Los Angeles Clippers: A healthy Danilo Gallinari is an effective addition

Throughout his career, Danilo Gallinari has been seen as an effective scorer wherever he’s played. Injuries have been of concern for a while, but if healthy, Gallinari could provide a big offensive boost to this year’s Los Angeles Clippers.

Injuries have always been an unfortunate reality in the NBA. It seems like every year fans are robbed of seeing a top-tier season from elite players across multiple teams. While Danilo Gallinari isn’t necessarily an elite small forward, he certainly is a high-level scorer and has made an impact on the offensive end for a multitude of teams.

Injuries were certainly no stranger to the Los Angeles Clippers last season, as Avery Bradley, Patrick Beverley and the aforementioned Gallinari played a combined 38 games, leaving the team with little depth. With all of those players returning and hopefully healthy, the Clippers look to be even more competitive this year.

Danilo Gallinari is certainly no exception to that claim, and he proved that throughout the preseason.

A career of offensive prowess

Gallinari has been a member of three teams over his nine seasons in the league, yet has had very similar production for each of his three stops. Despite the shaky injury history, Gallo has been one of the most consistent scorers from year to year.

In a total of 481 games in the NBA thus far, he’s averaged a noteworthy 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 31.2 minutes per game on 41.9 percent shooting from the field and 36.7 percent shooting from behind the 3-point line. Furthermore, excluding his short 21-game stint with the Clippers last season, he’s averaged over 18 points for two consecutive seasons. Granted, he did play over 33 minutes per game, but the point still stands.

As a 6’10”, 225-pound, forward, his handles and ability to create his own shot are a rare commodity and he’s more than capable of being on a top-three scoring option on a team. On a Clippers squad with two elite scorers in Lou Williams and Tobias Harris, that’s exactly what he’ll be.

In the video above, he’s seen hitting contested shots, attacking the rim and even handling the ball a good portion of the game. He’s played over 60 games in just four of his nine seasons, but if he’s healthy, he’s a capable scorer and a welcomed addition to a high-volume Clippers offense. A scoring trio of Williams, Harris and Gallinari could be lethal, as all three are capable of scoring from anywhere on the court in any way possible.

Preseason success

The preseason can never be used to fully evaluate a player, but Gallinari has definitely proved his worth and his effectiveness within the Clippers’ system thus far. He appeared in four of their five preseason contests and was a huge reason they won all of those games.

He played 20 minutes or less in three of those games, but still averaged an impressive 17.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 blocks per game on 22-of-43 shooting from the field and 6-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc.

Obviously, competition will be more intense during the regular season, but that also means Gallinari will be playing more minutes. Remember, he put up these stats playing alongside Tobias Harris, who averaged 17.5 points per game in limited minutes as well.

What’s really impressive about the Clippers is that they were able to score at a high enough level last season that they were ranked eighth in offensive rating, and that was despite injuries to Gallinari and Bradley. Williams and Harris project to be just as good, if not better, offensively this year and Gallinari will look to add to that offensive prowess.

Potential defensive worries

Danilo Gallinari was never a great defender to begin with and an ACL injury certainly adds to that concern. Furthermore, the Clippers ranked 20th in defensive rating last season and their two main pieces are known for their offensive abilities and are fairly lacking on the other end of the floor.

However, Patrick Beverley and Avery Bradley returning to the mix as well as a solid defender in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will help to distract from that problem. Health is going to be the largest concern for the team overall, but there is certainly no shortage of offensive capabilities.

If healthy, expect a solid Clippers team this year and look forward to seeing some top-tier basketball from Danilo Gallinari again.