FanHouse DaniloGallinari

From his warm loud reception on draft night to his missing virtually the entire first half of the season with a back injury, Danilo Gallinari's rookie season has been fraught with disappointment. He hasn't looked half bad in the 28 games he's actually played, but unfortunately the Knicks revealed today that his season is likely over.

From the team's official statement: "Because Danilo has said his back is only 60 to 70 percent and thinks he has reached a plateau in his recovery, the team is reconsidering all treatment options, including surgery. Yesterday he saw a fourth surgeon in New York. Danilo has decided to travel to Italy to get additional opinions from Italian back specialists."

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "No big deal. I'm going to have own private dunk contest at my house. Just me. I'll be the only one invited." -- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

* "A while ago, back when Myspace was more like Facebook and less like Adultfriendfinder.com, I came across LaSalle Thompson's page in a random Pacers search. Assuming it was some sort of fan site, I sent a friend request. But instead of being accepted, I receive a not-at-all-friendly 'Who's this? Do I know you?'" -- Basketbawful.

The Knicks have a better record than we had any business asking for -- 4-3 after Tuesday's loss in San Antonio -- but rookie forward Danilo Gallinari hasn't been a part of it. Gallinari hasn't played since Halloween, and was inactivated for the Spurs game. Gallinari's back has been a problem since Summer League ... four months ago. Worried, Mike D'Antoni? Howard Beck of the New York Times finds out.

"I'm worried about it at this point," D'Antoni said. "We're just going to do what's best for him. He's 20 years old. We'd love for him to play in the next two or three weeks, we'd love for him to play in the next two or three months. But he's got to be 100 percent well."

The Knicks hope more rest and treatment will work, but after four months it seems that candle is burning low. A red-shirt season (for all purposes) isn't the worst thing in the world; Gallinari's young (20) and the Knicks aren't in a make-or-break season. But for a roster starved for talent, the loss of a potentially exciting and versatile piece has to be discouraging.

There's another interesting note regarding the deactivation of Gallinari: instead of dressing a healthy Stephon Marbury (who is traveling with the team), D'Antoni activated Eddy Curry ... who had been ruled out by the medical staff because of knee pain. D'Antoni is taking this Starbury situation very, very seriously.

Stephon Marbury may be a distraction at the Knicks' training camp, but perhaps he's a welcome distraction -- when you take a look at the rest of the roster, there are problems that a mere buyout can't solve.

Take, for instance, Eddy Curry. Despite knowing that he'd be running more than he's ever run in his life with Mike D'Antoni at the helm, he showed up to camp out of shape. And then, making matters worse, he's actually missed the first few days of camp after going viral -- and not in the good "Allan Houston on YouTube" kind of way.

He's been diagnosed with a bacterial infection that will keep him out of action until Thursday at the earliest. As D'Antoni pointed out, though, it may be a blessing in disguise:

"I heard he was throwing up and everything," D'Antoni said, "and that's a great way to lose weight."

Any sorority girl out there can tell you, D'Antoni speaks the truth. Unfortunately, not every ailment on the Knicks can be solved by a mere eating disorder.

Danilo Gallinari has been sidelined for months with a bulging disc in his back (a condition the Knicks previously tried to downplay as a "sore back") and is expected to miss not only all of training camp but also the entire preseason. Needless to say, any chance that the Rooster had to crack the rotation early in the year has officially been thrown out the window, providing even more fodder to a disgruntled fanbase that never wanted him in the first place.

In a bit of an understated line at the end of a story on Danilo Gallinari's condition (better than we thought last week), Howard Beck of the New York Times indicates Stephon Marbury will be on the open market in the next few weeks.

Most of the Knicks' top rotation players from last season have been scrimmaging at the team's training center. The group has included Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry, David Lee, Nate Robinson, Jared Jeffries, Wilson Chandler and Zach Randolph, as well as the free-agent pickup Chris Duhon. The most notable absence has been Stephon Marbury, who is expected to be waived before the season.

The conventional wisdom on this has changed repeatedly since the end of last season. To be honest, I expected the buy-out to go down months ago. Nothing Marbury offers will make a lick of difference for the Knickerbockers, unless you're a dreamer who thinks NYK is playoff-bound. If healthy, Starbury probably brings more than either Chris Duhon or Nate Robinson. But that ignores Marbury's lack of recent health as well as his abnormally awful locker room impact.

The Walsh-D'Antoni no doubt would like a clean break from the Isiah Thomas era. Starbury is the most obvious flag remaining from the dark period. Cutting him loose seems like a no-brainer, finances be damned.

Knicks rookie Danilo Gallinari won't be coming into training camp at full speed, according to a report from Newsday's Alan Hahn (via Posting and Toasting). Gallinari sat out most of summer league with a sore back ... that is still bothering him, two months later. It knocked him out of play with the Italian national team in this month's qualifiers for Eurobasket '09.

Hahn says Gallinari just arrived to NYC this week. Camp begins in two weeks.

Of course, the concept of the injured rookie isn't new to the NBA, what with top-15 picks Greg Oden, Spencer Hawes and Rodney Stuckey all having had surgery before last season's opening tip. In comparison, back pain seems like a non-issue. Of course, back pain that has stuck around since July, dropping him from two competitions of middling import. And if I may get a bit philosophical, more than any other team the Knicks could use a fierce start, even if it means little in the end. The D'Antoni name can't mend wounds on its own.

Just the other day, I asked myself, "What do the Knicks need?" And of course the answer is "Another offensively shaky and underwhelming point guard!" Because you can never really have enough of those.

It is in that spirit that the Knicks today signed free agent point guard Chris Duhon to a two year, $6.5 million contract. The former Bull is expected to compete with Stephen Marbury for the starting point guard spot, according to the report by the New York Post today.

Duhon does have some potential. He scored 34 against Golden State this year (but then again, who didn't score against Golden State), and had 22 against Milwaukee. He also had a whole lot of the dreaded DNP-CDs. He's solid in some spots, brilliant occasionally, terrible in stretches, and mediocre a lot of the time. However, you have to wonder how much of that was the coaching in Chicago which was less than supportive of guard play. Compare that with D'Antoni's speed-first guard system, and this could turn out well.

The Magic were said to be heavily interested in Duhon as support for Jameer Nelson, but apparently their indecision on Duhon versus Keyon Dooling was enough to convince Duhon to head to New York, for what may have been less money. With Duhon off the books, it's likely that Dooling will resign with Orlando.

Chris Duhon, Jared Jeffries, Danilo Gallinari, and Zach Randolph. Let's get excited, Big Apple!

New York took Italian forward Danilo "The Rooster" Gallinari with sixth pick. New York fans did not respond kindly.

As the crowd assembled at Madison Square Garden did on every mention of Gallinari before the draft began, Knicks fans booed and booed and booed. When the cameras hit them, they booed. When Gallinari told Stephen A. Smith he thinks New York is the best city in the world, they booed. When he smiled uncomfortably, clearly fearing for his life, they booed.

FanHouse friend Nathan Fowler is at MSG. He said that before the draft, fans were particularly rough in mocking the Rooster's highlight reels. But assuming Gallinari is in fact legit -- which everyone says he is -- they'll get on board. I mean, Quentin Richardson's corpse and Jared Jeffries manned the position last season! The Knicks are immediately better for this pick.

Memo to Fran Fraschilla, though: This guy, no matter how good he becomes, isn't pushing sneakers in this country.

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

Ah. The Land of Lakes. Where anything can happen. The first rounder could be O.J. Mayo, it could be Michael Beasley, it could be Kevin Love, it could be Larry Bird or it could be traded straight up for Joe Smith a few first rounders. Seriously, Kevin McHale could do anything. But ... oddly, the Wolves might be set up to have a pretty freaking good draft this year if they play their cards right.

Picks: #3, #31, #34

Needs: Assuming they think either Randy Foye or Sebastian Telfair will work out (and they'll probably go through with the experiment anyway even if they don't) at point, they'll look for frontcourt depth (and defense) to compliment Al Jefferson. They also need a legit scorer to keep A's in the seats, though, and that's something they might address first.

Best case scenario: McHale stays away from the phone lines and ends up with either O.J. Mayo or Michael Beasley. Mayo gives them a safety net if Foye/Telfair fail and Beasley would be a pretty nasty tandem with Baby Al down low and allows them to look for frontcourt help (Roy Hibbert?) late in the first round when they package 31 and 34 to move back up.

A few folks in the know have reported the possibility of Memphis-New York swap which would send David Lee and Malik Rose to the Grizzlies in exchange for the #5 pick and Brian Cardinal's ugly contract. Andy Katz, an ESPN college hoops virtuoso, pressed this rumor a few times Tuesday, including in this blog post.

The theory is that the Knicks would use picks #5 and #6 on Danilo Gallinari and either Russell Westbrook or Eric Gordon. My interest comes from the Memphis angle. Many mocks have sent Kevin Love to the Grizz at #5, where he'd project to be an awesome rebounder and nifty, efficient offensive player ... which is exactly what Lee has been for three seasons.

So, if you're Memphis, why do pull this trigger? Lee's up for an extension; you don't have to give it to him this summer, but he'd be a restricted free agent next July in that case. He has tremendous value around the league, and will fetch a pretty penny. Losing Cardinal has value on the surface, but The Custodian is only signed through 2009-10. I mean, is Memphis really going to make a big free agent splash one year from now? I don't think so.

The #5 pick will make less than $8 million the next two seasons. Lee will likely make the same (he's ultra-cheap for 2008-09, likely pricey in 2009-10 and beyond). Cardinal will make $13 million, and Rose is owed $7.6 million for one more year. So, for Memphis, the opportunity to save a whopping $6 million over the next two seasons is enough incentive to own the rights to the 25-year-old Lee over the 19-year-old Love? This makes no sense.

(It's brilliant for the Knicks; as sweet as Lee is, he'll get expensive at just the wrong time, and the backcourt is in such a'shambles parting with Lee is worth the potential fix two top-6 picks can offer. Also: Cardinal has a magical "expiring in 2010" contract. Beautiful.)