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mkwest wrote:Very nice read.

A healthy Gallo is a great player to have on a roster. He's been a beast this year. Unfortunately, the injuries are always a major concern with him. If he plays in each of the remaining 11 games, he'll have crossed the 70-game threshold for only the 3rd time in his career.

madmaxmedia wrote:Great story!

You read the rundown and they seem unrelated, like maybe it was just a run of fluky bad luck. OTOH that's how it seems to go for a lot of oft-injured players. Hopefully for the Clips and for him, he stays relatively healthy going forward.

Galloisdaman wrote:Yeah the injuries were frustrating to Gallo. Imagine how hard he had to work to come back from those injuries especially the knee injuries. I feel like Gallo has tried to play a bit differently this season to try to stay healthy.

By the way while younger some pretty good players have also had to battle through injuries.
Kawhi Leonard has only played 70 games twice.
Anthony Davis has only played 70 games twice.
Embiid has never played 70 games.

I have never been close to being a pro player but I still had injuries.

Is Danilo Gallinari the Most Underrated Player in the NBA?

Danilo Gallinari is playing the best ball of his career at age 30 and is helping carry a scrappy Clippers team to the Western Conference playoffs. The surprising part? No one is talking about him.

A lot was made of the biggest trade of the NBA trade deadline, when the Clippers decided they weren’t going to pay Tobias Harris this offseason and sent him to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Landry Shamet, Mike Muscala, Wilson Chandler and two beautiful first-round picks. What was consistently said about Tobias, in his departure from L.A., is that the Clips got rid of their best player to try to gun for more well-known stars this offseason and keep their draft pick. The media liked to say that the Clippers best player was Harris, and while the consensus was that it was a win-win for both teams involved, the Clippers were probably waving the white flag this season in dealing their best player and wanted to keep their draft pick this summer.

I don’t blame anyone for not being religious viewer of Clipper games before February of this season (ahem, only three nationally televised games ALL season) — but if you did, you probably were witnessing something different than what the national media was pushing. Yes, Tobias was the Clippers’ leading scorer and rebounder and was also second on the team in three-point percentage. He was also perhaps the most visible (or 2nd behind Lou Williams) name on the roster given his elevated play and chances at making the All-Star game in the West. However, any consistent viewer of Clipper games this season could see that it wasn’t Harris who was the Clippers’ rock or most important player. For the majority of the season, it’s been Danilo Gallinari. Although Lou Williams averages more points and comes up big in the clutch, the argument can be made that Gallo has been the most consistent player on this roster and perhaps the best player as well.

Some may be asking: “Huh?” “What?” Or maybe giving this a hearty “GTFO.” Well… let me explain my reasoning. Let’s start with the fact that Gallo is averaging career highs this season in points, rebounds, and field-goal and three-point percentage at age 30, coming off the second-most injured season of his career (and that’s saying something). Let’s also take into account Gallo’s offensive efficiency, where he is currently tied for fourth in the league in three-point percentage (43.8%), fourth in the league in free-throw percentage (90.5%), 11th in true shooting percentage (63.4%), and 15th in offensive box plus/minus (4.2). He’s also fifth in the entire league in offensive rating (124.9), top 20 in first quarter scoring (6.3 avg in 1st), top 20 in win shares per 48 minutes and has a net rating above All-Stars like: LeBron James, Ben Simmons, Kemba Walker, Karl-Anthony Towns and Blake Griffin to name a few. He has also posted his personal best total rebound rate (10.3 percent) in his career as well as his highest assist rate (12.1 percent) since 2012-13 and is ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo in real offensive plus/minus at 14th in the NBA.