Danilo Gallinari Is the Type of Player the Sixers Must Avoid

The Philadelphia 76ers are likely to pursue veteran free agents this summer — Danilo Gallinari is the type of player they should avoid.

This offseason could prove pivotal for a Philadelphia 76ers team on the brink of competitiveness. After years of process-driven rebuilding, their core rotational cogs — Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric — are set to be healthy, and together, for the first time. When you add the third overall pick in the most talented draft class since 2003, the potential skyrockets even more so.

Philadelphia 76ers

And, with the team on track to provide a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference, Bryan Colangelo is likely to alter his motives in free agency. With names like Kyle Lowry available, he could be willing to shell out long term contracts for veteran players, essentially opting for immediate production over a more extensive growth curve. The Sixers are projected to have upwards of $41 million to burn this offseason as well, which leaves plenty of cap space for Colangelo to add some considerable talent to the rotation.

That doesn’t mean every veteran fits the bill.

Perhaps the best example of this is Danilo Gallinari, an admittedly talented player whose stock simply doesn’t jibe with the Sixers’ plans — neither present nor future.

The 6-10 Italian does provide some obvious benefit on the court, as he’d give the Sixers a versatile scorer at either forward spot. Gallinari quietly put together the second-highest scoring total of his career last season, averaging 18.2 points per contest while sticking on the court for 33.9 minutes per contest — all for a Denver team that nearly reached the playoffs out west.

Bringing in a talent in the vein of Gallinari certainly, in terms of immediate production, makes the Sixers a better team. It’s everything else that tends to raise a bit of a red flag.

First and foremost, there are some sizable injury concerns tied to Gallo — something that has plagued him throughout his career. He played in just 63 games last season, which is still the most he’s participated in since the 2012-13 campaign, during which he played in 71. The only year in which Gallo played (nearly) a full season was in 2009-10, when he played 81 games during his sophomore season with the Knicks. He has only eclipsed 60 games three times during his nine-year career.

That ties into the money that Gallinari is likely to command, and what in turn makes him such a risky — and ill-advised — commitment. Given the rising cap and the productivity that Gallo has shown when he is on the floor, the 28-year-old will likely be able to demand a hefty price tag. While I doubt it would equate to a max contract, it could measure out to an extra $15-plus million per year on the Sixers’ books — likely for four years, as somebody with Gallinari’s injury history will seek the most financial stability possible.

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He also doesn’t have an obvious role in the rotation, with the likes of Dario Saric, Ben Simmons and Robert Covington — all of whom are younger and more valuable — somewhat clouding whatever role Gallinari might hold. The point of free agency, especially once a team’s core is set in the same manner as the Sixers’, isn’t to simply add talent in whichever areas possible. It’s to add talent that fits the rotation and has prolonged relevancy in the rotation moving forward.

It’s also worth pointing out the defensive deficiencies in Gallinari’s game. While his frame is well-built for the power forward spot nowadays, his lateral mobility isn’t always up to par with some of the quicker NBA wings, while stronger fours can still outwork him on the interior. He’s a middling defender at best, and somebody who brings little value on that side of the ball loses relevance quite a bit in Brett Brown’s rotation.

In short, there’s not much tangible value Gallinari brings to the rotation — and it’s far from worth it monetarily. His positional fit is minimal, while his injury history and aging body further drags down what little value he may add to a budding Sixers core. If there’s an archetpye that Bryan Colangelo and company needs to avoid, it’s aging, injury-plagued forwards who overlap with their youngest talents.

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Perhaps Rudy Gay falls into that very same category.