Gallo Turns 23

The man they call the Italian Stallion turned 23 today.

Danilo Gallinari, who is slated to be the Nuggets new franchise player, has already played three seasons in the NBA and is starting to come in his own.

Gallinari is coming off of a season in which he played only 62 games but averaged 15.6 points and 4.9 rebounds a game. Modest numbers, but where do they relate to superstars and comparable players in the NBA when they were 23?

• Carmelo Anthony –  28.9 points, 6 rebounds, 3.8 assists
• Kevin Durant – 27.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists
• LeBron James – 27.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 6 assists
• Kobe Bryant  – 28.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5 assists
• Dwayne Wade – 24.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists
• Dirk Nowitzki – 21.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists
• Paul Pierce – 19.5 points, 5.4 points, 3 assists
• Danilo Gallinari – 15.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists
• Hedo Turkoglu – 10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2 assists
• Andrea Bargnani (a fellow Italian) – 10.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists
• Danny Granger – 7.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists

It’s interesting that Anthony had the best (offensive) season at 23. But that was the same season of the brawl between the Nuggets and the New York Knicks, as well as the year the Nuggets acquired Allen Iverson. On paper, they were unstoppable but in real life they largely underachieved.

Now the Nuggets have invested a lot in Gallinari and if he can grow and develop like Granger did, who has been a perennial 20 point scorer over the last few years – including averaging a career best 25.8 points when he was 26.

Gallinari’s Italian team gave him an early birthday by beating Timofey Mozgov’s Russian squad 71-67. Gallinari missed the game due to his toe injury, but Bargnani lead Italy with 23 points.

Mozgov finished the contest with 15 points and team-high eight rebounds.