Reflections on The Rookie _ and some other idle thoughts

Whether or not you caught a little of Danilo Gallinari's summer league debut Monday in Vegas, there was plenty with which to get carried away, both good and bad.

Clearly at times he'll look all of his 19 (soon to be 20 on Aug. 8) years and you'll want to boo him like it's draft night all over again. In Monday's first half, he forced shots and passes, and looked overmatched defensively. In other words, he looked like the rookie Dirk Nowitzki, significantly lost.

But then you see his stroke, which is pure. And his shoulders, which aren't quite Dwight Howard's, but clearly not those of a teenager's and ones he'll grow into. He moves the ball. He can shoot off the dribble or spotting up. He's willing to mix it up by putting the ball on the floor and taking it into traffic.

In Monday's second half, you could see what Donnie Walsh, Mike D'Antoni and others saw _ a teenager with NBA chops.

One caveat, though, about anything you see in the summer league:

A few years back, while attending a much more accessible summer league in Boston, the two most impressive players for the week by consensus were Richard Jefferson _ and Kwame Brown. Oh, and Nate Robinson looked like a bona fide point guard last summer.

Anyone who believes he can still be that, stop. He's a freak, off-the-bench player.

That said, a few other observations about what's transpired recently and Monday:

- If the summer league system is any indication, D'Antoni's team (coached by assistant Phil Weber) isn't going to walk it up much. And that fits right into the way Wilson Chandler likes to play. Why, even a svelte Mardy Collins, who's looked plodding his first two seasons, looked reasonably comfortable _ and perhaps with he, Chris Duhon and the other quasi-points, there won't be much need for His Stephness and his new left-temple tattoo.

- That Zach Randolph-to-the-Clippers scenario for a second-round draft pick reminded us of a few summers ago, when the Nets were in salary-dump mode and besides letting Kenyon Martin leave for Denver, also dealt Kerry Kittles to the Clips for a second-rounder.

Fans screamed, with reason. This, though, is a little different.

Dealing Z-Bo for essentially nothing would be simple addition-by-subtraction, unloading not only a salary-cap albatross, but freeing Eddy Curry, if you presume he can be of any use next season.

But if you're Walsh, maybe by waiting out the market you can extract another useful player or two from someone for Z-Bo that doesn't wreck his Summer of 2010 salary-cap plan. (We wrote earlier that he could try to squeeze the Clips for Shaun Livingston, but they renounced him and he's now a free agent. Our bad).

And if you want your Knickerbockers to be somewhat competitive this season, they need all the new blood they can get, because if you didn't notice, just in their division alone, the 76ers are far better with Elton Brand; Toronto should be better if Jermaine O'Neal stays healthy; the Celtics probably won't win as many games, but they're still good for 50 or more, and the Nets shouldn't be much worse than last season.

We say that because we hear from a lot of folks who want The Don to completely shuffle the deck right here and now, to be competitive next season. They may very well be, but based on the Brand-to-Philly and O'Neal-to-Toronto additions alone, it may not show up in the standings.

- Which brings us to Stephon Marbury, who has virtually no trade value because any team that might consider him can just wait for the Knicks to buy him out, then sign him to a low-money deal.

We think that's a foregone conclusion, and a must, but we also think there's no great rush to do so, because they can still attempt to trade him and buy him out any times.

In our wildest dreams, we can't possibly imagine him playing another game for the Knicks, even though some people believe he'll be motivated by playing for his next contract and that he could increase his trade value in February by playing well the first three months.

Our feelings about this bring us to what might've been an apocryphal remark reportedly uttered by former St. John's star Walter Berry when he was with the Nets and someone asked him about his teammates considering him a team "cancer."

Berry supposedly responded, "I ain't no cancer, I'm a Leo."

Even if that isn't true, we love it.

- We also love the fact that The Don signed Danny (son of Ernie) Grunfeld for his summer league team, even though the former Stanford shooting standout is a long shot at best to stick even for training camp.

Could you imagine the Isiah Thomas or Scott Layden regimes doing something like that in the wake of Ernie's awkward departure?

- Regarding a reader's question about the Knicks signing Patrick Ewing Jr., no can do _ Sacramento drafted him in the second round, 43rd overall.

- To those who've signed up for the Knicks Fan Forum, we're going to be posting topics periodically for participants to discuss, comment on, etc. So although you're free to talk among yourselves, feel free to offer your thoughts, as well.

Comments

[Devoted Knicks Fan]

I like the Grunfeld kid addition but what about Patricks kid?

[steve]

Maybe Walsh is waiting until after the Summer to find a third team to deal with NY and the Clippers which may land a rotation player or mid-first roound pick for Zach. If not, he missed a golden opportunity to dump that contract. I also think the Curry-Randolph pairing is a failure and this would be the best thing for Curry
in the long run.

[Lonster from Kansas via the Boogie Down]

Don't understand what Wishy Walshy is doing. His whole agenda was to get under the cap right??? So why on God's great earth didn't he let that contract go to the Clips!?! You can find gems in the second round, right Ginobili?

[Am! SIXERS GURU FAN!]

It seems Walsh is about to make or break his reputation with this Z.Randolph situation. Forget cap space & rebuilding. He's trying to win now. He better hope Zach has a good showing & some one wants him before the trade deadline.