One of the biggest takeaways from the Boston Celtics' NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors was their need for bench scoring. Brad Stevens and the front office wasted little time addressing that need this offseason.
Enter Danilo Gallinari, who signed a two-year contract worth $13.3 million with Boston earlier this month. The Italian forward has averaged 15.6 points per game and shot 38.2 percent from 3-point range in his career.
Celtics Talk: Meet the new guys: Exclusive interviews with Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari (and Brad Stevens) | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
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Gallinari should have no problem fitting in with the Celtics. This marks the soon-to-be 34-year-old's sixth team in his 14-year NBA tenure. He's bringing the mindset of a veteran leader to the organization.
"Just helping in any way I can," Gallinari recently told NBC Sports Boston. "Defensively, offensively, I've always been a very versatile player.
"This is going to be my 15th season, so I've played for different coaches, different systems, and I've never had a problem. And so, to adapt and play in a new system, it's just something that excites me, and I'm sure that I can help."
Boston Celtics
As the second-oldest Celtics player behind fellow big man Al Horford (36), Gallinari brings plenty of experience to the table. Still, he hasn't accomplished what the C's young stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, have -- an NBA Finals berth.
Gallinari will enjoy helping Tatum and Brown in any way he can, but he doesn't expect to have to convince them just how rare championship runs are in this league.
"When you think about JT and Jaylen, they're 24 and 25 so they're young, but with a lot of experience," he said. "So they know. I don't think it's something I have to tell them or repeat to them. Everybody on the team knows."
There's no doubt Gallinari will play a major part in what the C's hope to accomplish in 2022-23, which is another run at Banner 18. Between him and veteran point guard Malcolm Brogdon, Stevens may have found the missing pieces to the puzzle.
Learn more about Gallinari in the video above, presented by VA.