Italy strengthen Olympic roster with Gallinari
ROME (Italy) - Coach Meo Sacchetti and Italy have bolstered their Olympic roster with the addition of Danilo Gallinari, the country's basketball federation announced on Tuesday.
ROME (Italy) - Coach Meo Sacchetti and Italy have bolstered their Olympic roster with the addition of Danilo Gallinari, the country's basketball federation announced on Tuesday.
Gallinari was competing in the NBA play-offs with the Atlanta Hawks when the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament took place in Serbia, where Italy defeated Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Serbians to clinch a spot in the Summer Games for the first time since 2004.
1⃣2⃣ per Tokyo
— Italbasket (@Italbasket) July 6, 2021
Meo ha deciso il roster che si raduna a Roma il 12/07 prima di partire per il Giappone.
Terminati gli impegni NBA, si unisce @gallinari8888. Lascia il gruppo @AwuduAbass, che non possiamo non ringraziare per quanto fatto fino al Preolimpico. #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/c160sNSwou
To make way for Gallinari, Italy have removed Awudu Abass from the team. There was speculation that Giampaolo Ricci could be let go, but the Virtus Bologna sharpshooter was never on shaky ground.
"(Giampaolo) Ricci was already safe inside (the roster)," Sacchetti said to Corriere dello Sport. "I never thought I could leave him at home. Abass? I made some choices."
Gallinari, a 6 ft 10in (2.08m) forward, brings an abundance of quality and experience to the roster. The sixth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, he averaged more than 13 points per game in the 2020-21 regular season and followed that up with 12.8 points per contest in the playoffs.
Atlanta made it to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals but fell to the Milwaukee Bucks.
| Italy Team for the Tokyo Olympics | |||
| Simone Fontecchio | Danilo Gallinari | Niccolo Mannion | Nicolo Melli |
| Riccardo Moraschini | Alessandro Pajola | Achille Polonara | Giampaolo Ricci |
| Marco Spissu | Amedeo Tessitori | Stefano Tonut | Michele Vitali |
Italian Basketball Federation president Gianni Petrucci says Gallinari had always wanted to join the national team once it was possible.
"Sacchetti's decision was not easy," Petrucci said to Corriere dello Sport, "but I'm sure that with his wisdom, he will have solved the problem. And Gallinari sent me a message, 'See you in Tokyo.' So his availability has always been there."
Gallinari played at the OQT in Turin five years ago when Italy made to the Final and suffered a narrow defeat to Croatia.
At the Olympics, Italy will go up against Australia, Nigeria and Germany. The latter also won their way to Tokyo through the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, taking top spot in Split, Croatia. The first game for Sacchetti and Co will be against Germany on July 25.
FIBA