Danilo Gallinari is a Denver Nugget. Right now.
Right now, anyway. He came to the Rocky Mountains from the Knicks in the deal that sent Carmelo Anthony to where the bright lights will inspire him.
But no source we spoke with expects the Nuggets to hang on to Gallinari. Maybe they should — he is a fantastic pure shooter and those don’t come along all that often. He takes half his attempts from beyond the arc and is hitting just 34.6 percent this season but is shooting 37 percent from deep from his career. Mike D’Antoni overstated the case calling him the as good a shooter as he’d seen, but Gallinari can be special.
There had been reports linking him to a trade to the Nets but those have been called into question.
How about the Los Angeles Clippers?
Eric Pincus of Hoopsworld said there is interest from Los Angeles, but…
That pick is actually not all that well protected, as ESPN’s Chris Broussard points out, it is the one they got from Minnesota — top 10 protected this season (and Minnesota will be drafting that high) but is unprotected next year. That is quite a pick, really, unless you think the Timberwolves are going to be good next season. Exactly.
Gallo with the Clippers? Perchance to dream…
That would be a tremendous fit — they need a three who can stretch the floor. Blake Griffin is dominating the front line and has a running mate in DeAndre Jordan. Eric Gordon is a two guard for the future. But the Clippers need a three. Ryan Gomes has the gig now but is really just a nice 15-minute a night backup. The Clippers are hoping that rookie Al-Farouq Aminu can develop into that three they want, and in the second half of the season he has started to show real improvement.
But he is not and will not ever be the pure shooter Gallinari is.
Gallo the Clipper probably not going to happen, but the idea makes the already interesting Clippers that much more fun.
