In light of Danilo Gallinari's unfortunate ACL tear, the Celtics should look to Carmelo Anthony
Less than a week ago, the Boston Celtics and veteran NBA forward Danilo Gallinari both received a huge scare. Without contact, Gallo’s knee folded awkwardly during a FIBA basketball game in a way that screams “torn ACL.” But after evaluation, the injury was reported only to be a meniscus tear.
Disaster avoided.
But less than a week later, the catastrophe presented itself once again.
On Friday afternoon, The Athletic’s Shams Charania informed the NBA world that the formerly reported meniscus tear is now being diagnosed as a torn ACL in the left knee — the same injury Gallinari suffered back in 2013 as a member of the Denver Nuggets.
Injury news is never fun for anyone to deal with, but they are a harsh reality in sports.
With just over a month until the start of the NBA season, the Celtics must fill the void that Gallinari’s injury is leaving behind to maintain its insane depth and goal of a 2022-23 NBA championship.
Where do they turn?
Carmelo Anthony.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
You know Carmelo — a six-time member of one of the All-NBA Teams, 10-time NBA All-Star and former NBA scoring champ (2013).
But those days are well-behind Melo, and the C’s wouldn’t need him to be either of those things. They’d need him to do exactly what he’d be brought in to do, which is replace Danilo Gallinari in the rotation.
Over the past three seasons, both players’ roles have been centered around spacing the court at the 4 and 5 positions. Over that time, Melo is shooting the three at 38.9 percent on average while Gallinari is at 39.8.
In addition to spotting up behind the line and picking and popping, Melo possesses the same ability to get a bucket and play out of both the mid and low posts.
Neither are necessarily good defenders at this point, but that’s okay. On arguably the NBA’s best defensive team, the weaknesses won’t be as glaring on that side of the court.
This brings me to the last arguing point for why Carmelo could help the Celtics. He’s played his last few NBA seasons in a complementary role next to some of the league’s very best superstars — Damian Lillard and LeBron James — and had success. Playing with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown should be easy.
Given Anthony’s acceptance of who he is at this point in his career, there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t slot in nicely in Boston.
Brad Stevens should be on the phone.
Boston has the NBA’s shortest to win the championship (+500), Eastern Conference (+250) and Atlantic Division (+105).
All odds via Tipico Sportsbook
Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).