Danilo Gallinari sat down for an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport about the upcoming season for the Denver Nuggets, as well as his Eurobasket experience. He touched on training camp, his feelings about Michael Malone as his new coach, and about expectations for the upcoming season among other things. It’s about 6 minutes long… and in Italian, which makes it tougher for our American Nuggets fans to appreciate it. Luckily our commenters are a varied bunch and we have some Italian-speaking readers.
The translation is not mine – commenter Manitobaboy was kind enough to translate this for us. I've only cleaned it up a little for readability, I hope. With that said, here is the transcribed and translated interview:
Q: What are your feeling about the first training camp days?
Gallinari: Really positive feelings. We’re working so well together, and I really like our new coaching staff. We’re working our butts off, with two daily trainings that we weren’t used to doing in the last couple of years. So everything has been very smooth. We are a young team and our start was very encouraging.
Q: Talk about Mike Malone’s impact. He came to Trieste to meet you – Did Marco Belinelli, who’s worked with him, tell you something about him?
Gallinari: Yeah, Beli has talked to me about him and in great terms. I’m getting along very well with him. He’s a very determined coach. He’s got clear notions and guidelines that he’s already illustrated to us; so very precise ideas that I’m ecstatic about and the team is ecstatic about.
Q: What do you like about this team?
Gallinari: First of all, I like the fact that we’re a very young team. Our starting PG is our draft choice and there are many challenges inside our team. It’s my belief is that this could be our strength.
Q: How angry were you left by the Euro Cup? The other day you were saying you’re still disappointed, so how much is your disappointment turning into positive energy for the NBA season about to start?
Gallinari: Yeah, right now a little less angry than a week ago, but for sure it’s a situation to learn from. Any loss or any experience is something to take advantage of, in order to get ready next time, such as the start of this NBA season.
Q: A year ago, you were starting the NBA season after the ACL injury: now you’re coming from a great finish during the second part of the NBA season and a great Euro Cup…Do you feel you’re reaching the top of yourself? Do you feel you can be a top 20 NBA player, what are your technical feelings?
Gallinari: I have really positive feelings. I’m convinced I can do great things not only from an individual point of view, but also with my teammates. I’m at a stage of my career where I’m aware of my strengths, I’m aware of my weakenesses. I’m feeling great overall, so let’s hope this can all turn into a great NBA season, especially for the team.
Q: Malone said he’s gonna use you as a SF and as a “stretch four”, like Americans say. Do you have a preference?
Well, we have already talked about it a lot, we have already planned situations in which I’m gonna start as a SF, then I can be used as a 4 as the game goes on. It depends on the team we’re facing, the trend of the game, but often I’m gonna play as a stretch four, as he says, spreading the floor. We’ve already tried most of these schemes, so basically I already have these situations set in my mind.
Q: Do you consider yourself the leader of this Denver team, with Faried,Wilson Chandler, with Jameer Nelson? Certainly, you guys are the most experienced players…
Gallinari: Yeah, yeah absolutely. The group of players you mentioned are the veterans, the more experienced players, I’d add Mike Miller who’s just joined the team. Of course, as a group we have to be cohesive, we have to be on the same page, because if we are the youngsters will follow us. That (the presence of the veteran group) is why I have great feelings for the season ahead.
Q: What’s your real goal? You were telling me that starting the season as underdogs can be an advantage.
Gallinari: Yeah it can be an advantage. For me, it’s gonna be an advantage. Being underdogs, especially in the West, can really be an advantage. According to me, we can fight for the playoffs without a doubt, we have the chance to do it. We have to start the season in the right way; we have tough games at the beginning of the season, road games, while we’re playing a lot of home games in the second part of the schedule. So it’s important to have a good start, and try to have a positive W-L record despite playing away from home a lot.
Gazzetta dello Sport definitely covered a few topics there. I found it interesting that Gallo is not lowering his expectations for the season, despite swapping Ty Lawson for Emmanuel Mudiay. He wants to fight for that playoff spot. If the early tough road schedule brings a shower of losses with it, I wonder how the vets who remember the playoffs will react. Shedding the mess from the previous coaching regime may not be as simple as washing hands and playing with a smile, and there was playoff talk last year as well from some quarters.
But Gallo is an optimist and a team guy, and I like that about him. If the vets bring what they should bring and the kids learn quickly, it could be a very interesting year in the wins column as well as the player development one.
Thanks again to Manitobaboy for translating that for us!
