Danilo Gallinari serves up offensive versatility for OKC Thunder
By Noah Schulte
Optionality
I touched on it a bit in the “go-to scoring” section, but it’s worth underscoring just how valuable his scoring versatility could be to the OKC Thunder. One of the Thunder’s biggest problems the last few years has been the fact they just haven’t had the requisite level of unpredictability that keeps offenses afloat in the playoffs and makes sure that defenses won’t be able to shut their entire offense down in the postseason. Above all else, Gallinari gives them a reliable change-of-pace option who can attack defenses in almost any conceivable way.
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If the offense stalls – as it does at least seven times per game – OKC won’t have to rely on 31-year-old Westbrook to create something out of nothing at the end of the shot clock. Instead, the Thunder can just run some stuff for Gallinari.
They could set a pindown for Gallinari to shake him loose for a catch-and-shoot three, they could have him run a pick-and-roll with Steven Adams, or they could even just post him up on the low block and let him go to work. No matter what they want to do, more often than not he’ll probably make it worth their while.
Above all else, he gives the Thunder something they honestly haven’t had since Kevin Durant: options.
dark. Next. The morning after: Where do the Thunder go from here?
Even with Paul George, their offense was a painfully vanilla attack with almost zero creativity but with Gallo in the fold, OKC can start running some different kinds of sets and introduce a bit of variety into an otherwise blah scheme.