Denver Nuggets: Danilo Gallinari Returning To Form

The Denver Nuggets are a mess from top to bottom right now. They’re 2-0 under interim head coach Melvin Hunt, sure, but even the new guy’s jovial smile isn’t enough to distract anyone from this team’s status as a Western Conference bottom feeder.

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With a 22-39 record, the Nuggets sit at 12th in the Western Conference standings and would be better off tanking the rest of the way to improve their odds at a better draft pick.

Arron Afflalo and JaVale McGee are gone, Ty Lawson and Wilson Chandler are left to toil away with what’s left of the supporting cast Masai Ujiri once assembled and Brian Shaw‘s firing, necessary as it was, serves as a reminder that things aren’t so great in the Mile High City these days.

That being said, Danilo Gallinari‘s return to form has been a nice distraction from all the negativity.

Before February, Gallo had played 30 games and reached double-digits in the scoring column just 11 times. His minutes fluctuated under Shaw as he tried to shake the rust off in his first bit of action since tearing his ACL back in April 2013. He was averaging around eight points per game on sub-38 percent shooting through January.

But ever since the start of February, the 26-year-old Italian has been more active in the scoring column, reaching double digits 10 times in 13 games — including a current streak of eight consecutive games.

It all started with a 22-point effort in a loss to the lowly Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 3. It was Gallo’s season high at the time, and though he only made two of his seven triples, he went 5-for-11 from the floor and made 10 of his 11 free throws.

To be fair, Gallinari is still trying to shake off the rust when it comes to his shot. As much as it’s been great to see him get regular minutes again, he still shot a pitiful 35.5 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from downtown for the month.

That being said, Gallo’s recent eight-game run as been much better, especially if you throw out the 3-for-12, 10-point outing against the Milwaukee Bucks that technically started it all. Over the last eight games, Gallinari is averaging 18.0 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 41.8 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent from downtown.

His field goal percentage still isn’t where it needs to be during this resurgent stretch, but it’s a vast improvement from where it was heading into February.

In three of his last six games, Gallinari has shot 50 percent or better from the field and he’s topped 20 points four times.

Gallinari has scored 20+ in 4 of his last 5 games for @DenverNuggets after doing so once in his prior 37 games this season (cc: @NBAFantasy)
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) March 4, 2015

In Melvin Hunt’s coaching debut, Gallinari played a season-high 37 minutes and tallied a season-high 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting (4-for-9 from downtown) in a win over the Bucks. He also pulled down seven rebounds and added a block to his best box score of the year.

Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Gallo made half of his shots en route to 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and Denver’s second consecutive victory under Hunt. Suddenly, Danilo Gallinari appears to be a leader once again.

During the 2012-13 season when the Nuggets won 57 games, I thought Gallinari was one of the biggest All-Star snubs in the West.

A team that good deserved an All-Star and the Italian rooster — 16.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 2.5 APG, 37.3 3P% that season — was arguably Denver’s best shot (Ty Lawson was probably more deserving, but the guard slots were too loaded and there was something infinitely more appealing about the confident sharpshooting Italian guy).

But then Gallinari blew out his ACL right before the postseason, Denver’s hopes of contending imploded in the first round and we spent the last year and a half lumping Gallo in with names like Derrick Rose, Danny Granger, Andrew Bynum, Greg Oden, etc.

Danilo Gallinari only has one year left on his contract after this one, so his long-term future in Denver is by no means guaranteed. Even this recent surge shouldn’t give anyone cause to think he’s capable of going back to being a borderline All-Star who deserves to be paid $10 million a year.

But at the very least, it’s been good to see Gallo streak to the basket and throw down one of his patented dunks where he barely gets off the ground. At the very least, it’s been nice to watch him knock down a corner three and come back down the court puffing out his chest like the real-life rooster for which he is nicknamed (“Gallo” is the Italian word for “rooster”).

In a season as cataclysmic as the Nuggets have had in 2014-15, it’s the little things that matter. If Gallinari can continue to shake the rust off, stay healthy and finish the season on a strong note under a coach that actually plays him, he’ll be one of the biggest little things.

Next: Denver Nuggets: 5 Best Candidates To Replace Brian Shaw

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