Danilo Gallinari is an established player in the NBA. He’s had solid seasons with both the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, and used to be one of the league’s best sharpshooters. In the 2010 season, Danilo was second overall in the league in made 3-pointers, only Aaron Brooks beat him out.
Many look down on Gallinari because he never seems to luck out and land on a good team. I don’t think that makes him a bad player, though. In fact, Gallinari has been one of the most consistent players of the last several years in the NBA, and over his seven year career has rarely had an off-season.
Still, for what the Sixers would get out of Gallinari, he is a bit expensive. Gallinari’s current contract goes through 2018 and has him making $15 million a year. That would make him the top paid player on the Sixers, and he’s definitely not a player that’s going to be leading the team to clutch victories, so it seems like it could be wasted money.
Gallinari was ignored by many this past season because he had a season-ending injury that took him out of the final 30 games. He’s been in recovery mode for quite a while now, which means he should be solid and ready to go by the time the regular season rolls around, and likely ready even for training camp.
Still, in the games he did play in, he had a career high in usage percentage, and it paid off. He averaged 19.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from beyond the arc. He was ninth overall in offensive rating in the entire NBA.
His true shooting percentage was 58.2, which is solid. Gallinari is a good shooter along the top of the 3-point arc, which can provide good spacing for the Sixers.
On top of that, he had an offensive rating of 120 and a defensive rating of 111, pointing to his fairly average defensive abilities. The team’s offensive rating as a whole was up with Danilo on the floor last season.
Had Gallinari not gotten injured, he would have had one of his best and most memorable seasons yet, and he would be a much more obvious candidate for the Sixers in a trade.
While I see reason to be cautious with Gallinari, I do think that he could offer the team some solid shooting and give them an offensive boost.
Next: Gordon Hayward