Dr. J. Naismith

Apparently some scouts think so. Just read this from the NY Post about the Knicks and D'Antoni being high on the Italian. Or maybe they're just blowing smoke up peoples asses just to hype him up.

Any of you guys seen Gallinari play before and does he have the potential to be alot better than Andrea?

INSIDER

wow... thats some high praise.
but i'll be taking everything with a grain of salt in the next few weeks... everyone's either a superstar or a flop... people's opinions mean squat... everyone has something different to say.
the bad thing is that with these euro guys, we've never seen them in action and only get info from 'other sources'...
after the Bargnani debacle, i'm kinda hoping we stay clear of the euro's for the next little while... i'm looking at both Gallinari and Batum's profile over on nbadraft.net, and i'm not too confident anymore.

Belsius

I dont understand you people saying the Euro experiment has failed crap. Bargs has failed as a 1st pick OK, but the Raptors got parker, calde, garbajosa and delfino for basically nothing and they all performed more than well. Nesterovic is expensive but he played extremmely well. They came for nothing and they have outplayed guys like Kapono, Ford and sometimes bosh.
BC should get what he thinks it will be better for Toronto, doesnt matter if he plays american or european style.
IMO Batum looks like a pretty good idea.

Ball Don't Lie

Linas Kleiza clone? If youre a lotto team are you gonna take Kleiza with picks 1-14?

moremilk

bargnani has not failed, at least not yet. There are many players from the 06 draft who have yet to confim, bargnani, thomas, morrison. But it's too early to tell if they'll make it or not.

Superjudge

Bargnani played his sophmore season, sick, hurt, and mentally stressed in a media market that has made some pretty tough hombres into babies.

I'd give hima coule more years before you start with that.

He was drafted because of what he could be, not what he was.

JayJayW

meh....i dont care for europlayers anymore

Galir-watever prolly a flop to

Superjudge

heh.

Maybe.

I haven't givin up on Toronto's Euro Flop yet.

INSIDER

firstly, Batum, while i was high on this kid, i've started to sour.
8.5 ppg, 3 rebs.... ok, should i be jumping up and down with excitement?
sure they say his potential is through the roof, but so is alot of other players in the draft.
potential is impossible to gauge... potential should come after attitude, if your attitude and work ethic is amazing, then that will determine whether or not you'll make it.
so if this kid's potential is incredible, but he's a pussy, then that so-called potential means nothing.

moreover, with Bargs, i say it was a failure because he hasnt lived up to his pick as a number 1 draft pick... meanwhile others from his draft class are shinning... (see Roy).
so IMO that is a failure of a pick.

dfunkie1

it isn't exact hard for this kid to look more promising than Bargs at this point. what exact has Bargs proven? he's a jumpshooting 7ft who misses way more then he should.

Claudius

Why don't we just go with the best player available this time instead of potential? We're a slighly aging team, so taking a guy who's 23-24 years old won't be bad. He would fit in with the culture immediately and the learning curve wouldn't be as steep.

MangoKidHoops

I know the moneyball feature doesn't really apply here, but think about it.
The Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics are famous for this - in the draft, they select guys who's learning curves aren't as steep and who have produced in the collegiate ranks as opposed to guys who are in high school and who might have higher ceilings.
Why not draft kids who are at least sophmores (going into junior year) as opposed to freshmen or kids out of Europe?

ClingRap

I'm not sure I understand this scrap the Euro-experiment stuff. It's bullshit when you look at who's been successful playing on a world stage for the past five-ten years. Europeans have a superb professional league where guys are fundamentally sound, and play the game the right way.
I think the NBA quite possibly is like the plague for a lot of players coming over here because the culture is utterly reflective of individualistic schemes, and AAU bred players who like to go one on five.
Another thing that's interesting is that american players crap out and bust in the draft all of the time but no one says its because they're american, yet if a euro busts then its simply because he's european, which is another way of saying he lacks the professional ability to excel in the "world's greatest league." Sure there's talent in the NBA, highlight reel talent, but not a lot of players.

Belsius

most of the guys that go from europe to the Us have being playing proffesionally for years. Just like soccer you can playproffesionally when you are 16.

MangoKidHoops

Sorry Bel, I didn't explain myself thoroughly. I mean kids like 17-18 out of Europe (ie Darko). Most of those dudes aren't ready either - although they have been playing against men for years. It's a different game when you come over.

Belsius

yep thats true. european players should go there when they are 21 at least.

Ricky rubio and Rudy fernandez will be exceptions though.

The MVP of West Hollywood

I'd take him in the 10-14 range easily

Kleiza is better than what his stats show, it's just hard to get touches with Iverson and Anthony (not to mention trigger happy JR Smith and Camby) taking so many shots. I'd love to have Kleiza.

Joshz

My bet is Gallinari is better than Bargs as of now, but he plays a position which fits his skill set...i don't see gallinari being half the match up problem that Bargnani could be. How many 7 footers can nail a 3pter, and on the next play pump fake, penetrate to the basket and lay down a slam? Granted last season he didn't improve offensively like we all wanted to see, but be patient...why does he anger all us raps fans so much? because its so clear to see his potential, at best Gallinari will be a 2nd option...what worries me is he reminds me of adam morrison...already had some injury concerns as well

dmbphan041

yuppe.