Can coach Atkinson bring Danilo Gallinari to Brooklyn?
By Leo Mar
With news of Danilo Gallinari opting out, can his old coach Kenny Atkinson help bring him to the Brooklyn Nets?
In a not so shocking Woj bomb that dropped at 6:22 EST time last night, Danilo Gallinari had informed the Denver Nuggets he will not be excercising his player option for the 2017-18 season.
Thus making the 6’10” forward a free agent in a pretty good free agent class. With no real guarantees for stars like Blake Griffin or Gordon Hayward, this free agent class will be as unpredictable as Billy King in well….anything.
While turning down a $16.1 million dollar payday seems crazy for anyone, “The Rooster” may actually be in line for an even bigger payday. He has averaged 19.5 PPG and 5.3 RPG in 2015 while shooting .364 from three and 18.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG and a stellar .389 three ball this past season, both great years.
What makes him an even more intriguing fit into this Nets system would be his ability to run and play in any offense. He can run or assist in the pick-n-roll scheme, or be crafty enough to drive to the basket with no fear of being fouled. He’s only put up almost 2,300 free throws in his career, with a career .863 FT%, good enough for number 37 all time.
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Gallinari played small forward in Denver, giving up his stretch four spot to Nikola Jokic. When these two were on the court together they had an astonishing 116.7 points per 100 possessions.
If you can place him as a stretch four next to Brook Lopez they may be able to surpass that. “BroLo” was after all, the teams focal point on offense this past season. Averaging 20.5 PPG and hoisting up a career high 387 threes, making 134 of them. Opposed to Jokic making only 45 out of 139 attempts from beyond the arc.
After his first season back from that horrific knee injury, the one that took almost three procedures to fully fix. He had spent the summer of 2015 playing in the Eurobasket tournament. He had averaged 18 PPG while spending some time at the four spot. All the while he was at the power forward position, the opposing team tried to put bigger men to guard him.
He would take advantage of that and be able to use his quickness to drive past them into the lane. When coaches tried to put quicker, smaller but quicker players. on him; he was able to shoot over them. The rooster can be a very tricky, hard to guard stretch four.
What may hurt his value is his inability to stay healthy. In his 8 year career he has only played more then seventy games twice. Being able to play only 59 in 2014, 53 in 2015 and this season only 63.
It’s hard to imagine why he would want to leave Denver, he has been their glue guy the last couple of years. Perhaps he feels that he’s not being utilized as the “go to guy”. After all, he has said in the past that he wants bigger offensive responsibility. He wants to be the man.
Can coach Atkinson convince the 2008 Italian league MVP to come re-join him in Brooklyn? To form a terrifying front court that will, when healthy be able to dominate outside and in? He did after all coach him as a rookie here in New York, back in 2008 until 2010.
Another possibility is Gallo joining his old coach from Italy and New York. Only this time he will be in Houston. Mike D’antoni might be able to get him to sign with the Rockets for under the $20 million he may be desiring. With the cheap sell of winning, this may be another reason why he’s opting out.
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The Rockets right now will be starting the 2017-18 season with a payroll of $91.4 million. The NBA salary cap at the beggining of next season will be $101 million dollars. The projected luxury tax line, the line that if crossed will cost more money is set to be $121 million. Meaning they can give him the contract he may want, as long as its backloaded.
The bottom line is that Brooklyn must chase the rooster as hard as it can this off-season. Give him as much money as he wants, just load the contract with provisions. Put in back clauses, knee clauses, put in any clause. Just bring the rooster to Brooklyn.
Its time for the rooster to rule the roost.