the brand deal is also bad for us because Phili was one of the potential teams we were going to try and dupe-I mean ship-Zach Randolph to.
I still think there are going to be more changes being made this summer.
we picked up a new president.
we picked up a new elite coach (at least regular season, we haven’t made the playoffs in half a decade).
we picked up a new gunner from the wings.
we picked up a new coach-approved point guard to run the offense.
so we’ve been active, there will probably be at least one buy out this summer, and maybe a trade.
we’re reloading.
we couldn’t keep things the same and expect there to be different results.
moving in any direction is better than staying still.
defense wins championships, but we’re not close to championships yet.
we’re just trying to get out from below.
we were the second worst team in the entire eastern conference last season. and the east, aside from the top three teams, wasn’t as strong as the west.
By knicksdefense on Jul 9, 2008
I bet the next thing walsh does has to do with either zach or eddy.
By knicksdefense on Jul 9, 2008
KnicksD
If….and maybe IF coach D can get the most out of these players,we won’t need changes.
1)Someone has to tell Eddy to TRY a blocks and TRY to get more than 1 rebound in the game.
2)Someone has to tell Zach to TRY and pass the ball(it may come back to you).
3)Someone has to tell Crawford to TRY to get to the trim more often.
4)Someone needs to tell Steph to stay away from the team.
5)Someone needs to be real with Q….if you can’t shoot and your back hurts,SIT DOWN!!
If these guys salaries can be based on wins,they would play harder.And that’s all I think they need.
By D L T Knicks on Jul 9, 2008
KnicksD,
I think we should use Roses’ expiring contract and get a defensive big man.And throw Zach or EC in the deal too.
Players to dump/buy-out.
Steph….destroys the chemistry.
JJames….too fat to play.Period.
Q….yes Q,has not found his stoke in 2 years.
Collins……no potential,we maybe wasting our time and money.
Morris….already gone.
Rose…..trade him(7 mill expiring contract).Does not need to be on the rooster.
I would explore trades for almost everyone one the team.23-49,no one is safe.
By D L T Knicks on Jul 9, 2008
Collins still gets a pass, for this year only, in my book.
I agree with the othe players either being bought out or traded. Lets get fresh young talent, even if it’s summer leagueprospects, in here. Let Lee, Chandler, and Crawford be the captians of this team.
No more schizoprenic personalities destroying the team!
By Orange and Blue on Jul 9, 2008
Sorry about the cut-and-paste link, but I’m not up on html.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPGImt1Shew&feature=related
In my opinion this was our pick this year if he would have stayed in the draft, and he should be our pick next year. It should be our priority. Perfect for any team, but especially for a team designed for the fast break. He has a knack for blocking shots right to his teammates and turning them into fast breaks, and he trails the break perfectly. If this guy wouldn’t be suited to playing next to a guy like Galinari (when and if Galinari reaches his full potential), no one is.
What the hell here’s another,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dudxh2qZE8M&feature=related
straight-up beast
By bokonon on Jul 10, 2008
hasheem, huh? looks a bit like hakeem in that one. how tall is that dude? looks like we could definitely use his help in the paint. plus i like the fact that he’s a big east player, right now we only have chandler from depaul.
Big Snax makin’ headlines. Looks like DLT Knicks is going to get his wish for one of his cuts.
I’m with O&B about giving mardy another chance to prove himself from that knee injury, but that’s what vegas is for. if d’antoni and walsh are good, they’ll know from the summer pro league if mardy is someone they want to work with or not.
this summer team is important to a lot of isiah’s draft picks: mardy, balkman, chandler. yet none of those guys is going to get the ball as much as gallinari will, i bet.
makes me wonder why nate is here. people were laughing at nate for playing vegas pro league after his sophomore year, now he’s going to be the all-time leader in total points for the history of the summer league.
we know what nate can do by now. he’s proven himself to be an nba caliber guard, but not necessarily a point guard. i appreciate that he wants to play because he wants to improve and work hard at his game, but mike d is already familiar with his game because they drafted him out in phoenix… unless that was a pick made for isiah and they didn’t care who they were drafting, because they were going to put him on the next plane to new york.
makes me wonder, would you guys trade nate and q right now to have kurt thomas back? he was our best defender and we did not get much low-post defense back in that deal.
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
Let’s face it a dominant defensive big man is much more important to a championship team than a star point guard. There are exceptions, or should I say exception. Michael Jordan.
How many rings does Kidd have? Stockton. Payton (without Shaq). Nash. I could go on but I won’t. Every team that has won the championship in my lifetime (I am nearly forty) except for Jordan’s Bulls has had a dominant defender at either the Center, the Power Forward or both. Point Guard has not been as crucial. Even Magic and Isiah (arguably the best players on their teams) had Kareem and Rodman/Laimbeer respectively, and those two are the only teams you could seriously contend had their best player on the team playing the point. Even Doc and Bird had Moses and Parish/McHale.
You don’t win being soft in the middle. On the other hand, you can win with a competent but unspectacular point guard. To me, you get the defensive eraser, and then you get a guy who can take care of the ball, and can get it to his teammates in the flow of the team’s offense. You don’t need an all star point to win a championship.
Mo Cheeks, Derek Fisher, Dennis Johnson, Kenny Smith, Avery Johnson, Rajon Rondo. None of these guys were the best player or even the second best on their teams. They all have rings. Take a look at a list of all the “star” point guards. Kidd, Nash, B Davis, Paul, Stockton, Iverson. Not so many rings. Paul may get one, but not without T Chandler or someone like him.
Yeah I left out Tony Parker. But then he has Tim Duncan doesn’t he?
By bokonon on Jul 10, 2008
KD, knowing how it turned out, I wouldn’t have made the trade, but hindsight is 20/20. As of now I would rather have Nate than Kurt, but that’s just because Kurt isn’t what he used to be.
At the time, I though they could have gotten more for Kurt, and I was dissapointed. He was our only commodity we had left, and therefore our only valuable trade chip.
Sounds eerily familiar to today’s situation with D Lee. I don’t want to be talking three years from now about how we should have gotten more for Lee and we traded him because he was our only valuable piece. That’s why I say hold on to Lee, unless you get back at least one player who is significantly better than him. I don’t want to see Lee go for three guys who together make up for his production.
By bokonon on Jul 10, 2008
bokonon:
i have no reason to disagree with anything you just wrote in #17.
if what you say is right, however, that means the bobcats are going to take our #8 seed in the playoffs in 2009 because they’ve got emeka okafor and dj agustin with LB trying to get revenge on dolan. okay, LB and DJ are too soon to tells but emeka is already one of the best in the east at defending the paint.
i still like gallinari over brook or robin lopez or anthony randolph. randolph is probably more of a project currently than gallinari, and with brook i’m still so disappointed with what happened to channing frye and wouldn’t want to get another channing. no disrespect to brook, i wish him the best, but i didn’t see that much of his game in college, and he did drop all the way to 10.
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
I think Emeka can be that guy on a championship team. But the Bobcats aren’t a championship team. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them overachieve this year if they are finally all healthy though.
As for Okafor he’s had a better start of his career than Ben Wallace did. It only took getting on to the right team to really ignite his game and Okafor looks more promising than Wallace did at the same point in his career. Remember, when Wallace was a throw-in in the Grant Hill trade? Speaking of past trades, you think Orlando would like that one back?
For the guys that were left, I like the Galinari pick. No one really knows what any of these guys will turn out to be.
By bokonon on Jul 10, 2008
i hear that about orlando giving up an up-and-coming charles oakley inspired ben wallace to detroit for a damaged goods grant hill. good job joe dumars on that one.
but i don’t feel bad for orlando because they’re doing very well now with otis smith as gm. that team is one or two back court players away from the finals with all the solid players they’ve put around dwight “superman” howard (turkoglu, rashard lewis, jameer, bogans, evans). they should have kept trevor ariza though…
charlotte’s not ready yet but they have some weapons on that team and they’ll be in our way towards getting back to being a playoff team.
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
somebody please get eddy curry to buy whatever this guy is selling
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/ny-spknix105758657jul10,0,2111081.story
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
KnicksD
“I’m with O&B about giving mardy another chance to prove himself from that knee injury, but that’s what vegas is for. if d’antoni and walsh are good, they’ll know from the summer pro league if mardy is someone they want to work with or not.
this summer team is important to a lot of isiah’s draft picks: mardy, balkman, chandler. yet none of those guys is going to get the ball as much as gallinari will, i bet.”
Do you think that the reason why so many of our third years and younger players are in the Summer League is also possibly to not only assess whether they’ll be keepers but also to boost their value for purposes of packaging them with some of the Knicks dead weight contracts?
By Orange and Blue on Jul 10, 2008
hey, I want to go on record as saying:
“just bloggin’” is the calling card of Mr. Steady as far as i’m concerned. Steady has not been around since the season ended, but he is still with us in spirit.
AND
“keep it poppin’” is Knicks Blogger CooleyHigh’s trademark from knicks fix.
I don’t know who invented “Big Snacks” but i’m sure it is somebody who we know from the Knicks Knation days.
I have no problem at all with Alan using these sayings on his great knicks blog, but I just want to cite in my opinion what I believe are the origins of these phrases in the knicks blogosphere.
just bloggin’
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
O&B:
“Do you think that the reason why so many of our third years and younger players are in the Summer League is also possibly to not only assess whether they’ll be keepers but also to boost their value for purposes of packaging them with some of the Knicks dead weight contracts?”
No doubt you’re right. Mardy has no trade value currently and Balkman’s has dropped big-time with the bad sophomore follow-up to what was a promising rookie season.
I believe if Chandler is 100% healthy, Mike D will want to keep him for that 7-second offense. For D’antoni, Nate might be a keeper, moreso than Jamal. I think Walsh would move Jamal if he got a good deal for him, because Mike D wants team players who play both ways. players that make smart decisions with the basketball. Jamal’s shot selection is often erratic, forced, ect.
So I think Walsh had Mike D’s back, and will remake the Knicks according to D’Antoni’s preferences.
I know walsh found Antonio Davis and Dale Davis to compete with our Mason, Oakley and Ewing front line, I hope he can find that kind of player for us in the paint, someone who will block shots and get rebounds and keep people away from the basket.
I have no idea who D’antoni wants to keep, but if I were to try to read his mind I’d guess he wants to work with Lee, Nate, Q (assuming health), Chandler (again assuming health). He’ll work with either Eddy or Zach but they both won’t still be here in November if they can do anything about it. We are rebuilding, or restructuring, whichever word you prefer to use.
they might keep stephon until the trading deadline. especially if they don’t think they will be in contention for a playoff spot early in the season.
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
The LA Clippers renounced the rights to Shaun Livingston.
But after that terrible knee injury I wonder if he can regain any semblance of is previous form?
should the Knicks take a flyer on him and trade one of our excess contracts????
Anyway I whish him well hope he makes a comeback. Love redemptions songs!
By Orange and Blue on Jul 10, 2008
i always liked that kid livingston.
but all you have to do is type his name into youtube to see that devastating injury.
i’d invite him to summer camp see if he is able to get up and down the floor well.
he’s a good pg that just fell down wrong. he was very skinny and that hurt him in the nba.
i wonder what the average size nba player is these days compared to the 70’s.
you have point guards that weigh 228lbs these days.
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
david falk is an asshole.
http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/nba/blog/2008/07/brand_to_philly_what_really_ha.html#comments
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
they’re showing an old hawks versus celtics game on nbatv.
a young doc rivers running the point and basically giving the ball every single time to dominique, who would always do something amazing.
‘nique was my second favorite player at that time right after ewing but just before chris mullin.
By knicksdefense on Jul 10, 2008
Is Paul Pierce Transparent or what?
If he really said the following in the Sleuth article then, me thinks Pierce would love to get a point gaurd on the cheap!
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2008/07/10/2008-07-10_paul_pierce_advises_knicks_to_dump_steph.html
By Orange and Blue on Jul 11, 2008
O&B
I was thinking the same thing, when i saw the headline of that article… then I thought maybe he really doesn’t like Steph… then when I read the article it’s clear PP has respect for Steph’s skills, and seems to looking to add to their Beantown arsenal..the key to hurting Boston is getting Perkins in foul trouble after him they do not have much length (other than KG’s wiry and narrow body)
By saipanknickster on Jul 11, 2008
Hey Saipan
In a sense you are right about the Celtics lack of real substantial depth in the interior. But despite that lack of depth, percieved or otherwise, their main interior palyers stayed healthy enough to get that shiny stuff.
Actually do you or anyone else think that the rest of the East beefed up in response to the tough/dense, yet not so deep, interior play of Boston last year?
Hey as to Methbury getting the boot. I would love for Boston to take him, maybe he’ll detonate right in their midst. I really doubt it though they have stronger more established personalities over in Beantown.
But it would beautiful for him to blow up in Beantown and take them down with him. Our own version of the Trojan Horse..
By Orange and Blue on Jul 11, 2008
Yes I think other teams have beefed up in response to Boston’s model
Brand coming east is one example..
Yeah Marbury needs to go It would be lovely to see him ignite
a downfall in Baahston with a Boston ME Party
By saipanknickster on Jul 11, 2008