After an injury plagued year, Danilo Gallinari looks to return to form and help the Los Angeles Clippers make a playoff push.
On June 5 2017, the Clippers acquired the services of The Rooster, Danilo Gallinari in a three-team deal concerning the Denver Nuggets and the Atlanta Hawks. Originating from an Italian descent, the former lottery pick has established himself as a high-grade offensive threat in the league. Following the barter of their chief architect The Point God, Chris Paul, the franchise was in need of a fallback scorer to furnish the team a significant wing threat. Regrettably, his frequent injury woes saw him feature in a meagre 21 games in the prior season. Sidelined for majority of the year, his inability to justify his hefty price tag saw experts label him as a near-untradeable asset.
Rejuvenated from the setbacks he’d encountered in the prior season, Gallinari seems determined to rekindle the form that made him a highly touted scorer in the past. Aggregating consecutive career seasons with the Nuggets prior to the trade, the Clippers brass will expect identical performances in the approaching season. Further, with the fanbase frustrated with his shortcomings on the floor in the past year, it tenders him all the more reason to surpass projections this year.
Anticipated to be one of the chief scoring threats, he will shoulder the responsibility of supporting the team offensively alongside Tobias Harris and Lou Williams. Furnished with a substantial role, I will be diving deeper into his strengths, weaknesses, projections in addition to analyzing if he’d be suited to accommodating his current role with the franchise.