By MATT WHITFIELD
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — Danilo Gallinari was a Knicks fan favorite for three seasons before being traded in a three-team deal that landed the Knicks Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks made a splash drafting the Italian with the No. 8 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and today he is likely the best Italian basketball player in the NBA, though he has been injured often over the last two years.
Now there’s another Gallinari waiting in the wings: Danilo’s 17-year-old brother Federico Gallinari.
“It’s a great thing because I have a brother that plays the sport I love, that we love, and I can ask him questions and watch his games so it could be a great thing,” the younger Gallinari, who flew 15 hours from Italy to get to the NBPA Top 100 Camp here, told SNY.tv exclusively.
An athletic 6-foot-5 wing, he lists his strengths as shooting and passing and his weakness as ball-handling. This week Federico is just enjoying the NBPA Top 100 Camp and working on some of his basketball skills.
“This camp is fantastic,” he said. “For me it’s the best camp in the world because I can play with the top 10, the top 100 hundred in guys in the USA.”
Federico, who resides in Italy and attends Province of Lodi, sees a difference between the American and European games.
“The difference is in the European game we use more tactics than in the American game and in the American game there are more athletic guys so everyone can dunk and take rebounds but in Europe [players] are a little bit less athletic,” he said.
Federico wants to play college basketball in the United States and he has already received some Division 1 interest for the 2016-17 season.
“Yea, I have one year of school in Italy then I will come to the USA for college,” said Federico. “I just talked just talked with Colorado University and [UC-Colorado Springs].”
For now he dreams of following in his brother’s footsteps to the NBA.
