On Tuesday, Grantland’s Zach Lowe wrote a piece about Denver Nuggets’ forward Danilo Gallinari. Among the most interesting parts of the article, was a tidbit about the Memphis Grizzlies trying to trade for the 27-year-old before last season’s trade deadline.
According to Lowe, Memphis would have used Gallo as its starting small forward while also playing him as a stretch-four in bench units. In theory, that would have been a perfect trade for Memphis, as they have been searching for shooting to space the floor around Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. Lowe writes that Denver was looking for first round picks for Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, but it’s hard to see that being an issue as Memphis eventually traded a first rounder to Boston to get Jeff Green.
But Gallinari’s positional flexibility is a strength, not a weakness. He should toggle between both positions for any team, depending on roster context, coaching strategy, and specific opponents. Memphis sniffed around Gallinari at the trade deadline, per several league sources, and would have used him just as it did Jeff Green: as its starting small forward, playing heavy minutes at power forward in bench lineups and situations that called for it. Teams with starting frontcourts less accomplished than the Grizzlies’ brothers-from-another-mother, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, might tilt the equation toward more minutes for Gallinari at power forward.
It would be interesting to find out why the trade did not go through as on the surface, the idea seems like a win-win for both teams. Instead, Memphis is now stuck with Jeff Green while Denver has extended Gallinari’s contract.
