NBA

Bucks’ Jennings can show Walsh what he missed tonight

Donnie Walsh already has received heat about not selecting Milwaukee point guard Brandon Jennings with the eighth pick. The Knicks face Jennings tonight for the first time when they visit the Bucks.

While Jennings is starring for the Bucks, power forward Jordan Hill had not made the rotation until a change in philosophy occurred last night. A desperate Mike D’Antoni inserted Hill for five minutes in the second quarter, and he was one of their bright lights — scoring six points on 3-of-5 shooting — in the Knicks’ 100-91 loss to Cleveland.

“We have to start developing him little by little,” D’Antoni said of Hill.Walsh explained why he passed on Jennings.

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“I didn’t have a good feel for his game,” Walsh said. “I went to Europe, Treviso, to see him at a draft camp and he didn’t show. We brought him in here and the situation is not running up and down, 5 on 5. So going into the draft, I didn’t get a good feeling. But when I went to Vegas [for summer league] I saw he was very good. But I’m glad we have Jordan Hill. It’s easy to say now because Jordan isn’t playing, but he’s going to in the future and we had him very high.”

Walsh said he never got a big recommendation from European scout Kevin Wilson on Jennings.

Jennings, who played in Italy after high school, was upset the Knicks didn’t take him and spouted off obscenely in a video. Jennings is averaging 22 points and 5.3 assists and 1.67 steals, despite a 3.3 turnover average.

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Walsh reiterated Eddy Curry likely will be cleared for practice by Tuesday. Walsh claimed Curry has lost a lot more weight than when he went down with an injury on the first day of training camp. “He looks totally different,” Walsh said.

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Ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, who did last night’s game for ESPN, has no idea if LeBron James will leave Cleveland. But he can’t imagine James teaming up with Kobe Bryant after a report the Lakers have thought of clearing cap space to pair Bryant and King James.

“If you’re a player like LeBron, the championship that would mean something would be being the best player on the best team,” Van Gundy told The Post. “To me, James wouldn’t want to play an equal role with Kobe. Winning that way wouldn’t have the impact.”

Van Gundy says he probably won’t consider getting back into coaching until the season after next, as he has become the league’s most prominent NBA commentator.