Dear Danilo Gallinari,

First of all, welcome to New York City! Please don’t let those boos you heard on Thursday bother you. You’re a perfect fit for the City and Knicks fans were going to raise hell no matter who was picked. You’ll have to forgive us- I mean them. The only fun they’ve had the last two seasons was centered around booing and chants for certain heads to roll. I would tell you to go ahead and block out the whole experience, but next season will most definitely start off a little rocky. You’re going to need to understand where the boos come from and then I think you’ll learn to embrace them…to draw a certain kind of ironic strength from those boos. Quel che non ammazza, ingrassa.

In recent years Knicks fans have been treated like abused puppies. They’ve been kicked around so much they’ve lost all hope. What should be a flagship sports franchise has become a ridiculous laughing stock of an organization. Do you remember playing ball when you were 8 years old? Remember how your coach stressed teamwork and good sportsmanship? Remember how important it was to respect not only your teammates but also the referee and your coaches? Shaking hands with the opposing team whether you won or lost? Practice practice practice….? Well, the recent incarnation of the Knicks was a team based on the exact opposite of all of the above. The coach/president assembled a group of ball hogs with its marquee player being nothing more than a bigger ball hog than the other ball hogs. Did I mention that these guys don’t play well with others? Anywhere else and that coach/president would have been fired. However, Isiah Thomas was lucky enough to work for a man by the name of James Dolan. This Dolan character is a stubborn man. He loves winter sports (I’m not talking ice skating) and fancies himself a rock star. He also apparently loves Isiah too. Because of this stubborn man-love we here in New York have had the opportunity to watch all our little league coaching validated as the Knicks have continued to suck it sideways for five years. They’ve squandered draft picks, gotten in ridiculous brawls, fired a great coach, promoted a buffoon, sexually harassed the wrong woman, and amassed a gi-normous monster of a payroll doing it. In an awful conference the Knicks have been so terrible that a college kid made a fortune by selling t-shirts calling for the head coach to be fired (what a smart dude). What I’m saying here, Mr. Gallinari, is that you’re lucky the Knicks have any fans left. At the moment they might be hostile. They really only want the Knicks to start winning. Isn’t that what you’re here for? To win? See, everybody’s already getting along better.

I’ve overheard this nonsense about how it didn’t make any sense for the Knicks to look overseas for their draft pick. Not true I tell you. Italians and New York have gotten along as well as spaghetti and meatballs since day one. Around six million Italians have immigrated to this country since it was founded. Take a look around you… maybe a day trip to Brooklyn will make you start to feel at home. Check out Manhattan Beach. They might not even speak English there. Get some good pasta. Drink a nice glass of Chianti. Maybe rent a wise-guy movie. Relax.

If you bust your butt on the court, these fans will adore you. You’ll be playing your home games in the Mecca of basketball for a coach who is a proven winner. You were drafted by a man who is respected for the players he picks. Yes, there’s a ton of pressure. Lucky for you though, the Knicks have been so awful that just a little improvement will have everyone singing your praises. You probably won’t even have to win half your games to make the playoffs next year. Sounds like you’re in a pretty good place to me. Oh, and you know how the song says, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere?” One hundred percent true…