The Knicks ended the Las Vegas summer-league yesterday the way they came in – unsure if 19-year-old rookie Danilo Gallinari will contribute this season.
After suffering a back injury in Monday’s opener against Cleveland, the Italian Stallion missed the final four games, including yesterday’s 111-91 loss to Minnesota in the finale at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion to finish 2-3.
A team source said the Knicks are considering resting Gallinari the remainder of the summer and request he not play for the Italian national team that gets together in two weeks. The decision could be out of Gallinari’s hands as the Italian players are threatening a strike.
In his lone game, Gallinari had an impressive seven minutes in the second half when he scored 14 points after going scoreless in the first 2½ quarters.
Gallinari’s summer league raises questions on whether he’ll be durable enough to withstand the NBA’s physical pounding, at 6-10, 227, as a rookie. A European source said Gallinari had various hamstring and knee problems in Italy, but a Knicks source said that was “growing pains.”
Still, there were intangibles Donnie Walsh loved in Vegas.
“The thing I really liked what I saw from Danilo, he looked to make other players better,” the Knicks president said during a guest stint on the MSG Network telecast yesterday. “When he’s out on the floor, he has a sense of the game already to make his team better. I would’ve liked to seen him play for the entire length but I saw enough to feel good about.”
New addition Anthony Roberson racked up 23 points yesterday. Roberson gives the Knicks 16 guaranteed contracts, with Stephon Marbury in deep trouble. Walsh is exhausting all trade opportunities with Marbury before deciding whether to eat $22 million. Walsh gave no indication Marbury is part of the future.
“He’s worked very hard,” Walsh said. “I don’t know why everyone’s talking about that right now. There’s a certain pecking order how you do things. You get a coach, the draft, then summer league, then trading periods. Then you start looking at a team on what judgments have to be made.”
Walsh likely will make a trade before training camp begins in Saratoga Sept. 29, with unloading Zach Randolph’s contract a priority. Randolph was a Vegas no-show. Turns out the Clippers tried to swipe a first-round pick from the Knicks to take Randolph off their hands, which is why Walsh declined.
“Every day I wake up to try to make the team better,” Walsh said. “That’s how I’m going to conduct the rest of the summer. A lot of our players have talent but their value in the league is down.”