Would you buy low on Gallinari?

[timpiker]

I'd say yes if it doesn't stop us in FA next summer.

[SHAQATTACK]

Rather not have him period.

[loco_91]

Definitely not. We're giving up Amir, and I'm not at all sure that Gallo is an upgrade. He also has a player option for 2017-18, which hurts our flexibility next offseason. And finally, he's a serious injury risk. I don't think I'd swap AJ for him straight up, and if you're adding a first rounder... nooooo way.

[Csfan1984]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

[Cman]

I'd pass. This is indeed a "buy low" type of move, which DA likes. But it is too much of a sideways move. And (1) potentially hurts our chances to contend this year (given Galli's injury history) and (2) hurts our potential for trades and signings next offseason.

(1) is important because it will help bolster the idea that Boston is an up and coming place that FAs want to join.

In short, the type of risky move I would make if I were DA two years ago, but right now, we are too close to pulling it all together to take the risk.

[jambr380]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

I seriously don't remember one poster who was unhappy with giving up Thornton and a super-late first for IT. That was one of those universally loved deals from the start - we even loved his contract (which is even more ridiculous now).

[Csfan1984]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

I seriously don't remember one poster who was unhappy with giving up Thornton and a super-late first for IT. That was one of those universally loved deals from the start - we even loved his contract (which is even more ridiculous now).

Well I sure do remember. Even DA himself said he questioned if that was the right type of move at the time.

[Cman]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

I seriously don't remember one poster who was unhappy with giving up Thornton and a super-late first for IT. That was one of those universally loved deals from the start - we even loved his contract (which is even more ridiculous now).

Well I sure do remember. Even DA himself said he questioned if that was the right type of move at the time.

The "at the time" is pretty key in this case. Danny has the Cs much closer to contending now than he did two years ago. Does this proposed trade for Galli get us closer? Strikes me as too risky. The Cs strategy has shifted. It is now all about getting a bona fide All Star, either via a trade or as a FA. Assets need to be retained for the first, and cap flexibility for the second. A third consideration is that for the second to be an option, we need the Cs to do well this year.

[Eddie20]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

I seriously don't remember one poster who was unhappy with giving up Thornton and a super-late first for IT. That was one of those universally loved deals from the start - we even loved his contract (which is even more ridiculous now).

Well I sure do remember. Even DA himself said he questioned if that was the right type of move at the time.

Yes, he said that, but not in the context you're suggesting. He said it because he know it would make us better and that would hurt us in terms of draft position in the lottery.

[Csfan1984]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

I seriously don't remember one poster who was unhappy with giving up Thornton and a super-late first for IT. That was one of those universally loved deals from the start - we even loved his contract (which is even more ridiculous now).

Well I sure do remember. Even DA himself said he questioned if that was the right type of move at the time.

Yes, he said that, but not in the context you're suggesting. He said it because he know it would make us better and that would hurt us in terms of draft position in the lottery.

IT surpassed expectations due to the team. Couldn't Gallinari do the same?

[Eddie20]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

I seriously don't remember one poster who was unhappy with giving up Thornton and a super-late first for IT. That was one of those universally loved deals from the start - we even loved his contract (which is even more ridiculous now).

Well I sure do remember. Even DA himself said he questioned if that was the right type of move at the time.

Yes, he said that, but not in the context you're suggesting. He said it because he know it would make us better and that would hurt us in terms of draft position in the lottery.

IT surpassed expectations due to the team. Couldn't Gallinari do the same?

Absolutely. I would love that deal, but merely pointing out that Ainge didn't say it in the way you made it sound. I remember him even saying that Thomas was the first person he called during free agency.

[Snakehead]

Absolutely. I would love that deal, but merely pointing out that Ainge didn't say it in the way you made it sound. I remember him even saying that Thomas was the first person he called during free agency.

This is totally right.

[Eddie20]

I think people have a misconception of Gallinari (because he's a euro) as some soft player, who spots up, and can't play a lick of D. In fact, he's actually a pretty scrappy player, who gets to the foul line a lot because he's always attacking the basket, and his D, while not great, is average.

Here is an end of the year write up from the Denver Post:

He was superb from the free throw, shooting 86.8 percent. Thirty-six percent of his points (7.08) came from the free-throw line, the highest percentage of any NBA player.


Offense: Aside from free throws, much of Gallinari’s offense came in isolation situations, 18.9 percent of his shot attempts. . To put that in perspective, only James Harden, Carmelo Anthony, Jamal Crawford, Julius Randle, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James used isolation plays more often than Gallinari.

Gallinari was also the safety net to almost any play coach Michael Malone called. When the initial run-throughs broke down, the Nuggets knew they could get him the ball and he’d usually get a shot up or get fouled. The good news is that Gallinari was one of the best in the league when up against the shot clock, taking a shot with fewer than four seconds left. He averaged .957 points on those possessions.

The bad news is that he played himself into a lot of the late shot clock situations by pulling the ball out and isolating instead of moving the ball.

Gallinari was one of the Nuggets’ best post-up players, scoring 1.11 points per possession, per Synergy stats, but he wasn’t utilized much in those actions. He had only 82 post-ups all season, shot 49 percent when posting up and went to the free-throw line another 28 percent of the time. That’s a lot of punch.

Gallinari was sixth in the NBA in transition points per possession (1.54) and had a good rate of return as the ball handler in screen-and-roll situations as well (1.26). Gallinari was as versatile on offense as most any player in the league.

But he shot only 41 percent, due mainly to poor jump shooting (35 percent). Half of his 476 jump shots were three-point shots.

Gallinari’s two most-used shot types were pull-ups and catch-and-shoot. But there was a big difference in the success rate of each of those shots. Gallo shot 40.2 percent on catch-and-shoot attempts, but just 29 percent on pull ups.

Defense/turnovers: Defensively, Gallinari has the most room to improve. He was best in isolation circumstances, and was in them nearly 15 percent of the time. Opponents averaged just .77 points per possession in isolation and shot just 37.5 percent against him. His length was his greatest asset there, because Gallo’s first instinct is always to give ground in order to not get beat to the rim.

However, Gallinari struggled in many other defensive areas, most notably in pick-and-roll. Whether he was guarding the ball handler (where opponents shot 47.4 percent), or the screener (where opponents shot 58.7 percent), he did not do well. He was easily screened in many instances, and late out to shooters as he, again, sank down in the lane and relied on his length to harass shooters.

As for turnovers, his 1.5 per game was one of the lowest marks of his career. But when he did give the ball away it was in one of two ways — the lost-ball turnover and the bad pass turnover. Most of Gallinari’s lost-ball miscues came when he tried to dribble through traffic. Many of those came when he posted up.

Overall, Gallinari had a very good season in a leading-actor role. He’ll hope to stay healthy through Olympic qualifying and then, if Team Italy makes it to Rio, in the Olympics. The Nuggets want Gallinari at full-strength for training camp.

[Csfan1984]

I kind of see a lot of potential other people are missing. AJ is not in long term plans he isn't a reason to kill a trade. The cap is still going up next year there can be flexibility still. This opens up a roster spot. And KO is not Gallinari. There is AB and IT that is it as far as offense goes right now. Crowder, Hordford and the rest of the team can't be relied upon come playoffs it's proven. The team does need to add offense. PF is probably the best bet and  it keeps Hordford a mismatch at Center. So what guys can play PF and score that the C's can aquire at a reasonable cost? It's very very slim.

Think back to when Thornton and a first for IT wasn't considered as good a deal at the time. Thornton had already made a nice impact here and few wanted to give up a 1st round pick for 5'6 backup PG.

Buying low wouldn't be crazy just lucky.

I seriously don't remember one poster who was unhappy with giving up Thornton and a super-late first for IT. That was one of those universally loved deals from the start - we even loved his contract (which is even more ridiculous now).

Well I sure do remember. Even DA himself said he questioned if that was the right type of move at the time.

The "at the time" is pretty key in this case. Danny has the Cs much closer to contending now than he did two years ago. Does this proposed trade for Galli get us closer? Strikes me as too risky. The Cs strategy has shifted. It is now all about getting a bona fide All Star, either via a trade or as a FA. Assets need to be retained for the first, and cap flexibility for the second. A third consideration is that for the second to be an option, we need the Cs to do well this year.

But getting an All-star via trade in this cap era is very hard to do. Also have you seen the 2017 FA class? Not exactly a group of guys that are looking to jump ship. Hayward is going to get a Conley like resign probably and Griffin loves LA. So who is it exactly are C's saving cap  for? I see a buy low as the only way DA bites on a deal just like he did with IT. And besides building through the draft that is about the only foreseeable way to improve to the point of getting this team to tbe ECF. It's not like in this scenario he is giving up any long term huge return assets.