Not starting? Not a problem for Gallinari as he joins Hawks

Last week, a video surfaced of general manager Travis Schlenk on a call with season ticket holders saying he had made it clear to Danilo Gallinari that upon joining the Hawks, he would come off the bench behind John Collins.

The addition of Gallinari, an excellent offensive player, surely will boost the Hawks’ shooting efforts, but the fit alongside Collins, a 20-and-10 guy and a cornerstone of the rebuild, did raise questions.

On Wednesday, Gallinari confirmed he had been told that by Schlenk. When asked how he feels about being a backup, the 32-year-old said he believes in the Hawks’ young talent, and he’ll do whatever is necessary to help the team win.

“One of the things I said before that excites me is the young guys that we’ve got are very, very good, very talented,” Gallinari said. “And I do believe in the young guys that we got. And so if I didn’t believe in the young guys that we’ve got, I wouldn’t have picked ATL. But I really believe in the group that we’ve got and my focus, as it’s always been since I started playing basketball, is winning.

“So whatever the team or the coach wants me to do or needs me to do to win, that’s what I’ll do. That’s the only focus and the only way that I see, playing basketball.”

The question of how Gallinari and Collins will coexist on the same team naturally arises, given that Gallinari is a high-level veteran (on a big contract) and Collins has been the Hawks’ go-to at power forward for three seasons, about to begin his fourth. Collins is up for an extension, which adds some extra intrigue on what the addition of Gallinari means for his future with the franchise (Collins said Wednesday that his agents and the team are working every day to figure out a potential deal, and added he was feeling optimistic about it).

The Hawks could choose to let things play out a while longer and see how things go, as Collins, 23, has another year on his contract. The deadline to reach an agreement is Dec. 21.

According to ESPN, Gallinari’s deal with the Hawks (three years, $61.5 million) is the largest multi-year contract for a player older than 30 who hasn’t been an All-Star. The acquisition of Gallinari was officially announced as a sign-and-trade, with the Hawks also receiving cash considerations from the Thunder in exchange for a conditional 2025 second-round draft pick.

For now, the presumptive plan seems to be for Collins to start and Gallinari to come off the bench, though with nine new players the Hawks have plenty of shuffling and organizing to do (that would certainly boost the second unit, which struggled to score last year without Trae Young).

If they were to overlap on the court, Collins played a fair bit of center last season, but that largely was because the Hawks were searching for answers at that position. They could potentially play alongside each other that way, with Gallinari at the 4. If Collins is at the 4, Gallinari has played small forward before, but that may not go well defensively, since Gallinari is not the strongest defender.

“I have to learn their tendencies,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said of all the news players acquired. “I have to learn where they’ve been effective, where they’ve struggled offensively and defensively and constantly try to put the pieces together. … Gallo at the 4 and the 5, can he play the 3, I don’t know. John at the 4 and the 5, can they coexist, I don’t know. But those are the questions that I’ll answer and we’ll get answers, but that’s the beauty of the job.”

Gallinari, 32, is much more than just a 3-point shooter, though the Hawks will welcome that skill in particular (he shot 40.5% from 3 last season, and the Hawks were the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA at 33.3%). He’s a versatile offensive player with great size (6-foot-10, 233 pounds) and ability to create, averaging 18.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.6 minutes per game, shooting 89.3% from the line, the sixth-best mark in the league.

It should be pointed out that Gallinari is nine years older than Collins and hasn’t played 70 games in a season since 2012, having torn his ACL the following year. In 2018, he started all 68 games he played with the Clippers. Last season, he started all 62 that he played with the Thunder, missing a few games here and there with “soreness” injuries and often not playing the second night of back-to-backs, according to The Oklahoman.

So, although Gallinari certainly will get playing time, there may be enough minutes to go around. The need to compete for playing time on a much deeper Hawks team has been something Schlenk and Pierce have emphasized.

For Collins, the addition of Gallinari will make for a more dynamic Hawks offense, and they can fit well together by understanding each other’s tendencies. Collins averaged 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds in 33.2 minutes per game last season, leading the team in 3-point shooting (40.1%). His 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy drastically hurt the Hawks’ season, and he ended up only playing in 41 games (41 starts).

“I feel like the biggest thing we can do to maximize it, if anything, is understanding each other’s games when we do get on the court,” Collins said. “I feel like, as we all know, Gallo’s an extremely skilled guy, very tall, ability to shoot the ball, I feel like he’s just a smart player, and I feel like our chemistries will work well together.

“Great ballhandler, great roller out of the pick-and-roll, I’m a roller (as well). … It creates a lot of dynamics on the court, having a guy like Trae or (Rajon) Rondo being able to create and set up both of myself and Gallo, I feel like it’s going to be dangerous. I’m excited to work with him and he’s a great leader, as well.”

Gallinari complimented Collins’ game, and thinks he can help him develop even more.

“I can definitely help him a lot,” Gallinari said. “I think he’s incredibly talented offensively and defensively. He’s an amazing athlete, too, so if you can combine both those things and be efficient on the court, only the sky’s the limit. So I’m definitely looking forward to playing with him and help him out.”