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Derek Fisher: Bargnani is 'a great basketball player'

John Geliebter / USA Today Sports

If part of an NBA head coach's job is boosting his players' confidence, even when it's not merited, then New York Knicks coach Derek Fisher appears to have already mastered the ins and outs of the job.

In defense of Andrea Bargnani and his new coach, Bargnani is an exceptionally talented player with a unique set of offensive skills for a seven-footer. He can score in a variety of ways, take his man off the dribble, and pass, which could make him a valuable cog in the Knicks' new triangle offense. He's also an underrated one-on-one defender in the post.

But having the necessary talent and actually making the most of it are two separate things, and Bargnani has yet to consistently exploit his talent on an NBA court despite eight years of opportunity.

Bargnani has averaged 15 points per game over his career, but his three-point shot abandoned him a long time ago (he's shot just 31.5 percent from deep over his last four seasons). He's arguably the worst rebounding seven-footer in NBA history, he seems to have no understanding of help-defense, and he's become especially injury-prone.

He hasn't cracked the 70-game mark since the 2009-10 season and he's missed 138 games over the last four seasons with a variety of injuries.

In reality, any basketball player who makes it to the association is elite, but there's very little evidence to suggest that Bargnani is a good player in the context of the NBA, let alone great.

Perhaps playing in a triangle system, staying healthy, and playing for a new contract (Bargnani will be an unrestricted free agent come July and is surely set for a massive pay decrease from his $11.5-million salary) will result in a career year for the big Italian, but that's a lot of speculation.

For now, it seems Fisher is just the latest in a long line of evaluators to confuse Bargnani's talent and unrealized potential with actual competency.

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