February 13, 2023 • 45 mins
In the second episode of season three, Celtics forward Danilo Gallinari takes a break from his rehab work to join hosts Marc D’Amico and Sean Grande. They begin by talking about what it means to represent Italy in the NBA and hopefully be an inspiration for the growth of the basketball in his home country. As a young player, Gallo learned quickly how to hold his own and not be intimated by veteran players, a skill that helped him early on in the NBA to earn respect from Kevin Garnett. Off the court, Danilo shares how becoming a father changed his perspective and how valuable it’s been to have his dad around, supporting him through his current rehab. Throughout the episode, Danilo talks about the injuries he’s had to work through in his career and how sports science has played a role in continually teaching him ways to improve managing his body.
1:38 – Growing up in Italy and being an inspiration for growth of the sport
8:54– Earning the respect of veteran players
12:22 – Injury management, past and present
24:32 – Being a family man
30:40 – Constantly learning how to better take care of his body
36:36 – Inside look at the Celtics season and leadership in the locker room
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everyone. This is View from the Rafts. Today, we're
bringing in a man who hails from basketball country. Life
is funny, not yet. We talked about the bus one boys.
Is the crazy story, not actor? The crazy thing to me,
like where you came from. Yeah, we're all older than
we think. We are always called Gray Batty. What's up everyone,
(00:26):
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of You from
the Rafts. I'm your host, Mark Demiko, and today we're
sitting down with fourteen year NBA vet Danilo Gallinari. It's
myself and Sean Grandy talking to him about his path
of getting over here to the NBA and what he
had to go through growing up. And remember he grew
up in Italy. This is an Italian guy. He's growing
up in a country that's predominantly a soccer country, a
(00:48):
Formula one country, So as a fourteen, fifteen, sixteen year old,
he had to figure out how he could carve out
his path to eventually become a top ten draft pick
back in two thousand and eight by the New York Next.
He's got some crazy stories not only from when he
was growing up, but also when he first got over
here to the US and what he was kind of
learning about the ongoings of being inside the NBA. So
(01:10):
every Wednesday, we're gonna be dropping our video version of
the podcast on the YouTube page, the Celtics YouTube page,
and every Tuesday will be coming out with the audio
version of the podcast. So make sure you tune in
each week, make sure you rate, subscribe, and review. We
appreciate you for giving us a listen and a watch.
And now, without further ado, enjoy the conversation with Danilo
gallan Art. So today we've got the goat of Italian basketball,
(01:36):
Danielo Gallinati. Um what does that sound like to you? Man?
I mean, could you ever have dreamt growing up that
you would wind up being the goat coming out of
your home country? I mean, I'll let you say it.
I don't like I did say it, stamp it. I
don't like to say it, but I really appreciate it.
(01:58):
And of course he's uh, you know, he's uh. When
I think about it, is something that you know, honors me,
something that I'm that I'm proud of. If I am,
you are, but I love the humble side, but you are,
there's no question. But it's great, you know, It's something
that you work on, you work for every day. And
(02:19):
why once you get a certain age, um, you are
dreaming about it, hoping to be that guy. Um. And
you know, if if somebody thinks, even if I made
somebody think that I am, I think is at risk
to go the crazy thing to me that was like
(02:41):
where you came from, right, I mean, I know you're
in the outskirts of Milan where you grew up or
you were born, but can you give some context to
the listeners of just how small the town was that
you grew up. I grew up in a town called Grafiniana,
which is uh, people we all know each other. I
grew up in a in a farm that is right
(03:01):
outside this little town, one of the biggest farms that
in the area, right, yeah, yeah, probably, yeah, one of
the biggest one. My families. There are different families in
the farm. My family is the biggest one. Uh. And
it was honestly amazing. Uh. And it was, you know,
such an amazing time that I left home early because
(03:22):
I started living by myself at fourteen years old, an
hour away from the farm, from the town, little town. Uh.
And so now every time I come back, I want
I just want to spend time in the farm and
spend time with the family by by myself or with
them because of the feelings that that I remember and
(03:42):
that I had when I was, you know, growing up
in that house. Uh. And you know, I grew up
with this basket that my my dad built in the
in the yard, the backyard of the house. And uh,
just me the basket and my dad, my mom. Uh,
me and my dad playing a lot of basketball. Uh.
(04:05):
My my cousin is actually plays in the Italian is
a professionally plays in the Italian League now and we
use three years older than me, and so we used
to play against each other. Uh. And so that was
my youth right there. How many other kids that you
were around shared this dream of yours because in the
(04:27):
late nineties in Italy, kids are growing up wanting to
play soccer, wanting to drive Formula one, wanting to, you know,
do the things that they have seen other Italian sports
heroes do. They still do, Yeah, they still do, but
some of them now because because of the Italian players
that we had in the n b A in the
last ten fifteen years. Uh and maybe because of me too,
(04:50):
they want to play basketball. And that's that's another goal.
Another thing that um, I'm proud of when I when
I think about it, because, like you said, growing up
in a soccer Kind three or Formula one country where
you know everybody thinks about soccer and knows about soccer,
wakes up and goes on the streets and play soccer,
just soccer. But if somebody wakes up and think that
(05:13):
basketball is there and maybe they can play basketball for
a couple of hours, that they not just soccer. I
made it. Life is funny in a lot of ways
and the circular nature of things. For people who don't
know your story, if you could have chosen one man
to be your coach when you get to the NBA,
(05:35):
to ease your transition out of the hundreds of millions
of men in the world to choose, it is remarkable
to me when you think about again how life works
that someone your father played with this is in this
global world which we think is so big. It's not
as big as the same as it is. It is
the crazy story, not just that they were they played
together nine years. There were roommates for a lot of years. Uh.
(06:00):
Talking Mike D'Antoni. By the way, for those don't know
then you know, get drafted by by the Knicks and
I go and play for Mike uh is. It was
an amazing story. Um. And so it was even uh
better when my third season the Knicks, they set up
the training camp overseas and we spent four days in
Milan and four days in Paris and we played against Milan,
(06:23):
the team that I played for, that my dad played for.
It was this, you know, the beginning and the end
of this amazing you know story um and and you know,
like I said, I quit it, uh and even write
a perfect story like that because it was so difficult.
You committed a time players were coming from Europe but
(06:45):
not necessarily having the success that people thought they would.
This is the darker military jarr. It's a skiish belly
era where guys are coming to a high draft picks.
It's not happening. And there's two elements to it. And
I want to talk about Mike D'Antoni for a second.
Then there's gonna be a preseason game against the Celtics.
Dying to know. I've always wondered if you remember. But
first Mike, not only as a coach and someone you knew,
(07:05):
but someone who had played overseason, gone through this exact transition,
and I can't imagine anyone better. Just forget the fact
that you knew him, his background, and blazing a trail
that had not been walked by a lot of people.
He had done it. It was it was great, Like
you said, it was great for me because first of all,
(07:25):
sometimes we were talking Italian and I tell Mike I
did it for him too, because he lost a little
bit of that perfect Italian used when he was in Italy.
So um, it was great to speak in Italian with him.
But also he helped me so much in the transition.
You know, he's he played there, he knows what he
takes to be an NBA player and from Europe to
(07:46):
be a player, an important player and a key player
in the NBA. And so it was huge for me. Um,
and he made the transition so much easier because like
you said back in you know, it's crazy to say
back in the days, but yes, it was like we
think we are, but it wasn't. It wasn't the same
(08:07):
situation like it is right now, Like we have so
many international players right now and the game has become
so global, But it wasn't like that, like you said
back then, and you mentioned some names that there were.
You know, I played with Darko in New York and
you were, you know, number one to three draft bicks.
And then they don't have the career that you would
expect of their respect, and so I think it was
(08:30):
even tougher to be a European player to come and
you know, establish yourself, uh and making sure that what
happened to them doesn't happen to you doesn't happen to me.
And so it was it was tough, but you know
those those moments are made for great players. And so
(08:52):
here's what you know, you change mark, You're coming. You
came into a way, right you, so you come in deal.
It was a rookie at Oha. The Celtics just won
the championship. And this is what I want to get
to about sort of a changing mindset about younger players.
I've been working with Cedric Maxwell, We've been doing the
games together forever and ever talking about being older than
(09:13):
you think you are. In the preseason, you played against
the Celtics as m is going to be one of
your first games ever, and we both commented, as it's happening,
here's a twenty year old kid, and there was a
sense all the players. We've already talked about high skill
level and your skill level. We knew what it was,
but there was almost an attitude of not getting pushed around.
(09:35):
And that team, Kevin Garnett and those guys they love
to they love to talk and they love to push
kids around. Is what they did. What I remember more
than anything, and Max and I still talk about it
to this day whenever your name comes up. Was you
walked in there as a twenty year old kid and
you push right back? Do you remember playing against this
that Celtics team and some of the veterans that like
to intimidate when you finished? I remember a couple of
(09:56):
moments with uh, but can we can we talk about
the language? I remember one we rated, replayed, the learned
some new words. We played, we played. I remember we
played at home in New York against the Celtics and
we are what they call a fouler or something. We
walk him back. We are a half court mean kg
(10:17):
and KG to an elbow me and I just threw
an elbow back and I told him you're doing it
to the wrong guy. And from that moment, I'm honest,
I had a you know, always played against each other.
He is a great player. I always liked him, uh
and from that moment, honestly, with KG, even if we
played against each other, it was always great between me
(10:38):
and him. It was like you earned the respect. You know.
I think maybe we can ask him now, but I
think that I earned his respect, um. And and every
time we played against each other, even if you know,
for after he went back, it went away from the celticast,
Minnesota and stuff. Um, it was always great to play
against him, and I stick could feel that it respected me,
(11:02):
and it was of course a mutual respect. Of course,
it is one of the best, so um. But that's
something that I always that in my nature. Um. I
it was. It was since I was a little kid. Uh.
And so because I always I was always playing against
people that were older than me. When I signed my
(11:22):
first contract, always sixteen, I was playing with thirty five
years old. And so they were they were they wanted,
you know, they were like the sixty year old kids
coming to play with us and playing more than me. No,
it's not gonna happen. So he get pushed back, You
get hit big time, badly on and off the court,
but you know it was. It was a great challenge
(11:43):
for me, and I honestly liked it. Sometimes you have
to learn how to like it. Sometimes you like it
because it's in your nature. Um. And so I thought
it was, you know, just going the NBA. It's no difference.
So um And you know he cain about oh eight.
What made my pat even harder was the injury. Yeah,
(12:06):
because you get drafted by the Knicks number six, you
get booed like crazy. You have to four weeks later,
you have to um establish yourself in the league. And
you are drafted by the Knicks and you get injured
right away. You only played twenty eight games. The first
(12:28):
season is stuff. Then you've got to come back the
second season and now prove yourself. Um. And you know
I've had a very good second season, and you know
I was able to turn those booze into applauses. But
my path was even harder because of the early injury
that I had and surgery that I had my first
my rookie. Going back to what you were just talking
(12:50):
about with D'Antoni, you said him being there helped you
so much with that injury. Where do you think you
would have gone in your career if he isn't there. Uh,
you know, having been the kind of player that that
I was, that I am, and having the confidence that
I always had, I don't think that my pet would
(13:12):
have been different. It would have been better if I
didn't get injured. Mike, of course helped so much to
make my transition easier. But honestly, like I said, with
the with the confidence that I had him, that I had,
that I had in me, that I had in me,
I think my PET would have been you know similar.
(13:33):
The only thing that I when I think about my career,
the only thing that I regret, that it was kind
of out of my control, were injuries. And to get
the first one to get a big injury the rookie
season when you come in and you know Derrick Crows
and Russell Westbrook, they they were already very good. But
(13:54):
if I what if I play the entire first season,
I'm in the Rookie of the year conversation. Uh. And
in the NBA, if you have there is a lot
of stereotypes, and so if that's an understatement, If if
you have a great first season mentally for you and
for everybody, he helps a lot your process. But it wasn't.
(14:17):
It wasn't like that first. So this is a perfect
segue talking about battling through injuries. You're doing it again
right now, as we all know now back in August
Plan for Italy in the World Cup qualifier, you went down. Um,
as we know now, it's a torn left a c L.
Talk to us about where you're at with the rehab process.
How's that going? Uh? And how you feeling every day now? Uh,
(14:39):
feel better every day. The rehab is going very well. Um,
faster than expected, but he's going he's going very well.
I'm happy, the trainers are very happy, and and everything
is going. Like I said, s plan. Uh. So UM,
you know it's he's a long process. We all know that. UM.
(15:03):
Unfortunately unfortunately there are no secrets about it. So you
know how long it's gonna take, what you need to do. Um.
And so it's just I know it's a long road ahead.
But like I said, I've done it before. I've done
it maybe in the best moment of my career when
another another bed timing in my career. Right, you do
(15:25):
an injury, you don't want to get injured your rookie season,
and you definitely don't want to get injured at the
best time of your career, which was the best, not
get one of the best Nuggets teams ever that couldn't
make it where we were supposed we were projected to go.
Uh And I told myself right before playoffs, So terrible timing.
(15:48):
But like I said, I came back from that one
playing another ten years doing what I did. Uh and
now again but I know myself, I think that by
now everybody knows what apple of doing even after injuries
and so um, there's still a lot of a lot
of fun to have had. You said, faster than expected?
(16:09):
Is that with comparison to the first time that you
went through it or how would you is just compared
to like when you have protocols and you think about,
you know, the protocols nowadays, least in the NBA are
nine to twelve months, and that's that's what they what
the protocols usually are. If you look at the other
guys from I don't know play to Kaua, I like
(16:31):
recent or ingles like recent injuries like that, that's that's
the protocol and and so it is measured inside those months.
Faster I could mean a week, faster, a month faster.
I don't know, but is that's what it's looking like,
But that that doesn't give me a timing. You're looking
(16:52):
at the front end of that spectrum. Is where you
would hope to be back, which would be around nine months. Yeah, okay,
there's being around own this group, seeing what it's like
at the garden when the self explaining is that a
what you hoped it would be? The environment when you
decided this is going to be the place I want
to come. We've all seen the picture of you where
(17:13):
the Celtics Jersey when you were thirteen years old. And
does it drive you a little more every day when
you've got to come here by yourself, which is such
a drag that people don't realize all the work that
goes in to drive you a little more knowing what's
waiting for you at the end of it. For sure. Um,
it's not that I didn't know about the Celtics fans.
I knew of course. I know what what is like
(17:35):
to play against the Celtics and so I can imagine
what it is to play for the Celtics India environment. Um,
definitely something that especially when when you come in and
and you look at the pictures on the wall and
you look at the best ever on the wall. Every
(17:56):
time I come in and I look at that, Um,
it's it's a little bit of motivation. That's just a
little bit that I need to to work part every day.
When was the first time the word Boston Celtics made
it into your home? As a kid, my the Celtics
(18:17):
and Larry Bird were my dad's favorite team and favorite player,
and so since probably I started to understand Italian a
little bit and learning the language a little bit. So
I don't know, I was maybe six, seven, eight years old.
I don't know. It wasn't your first word spoken Celtic
maybe second or third one, but yeah, that was it
(18:38):
was very early because you know, growing up with with
my dad playing basketball and my dad being a used
Celtics fan, it was it was very early. Sean touchdown
it already. But you've made the decision to be around
the team during your rehab. That doesn't always happen. I
mean a lot of guys who were going through what
you're going through, they kind to go remote, um somewhere
(19:01):
with their trainer or one of the team's trainers and
just go through a day by day you've made that
decision to be here to travel with the team that
we've talked about it. Your first trip was back down
to Atlanta and your old stomping grounds. But why what
made you make that decision that you wanted to be
around the team while you go through this whole process. Um.
First of all, because I trust the staff. I think
(19:24):
the staff is very good, and so I I know
I've been in situations and I know some players they
go with their own staff. Maybe they go back home
and they got their own team. But the staff is
very good, and so I trust them. I like to
work them with them a lot. I trust the doctors,
the doctor that did the surgery on my knee, and
(19:45):
so that's trust first. And then mentally, at least in
my my experience, being with the team helps a lot.
You're the one you don't want to stay away from
the team, and then all of a sudden you gotta
come back with the team and lowly get back into
the practicing and into the playing with the team. It's
it's a tougher process, but if you are with the
(20:07):
team every time, I think he helps, uh, he helps
myself mentally, but also he helps the process of coming back.
You talked about being a sixteen year old kid playing
against thirty five year old men and this path you
have even in your earlier stops, You've always been someone
that wanted to be around younger players to help younger
(20:28):
players you've been around, You were with Shay with the
Clippers and Okay see Trey Young and just young players.
There's a great opportunity. Blake, it seems, has really adopted
that role here of just passing on this wisdom some
of the stuff we're talking about now. And I imagine
being around the team, even if you're not playing, you
can help impart some of that, Yeah, for sure. And
(20:50):
that's that's the mental part that you know, this game
is such a mental game when you play it, but
also when you are in my situation there you are
recovering from an injury and this comes into play, and
when you're close to the team, you can you can
talk about basketball all day every day and help. Of course,
this is a young team, but he's inexperienced. He's not
a young team like I was in you know l A,
(21:13):
Okay see Atlanta, very young teams, but this is a young,
experienced team and so it's it's a little different, but
you can, you know, exchange opinions and and talk about
talk about basketball, you know, all day every day when
when you're at the game practice and that helps me
(21:34):
and helps you know, some younger players talking to me
about basketball. Blake made an interesting point about Jayalen and Jason.
For everything they've accomplished, they haven't walked the path that
you guys have walked. Where you've been in different places,
You've seen how it's done in different cities. You get
a different feel for the NBA that way, and for
better or worse. But that's wisdom. For everything they've done,
(21:58):
they only this has been their only home. They haven't
experienced all the different things that come with playing in
different places. Yeah, I mean it's um like like you said,
is good and bad. Uh is the good and bad
of the NBA business. The NBA business is crazy. We
all know that. And so when you play for so
many years. Uh, there are few Kobe's, few Dirt Nobsky's,
(22:22):
few players that play for the same you know, franchise
for twenty plus years. It happens, it doesn't happen. Uh,
And so when you know you gotta you gotta take
the good about every experience that you do, every city
that you that you live, every city that you play for. Uh,
different coaches, different teammates. That's why I, like you said,
(22:43):
the bag that me and Blake have, you know, changing
so many you know, teams and different situations. I think,
I think is great for for for us, but also
for like you said, for the players that are here
with the Celtics that have been just with the Celtics
sword career. Why did you love Denver so much that
you chose to make it your home? And it was
(23:05):
probably because, Um, I was there for seven years, so
so most of my you know, n B a NBA years,
I was there in one city for seven years, and
so I made you know, friends, I know a lot
of people there, and so he made it, Uh I
feel you know home to me. Uh maybe the same
thing could have happened if I've played in another city
(23:28):
for so many years. But Denver, even you know, even
if it was for less years, Denver is a great city.
So I still have a lot of friends there. The
people who do know of your dad nom as a
basketball player, but he was doing something else and then
it wasn't it. Yeah, he was he was doing this
crazy experience when I when I think about it, I
(23:49):
don't know. You should ask him. I don't know why
he decided to do it. You know, he had an
amazing basketball career. He is, uh, he is being a
he was. It was actually an exam ple not just
for what and I always tell this to everybody, not
or just for he did on a basketball court, but
the transition from a basketball player to a businessman, which
(24:10):
is something that unfortunately the majority of us struggle with, right. Uh.
And so he became an agent. It was he was
doing an agent. It was an agent already while he
was playing. And then he became an agent. And he's
been an agent with the one, maybe the second third
or even the first some years, biggest agency in Italy.
So um, he's been great with that too. And all
(24:32):
of a suddenen he decides to manage a restaurant in Denver.
How is that possible? But it had to be an
Italian restaurant, right, an Italian restaurant by just making sure that.
The crazy thing is that food is not a big
part of the culture. Yeah, of course. So it's like,
I don't know, it could have been something else. I
don't know, but yeah, of course Italian. But it was
(24:54):
it was a two and a half years experience that that.
It was was fun. It was a lot of hard work,
probably too much hard work for for my dad, and
that's why. And then when COVID hit, you know, it
was it was tough for everybody, especially in the restaurant business.
And I thought that when I was looking at my dad,
(25:15):
I thought it was a little stress and I was like,
you know what, why you have to do this, Go
go back home and enjoy life. And and so I
helped him in the process of finishing that business. And
and now is I'm happy because it's back enjoying life
and doing you know, watching basketball games, traveling all around Italy,
(25:39):
following helping young players. You've seen him here. If you've
seen him here, of course I was here. You know,
it was great to be to having me here, especially
at the beginning of the reap when you really need,
you know, physical help to move around, drive you around,
and um, so it was it was great. I listened
to an interview did a couple of years ago before
(25:59):
you became a fault and talking about your childhood, how
much you wanted that experience. It was so important to you.
And you've been around guys your whole life in this
league who did not have an ideal childhood that you did,
and you speak romantically about it a couple of years later.
How has that part of your life be able to
fit with the rest of it, because I know how
(26:22):
critically important it was to you. Yeah, it was. It
has been great. When when you talk about dreams, the
life that I'm leaving now being a dad, it was
one of my dreams and and so I can say
that I have you know, achieved this dream. But and
now is uh, he's even you know, he's a dream
(26:43):
that I'm leaving and and I'm so happy because, like
you said, it's something that I was that I wanted
to replicate and reproduce because I lived it. I was
very lucky to live in, uh that kind of family.
But I want to do the same thing now and
as a dad, me and and me being you know,
husband and and dead and uh, it's being a great
(27:07):
experience and at the right hate, at the right age.
He's something that I advice to everybody. At the right
age though you can sea to that well, it does.
It changes everything. One of the amazing things about Jason
and Jalen is at the age what they've done, and
I think other people don't appreciate the things that get
(27:27):
thrust upon you. And that's why I wanted to start
with you being twenty years old and having to come
to a different country and play against the best players
in the world. Two have thrown at you at a
young age. But Jason, it's always amazing to me because
we know who he is now in the world, we
know who he is in the basketball world, who he's
going to be, and yet it's amazing he becomes a
dad in nineteen twenty years old and so he never
(27:49):
has that selfish time like the game ends and he
can score forty one points on national TV. But the
first thing he does, because that is that becomes your mindset, right,
It's like where's my daughter, where's my son? Because that
it centers you in a way that is difficult to describe. Yeah,
it's difficult to describe, and so it's something that is
something that you really need to experience to to really
(28:11):
understand it. Uh, And he helps especially. I always say
that you know when when when you win a game
and it's a great day, you go back home it's
even better. But when you when you lose a game
is amazing because before I lose the game, and I
think about the game until I played the next game,
and I win the next game, or I have or
(28:33):
I have the next great game. But now I lose
a game. I'm home and my daughter is running towards
me and smiling. I wanted to play with me. I'm like, okay,
let's see, we lost one. We think about the next one.
I had the bad game. Okay, the next one is
gonna be better. You know it's it's a mentally is better.
I can't to answer your question. No, I don't think
(28:54):
I'm ready. Well, is anyone ever ready? No, you're not.
You don't get that choice. No one's ever. I'm perfectly ready.
Today's today. I've got to become with that. It just
thrust upon you. It's like a lot of things in life.
It's like, it's how you reacted, that's why. But I
think I think the reason an age like I was
saying before, um, and my brother is nine years younger
than me, and my parents were telling me the same thing. Um,
(29:17):
you know you you. I don't think it's good to
do it too early. If you do it too early.
It's it's not good. The reason, the reason an age
where and you kind of feel I felt it mentally
that I was I was ready to approach something like this,
but there was a time, you know, I was single,
Sayce you know eighteen nineteen. I came in the league
(29:39):
until thirty, so for eleven twelve years I was single.
And so you I think you have to have that
experience before you get into the you know that family stuff,
which makes it even more remarkable to me of what
we're just talking about. With the way that Jason has
navigated the start of his career, Robert Williams navigating the
(30:02):
start of his career. These guys are young fathers who
are somehow I mean, I know I wouldn't have been
able to do it, just with my professional life of
at nineteen years old, being able to navigate these two
gigantic parts of your life. I think about myself at
their age, I wasn't ready. So what they're doing is
(30:23):
honestly amazing. What would you tell I just talked about
twenty year old you and that game that always sticks
in my mind, a preseason game to think of, what
would you tell your twenty year old self now coming
into the lag that he didn't know. Um, I would
tell myself to manage my body better. Um, because the
(30:47):
body is what we use for our job. Without our body,
you can have all the talent in your hand and
your head, but the bodies you needed, you needed every day.
You needed to be a great player to sustain an
NBA season, which is tough. Uh. And you know when
I when it came in, you know, I was I
(31:09):
never said, no, work out twice a day, do weight
lift team that I've never done before, which was one
of the causes of my back injury. Uh. And you're
you're young, You're coming to the league, and whatever they
tell you are, you gonna do it. Uh. And that
was the biggest mistake. And so when I think about
(31:31):
my younger self, that was just you know, manage my
body better. There's no sleep doctors in two thousand and eight,
there's no I mean, as we're sitting here, we're sitting
here at the Celtics practice facility, and now a lot
of the teams have them, the state of the art places,
and you think, well, as you sat down there, you're like,
two thousand and eight doesn't seem like that lot, but
what it is interference of sports science and things like that,
(31:53):
the different nutrition, what we're eating, getting on guys going
to McDonald's and grabbing stuff and bringing it on the
plane versus now. I remember I remember guys my first
year and I was telling this to all my friends
needed because it's something I had guys eating something right
after the first step finished the first step, you go
back to a lot from guys eating all kinds of stuff.
(32:15):
I'm like, like, what is this about? How can you remember?
Like what is it? Can be pizza, it could be
all kinds of stuff, and I'm like, probably not good
for you. This is this is impossibly So I was like, what,
welcome to America. So but now like something like this.
Now we got better with that as as as the
(32:36):
NBA as players, we got way better. Um, And I
can tell you so many other things like the thing
that you mentioned, like all the technology and the studying
of the body, the managing, the practicing or the nutrition, uh,
blood exams, all the medical exams that we do before
(32:57):
and the studies they make too to prepare your NBA season.
I don't remember any any of that when when I
when I came in so when the Russian hockey players
came into the NHL, when they first let them come over,
there were several players who just ate themselves out of
the lake because they had never been able to get
whatever they wanted. And they come to the U S
and all of a sudden, there's fast food restaurants and
(33:18):
they just started. Pretty soon within a few months, they
were just completely out of shape. Whenever in my partner
I already talked about em Cedric Maxwell, he would send
the ball boy out. He would he would send the
ball boy for hot dogs during the game. There's shots
of him hiding hot dogs in a towel, sitting on
the bench. Yeah. I remember, and not that I want
to talk about these fast food chain and in the States,
(33:38):
but I remember I was living in White Plains. Right
underneath the building there was apple Bee's Are good? Oh man.
I still remember the apple Bee's Ultimate Trio's menu, and
I was ordering that. I was going there with my
dad because we didn't have that he needily and it
was easy. Wow, what is this? So we were going
(33:59):
like two or three times a week, We're going in.
At one point I was like, maybe that is not
a good idea. We gotta, we gotta stop this. So
one of the ways you would take care of your
body is training mm A. Yeah, in Denver. In Denver,
yes said, by the way I see other people don't
realize and you're training in Denver. That's a real thing.
(34:19):
When you go into Denver and all of a sudden
you're there for a day and you try to go
out for a running you're trying and start as a different,
as deferent animal. So the nanny was a teammates yep,
mine in Denver, and he was he was doing m
m A with with Luke Cardillo, which is the trainer
that then I used um used to be a USC fighter,
(34:41):
and so he told me, listen, you should try and
train with me. And I tried one summer and then
for a lot of summers in a row, every time
I go to Denver, I tried to get some training
with him. And I think it's a great training because
the biggest, one of the biggest mistakes I've done as
as a young player growing up, I only played basketball MHM.
(35:04):
And and that's something that that's not advised that I
would not give anybody because for your body to be
strong and grow different part of you know your musclely
learn how to use your body. You gotta do different sports,
not just one. And I only did one, and so
for me to do for example, m m A, you
(35:25):
work on stuff on your body that you don't you're
not used to it, and all of a sudden, after
one minute of training, you are dead. I'm like, why,
I've been training basketball all my life and I do
a couple of minutes of M m A and I'm done.
And so you know, you learn there is a lot
of other stuff that you can do for your body,
and m m A is great training. We used to
(35:46):
play every now and then on game days at TV Garden.
They would allow us to go on there like six
dirty in the morning and play on the courts. And
I used to think I was in pretty good shape.
You know, I was working out, I was lifting every day,
running on the treadmill and do the X, Y and Z.
I would play one game of basketball because I wasn't
doing it often, and the next day I couldn't even
get up. Because it's just muscles that you're not using
(36:07):
when you're doing those other things. So, like you said,
the more sports you play, the more different muscle groups
you're using on a daily basis. Yeah, that makes me
feel old. I couldn't even get up the next day
and I was in my twenties at that and let's
face you can barely get up there. Yeah, this is true. Um,
we're we're getting low on time here, Danilo. But I
(36:27):
want to ask you about your experience here with with
these guys and what you're seeing of being able to
watch them every game on the court. What is making
this team so success successful and in particular in the offense.
We haven't seen this type of offense with the Celtics ever. Well,
it's it's what's funny about it is it makes me
realize that the moving of the ball and and the
(36:50):
beautiful game is probably what made your dad fall in
love with the Celtics for years ago. Slideway probably probably. Yeah,
I mean what I see is that you know, there
is um great chemistry. Um, everybody knows their role, which
is something that is key in a winning team and
buying into that role. To buying the role is key.
(37:11):
If you have somebody that doesn't buy into it, then
all of a sudden things don't work. Um. The guys
are very straightforward with each other. They talk about you know,
if you are not doing something, somebody's going to tell
you and adding very good leaders in the team that
tells tell you right away when you're not doing the
right things and bring you back to the the team
(37:33):
goal and what we need to do every single action,
every single game. Those things together are things that are
part of a winning culture and a winning team. And
then of course you know you have uh great talents
and that that of course is needed to win championships
and he's needed to win games and he's needed to
(37:55):
have fun. Um. But then, like I said, the player
is like j B and j T with amazing talent.
They are two way players. You see a lot of
players in this league having great stats but not having
that two way mentality. Debt, Okay, we're gonna win this
game also because these two guys are are bringing it
(38:18):
also on a differense event um, And like I said,
all these things together. Of course, I don't want to
talk two early because it's still early the season. But
is what you need for as a base to win
championships again, imagine drives you just a little bit harder
every day part of it. For sure, Where do you
(38:41):
think you would fit in in this group now that
you've been able to see them for half the season. Um,
where do you think that you would fit in or
will fit in? Who knows? Uh? Well, I'm the way
I always seen see me as a player. I'm a
very versatile players. So I played in different with four
different coaches, different systems, different roles. Started as a point guard,
(39:07):
then started playing the three position all my most of
my career, and then I went to the four. Uh,
and now I'm playing the four and sometimes the five.
So I played in different positions. So I think that
I can fit in in many different ways. Uh. Definitely,
the team doesn't have to fit me. I can fit
(39:28):
in the team pretty easy. Whatever whatever they need they
need from me. So I don't have anything you know
in mind. Of course, I I could be that the
role at the beginning was to be, you know, a
bench player like I've been in the last few years
studying in Atlanta. UM, and and so be be a
(39:48):
player that can really help the bench is of course
the my I think my biggest role. But anything that
needs to be done on the court, UM, I think
I'll be able to mark He's already made the biggest
impact in this organization. You made Brad quit knock it
down all those three that game two years ago. That
(40:08):
was I'm pretty sure he walked out that nice. So
I'm done. I can't do this anymore. I need a
different job. Was that the best you ever felt shooting?
But ten? It was ten? Have you ever had a
moment where you felt on fig We were winning by
thirty at one point, and remember and I was like,
I'm I mean, I'm sure coach is gonna take me
out because we have by twenty. But I want to
(40:30):
play because I want to break some records. I I
broke some records with that game with the ten threes,
and he was most from a bench player, the most
in the Hawk Seas three. So but I wanted to
break some NBA really wanted to embarrass us. That's what
you He broke the coach, I'm telling. But they they
were saying that there was somebody it might have been
(40:51):
Joe or somebody else Scowry reports, so they were debating
with this. The scout report was but that's right. It's
just one of one of those you know games where
everybody everything is going well for you, for the team,
um and you see the basket he gets bigger and
bigger and bigger, and it was just a good, good game.
Do you remember that feeling when the basket looked at big?
(41:12):
I feel away with the microphone. Sometimes the microphone seems
so huge and I'm going a game, you know. It
just fits in to do a couple of questions before
we let you go. Um your connectivity with the city.
You've been here for a handful of months now, living
in Boston. How often do you get to the North End?
Have you ever been there before you moved here to Boston.
So every time I was coming here to play the Celtics,
(41:34):
I was going I like to change the restaurant every time,
but most of the time I was just going to
the North End, walk around and just speak a place.
So I've been to most of the places in the
North End, but always because I think the North End
is not just for restaurant, but it's good to walk around. Yes,
the nice area to walk around, and it feels like
you're in here. It feels like you're back, you know, closer.
(41:56):
It's definitely is definitely I would say in the United
the States, is definitely the best little Italy that there
is in the state. Yeah, you know, I loved it.
Kobe obviously it leave was a big part of his childhood,
his life, whatever. But he whenever he came to Boston.
But the exact reason it wasn't just the restaurants. It
wasn't just the food. He would always go to the
(42:16):
North End because you wanted that experience. Yeah, And I walked.
I walked around as soon as right before the surgery.
And right when I started walking around, I walked around
the old city from literally from Seaport, North and South End.
Uh you know, back baby Carneel, older Common Area, everything,
(42:37):
all were walking. I lived in the North End for
the first ten years that I lived in Boston. Just
every day I woke up, I felt like I was
in a place that other people wanted to come to.
Oh great, do you have a favorite restaurant that you've
gone to? H And then I think, um, uh Strega
is can't miss Why don't you can't miss it? Uh?
(43:00):
I think I think, I think it's great, not just
for the food, for the the atmosphere. Um, so that's
definitely a must. Um. I think there are some good places,
even in in Back Bay where I stay, uh dadios,
And I think it's a good place. Um that I
(43:20):
can name so many good Italian places, but not just Italian.
I like to try different foods too, so from Asian, Greek, sushi, whatever,
they are good places, apples. I mean, that's that's the
top of the top, not in my not in my plan,
and it was good. I don't take care of my diet.
I don't think the training staff would be happy if
(43:42):
they saw some video clips on so how men if
you'd be in an apple piece the decks that the
decks exam is not going to be good when they
measured the mess and the fat. Last one for you.
Any fun stories of running into fans on the streets,
are you know, just meeting new people in Boston? Um, definitely.
What I what I like is that everybody, everybody knows
(44:04):
the Celtics, and so when when you walk around, every
even if from injured, everybody you know knows, uh knows
who I am uh and you know wishes me every
time to come back for this season because they want
me back this season and be ready for playoffs and
uh and be able to help the team on the core,
(44:25):
you know, winning a championship. So everybody, everybody when they
stopped me. They talk about that. I I have met
a lot of Italian people, especially like young people that
are here, especially in the research, medical, uh, business and sector,
which is which is great because you know, having all
(44:46):
these these young talents not in basketball like me, but
talents in other geniuses and alice in other sectors. I
think is uh is great for for for me to
see it from my country, to see it and to
see them succeeding something else, especially in the research. I
think it's great. Well, they want to see you back.
(45:08):
We want to see you back, if it's this year,
if it's next year, whenever it happens. Man, we're gonna
be looking forward to seeing you in the Celtics uniform.
Appreciate hopefully sooner rather than later. Good luck with the
rest of the rehab. Danito got a natty, the goat
of Italian basketball. Let's stick to it. Don't be too humble.
Don't you think Bellanelli is listening on this. It doesn't matter.
I'm with you. I'm just saying, all right, we'll call
(45:29):
me Trump Marco. If you've got a problem, bring it
to me, all right, man, is my guy. Well, we
appreciate the time. Good luck the rest of the season,
and again like I said, we can't wait to see
out on the court. Thank you, appreciate it.
Welcome everyone. This is View from the Rafts. Today, we're
bringing in a man who hails from basketball country. Life
is funny, not yet. We talked about the bus one boys.
Is the crazy story, not actor? The crazy thing to me,
like where you came from. Yeah, we're all older than
we think. We are always called Gray Batty. What's up everyone,
(00:26):
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of You from
the Rafts. I'm your host, Mark Demiko, and today we're
sitting down with fourteen year NBA vet Danilo Gallinari. It's
myself and Sean Grandy talking to him about his path
of getting over here to the NBA and what he
had to go through growing up. And remember he grew
up in Italy. This is an Italian guy. He's growing
up in a country that's predominantly a soccer country, a
(00:48):
Formula one country, So as a fourteen, fifteen, sixteen year old,
he had to figure out how he could carve out
his path to eventually become a top ten draft pick
back in two thousand and eight by the New York Next.
He's got some crazy stories not only from when he
was growing up, but also when he first got over
here to the US and what he was kind of
learning about the ongoings of being inside the NBA. So
(01:10):
every Wednesday, we're gonna be dropping our video version of
the podcast on the YouTube page, the Celtics YouTube page,
and every Tuesday will be coming out with the audio
version of the podcast. So make sure you tune in
each week, make sure you rate, subscribe, and review. We
appreciate you for giving us a listen and a watch.
And now, without further ado, enjoy the conversation with Danilo
gallan Art. So today we've got the goat of Italian basketball,
(01:36):
Danielo Gallinati. Um what does that sound like to you? Man?
I mean, could you ever have dreamt growing up that
you would wind up being the goat coming out of
your home country? I mean, I'll let you say it.
I don't like I did say it, stamp it. I
don't like to say it, but I really appreciate it.
(01:58):
And of course he's uh, you know, he's uh. When
I think about it, is something that you know, honors me,
something that I'm that I'm proud of. If I am,
you are, but I love the humble side, but you are,
there's no question. But it's great, you know, It's something
that you work on, you work for every day. And
(02:19):
why once you get a certain age, um, you are
dreaming about it, hoping to be that guy. Um. And
you know, if if somebody thinks, even if I made
somebody think that I am, I think is at risk
to go the crazy thing to me that was like
(02:41):
where you came from, right, I mean, I know you're
in the outskirts of Milan where you grew up or
you were born, but can you give some context to
the listeners of just how small the town was that
you grew up. I grew up in a town called Grafiniana,
which is uh, people we all know each other. I
grew up in a in a farm that is right
(03:01):
outside this little town, one of the biggest farms that
in the area, right, yeah, yeah, probably, yeah, one of
the biggest one. My families. There are different families in
the farm. My family is the biggest one. Uh. And
it was honestly amazing. Uh. And it was, you know,
such an amazing time that I left home early because
(03:22):
I started living by myself at fourteen years old, an
hour away from the farm, from the town, little town. Uh.
And so now every time I come back, I want
I just want to spend time in the farm and
spend time with the family by by myself or with
them because of the feelings that that I remember and
(03:42):
that I had when I was, you know, growing up
in that house. Uh. And you know, I grew up
with this basket that my my dad built in the
in the yard, the backyard of the house. And uh,
just me the basket and my dad, my mom. Uh,
me and my dad playing a lot of basketball. Uh.
(04:05):
My my cousin is actually plays in the Italian is
a professionally plays in the Italian League now and we
use three years older than me, and so we used
to play against each other. Uh. And so that was
my youth right there. How many other kids that you
were around shared this dream of yours because in the
(04:27):
late nineties in Italy, kids are growing up wanting to
play soccer, wanting to drive Formula one, wanting to, you know,
do the things that they have seen other Italian sports
heroes do. They still do, Yeah, they still do, but
some of them now because because of the Italian players
that we had in the n b A in the
last ten fifteen years. Uh and maybe because of me too,
(04:50):
they want to play basketball. And that's that's another goal.
Another thing that um, I'm proud of when I when
I think about it, because, like you said, growing up
in a soccer Kind three or Formula one country where
you know everybody thinks about soccer and knows about soccer,
wakes up and goes on the streets and play soccer,
just soccer. But if somebody wakes up and think that
(05:13):
basketball is there and maybe they can play basketball for
a couple of hours, that they not just soccer. I
made it. Life is funny in a lot of ways
and the circular nature of things. For people who don't
know your story, if you could have chosen one man
to be your coach when you get to the NBA,
(05:35):
to ease your transition out of the hundreds of millions
of men in the world to choose, it is remarkable
to me when you think about again how life works
that someone your father played with this is in this
global world which we think is so big. It's not
as big as the same as it is. It is
the crazy story, not just that they were they played
together nine years. There were roommates for a lot of years. Uh.
(06:00):
Talking Mike D'Antoni. By the way, for those don't know
then you know, get drafted by by the Knicks and
I go and play for Mike uh is. It was
an amazing story. Um. And so it was even uh
better when my third season the Knicks, they set up
the training camp overseas and we spent four days in
Milan and four days in Paris and we played against Milan,
(06:23):
the team that I played for, that my dad played for.
It was this, you know, the beginning and the end
of this amazing you know story um and and you know,
like I said, I quit it, uh and even write
a perfect story like that because it was so difficult.
You committed a time players were coming from Europe but
(06:45):
not necessarily having the success that people thought they would.
This is the darker military jarr. It's a skiish belly
era where guys are coming to a high draft picks.
It's not happening. And there's two elements to it. And
I want to talk about Mike D'Antoni for a second.
Then there's gonna be a preseason game against the Celtics.
Dying to know. I've always wondered if you remember. But
first Mike, not only as a coach and someone you knew,
(07:05):
but someone who had played overseason, gone through this exact transition,
and I can't imagine anyone better. Just forget the fact
that you knew him, his background, and blazing a trail
that had not been walked by a lot of people.
He had done it. It was it was great, Like
you said, it was great for me because first of all,
(07:25):
sometimes we were talking Italian and I tell Mike I
did it for him too, because he lost a little
bit of that perfect Italian used when he was in Italy.
So um, it was great to speak in Italian with him.
But also he helped me so much in the transition.
You know, he's he played there, he knows what he
takes to be an NBA player and from Europe to
(07:46):
be a player, an important player and a key player
in the NBA. And so it was huge for me. Um,
and he made the transition so much easier because like
you said back in you know, it's crazy to say
back in the days, but yes, it was like we
think we are, but it wasn't. It wasn't the same
(08:07):
situation like it is right now, Like we have so
many international players right now and the game has become
so global, But it wasn't like that, like you said
back then, and you mentioned some names that there were.
You know, I played with Darko in New York and
you were, you know, number one to three draft bicks.
And then they don't have the career that you would
expect of their respect, and so I think it was
(08:30):
even tougher to be a European player to come and
you know, establish yourself, uh and making sure that what
happened to them doesn't happen to you doesn't happen to me.
And so it was it was tough, but you know
those those moments are made for great players. And so
(08:52):
here's what you know, you change mark, You're coming. You
came into a way, right you, so you come in deal.
It was a rookie at Oha. The Celtics just won
the championship. And this is what I want to get
to about sort of a changing mindset about younger players.
I've been working with Cedric Maxwell, We've been doing the
games together forever and ever talking about being older than
(09:13):
you think you are. In the preseason, you played against
the Celtics as m is going to be one of
your first games ever, and we both commented, as it's happening,
here's a twenty year old kid, and there was a
sense all the players. We've already talked about high skill
level and your skill level. We knew what it was,
but there was almost an attitude of not getting pushed around.
(09:35):
And that team, Kevin Garnett and those guys they love
to they love to talk and they love to push
kids around. Is what they did. What I remember more
than anything, and Max and I still talk about it
to this day whenever your name comes up. Was you
walked in there as a twenty year old kid and
you push right back? Do you remember playing against this
that Celtics team and some of the veterans that like
to intimidate when you finished? I remember a couple of
(09:56):
moments with uh, but can we can we talk about
the language? I remember one we rated, replayed, the learned
some new words. We played, we played. I remember we
played at home in New York against the Celtics and
we are what they call a fouler or something. We
walk him back. We are a half court mean kg
(10:17):
and KG to an elbow me and I just threw
an elbow back and I told him you're doing it
to the wrong guy. And from that moment, I'm honest,
I had a you know, always played against each other.
He is a great player. I always liked him, uh
and from that moment, honestly, with KG, even if we
played against each other, it was always great between me
(10:38):
and him. It was like you earned the respect. You know.
I think maybe we can ask him now, but I
think that I earned his respect, um. And and every
time we played against each other, even if you know,
for after he went back, it went away from the celticast,
Minnesota and stuff. Um, it was always great to play
against him, and I stick could feel that it respected me,
(11:02):
and it was of course a mutual respect. Of course,
it is one of the best, so um. But that's
something that I always that in my nature. Um. I
it was. It was since I was a little kid. Uh.
And so because I always I was always playing against
people that were older than me. When I signed my
(11:22):
first contract, always sixteen, I was playing with thirty five
years old. And so they were they were they wanted,
you know, they were like the sixty year old kids
coming to play with us and playing more than me. No,
it's not gonna happen. So he get pushed back, You
get hit big time, badly on and off the court,
but you know it was. It was a great challenge
(11:43):
for me, and I honestly liked it. Sometimes you have
to learn how to like it. Sometimes you like it
because it's in your nature. Um. And so I thought
it was, you know, just going the NBA. It's no difference.
So um And you know he cain about oh eight.
What made my pat even harder was the injury. Yeah,
(12:06):
because you get drafted by the Knicks number six, you
get booed like crazy. You have to four weeks later,
you have to um establish yourself in the league. And
you are drafted by the Knicks and you get injured
right away. You only played twenty eight games. The first
(12:28):
season is stuff. Then you've got to come back the
second season and now prove yourself. Um. And you know
I've had a very good second season, and you know
I was able to turn those booze into applauses. But
my path was even harder because of the early injury
that I had and surgery that I had my first
my rookie. Going back to what you were just talking
(12:50):
about with D'Antoni, you said him being there helped you
so much with that injury. Where do you think you
would have gone in your career if he isn't there. Uh,
you know, having been the kind of player that that
I was, that I am, and having the confidence that
I always had, I don't think that my pet would
(13:12):
have been different. It would have been better if I
didn't get injured. Mike, of course helped so much to
make my transition easier. But honestly, like I said, with
the with the confidence that I had him, that I had,
that I had in me, that I had in me,
I think my PET would have been you know similar.
(13:33):
The only thing that I when I think about my career,
the only thing that I regret, that it was kind
of out of my control, were injuries. And to get
the first one to get a big injury the rookie
season when you come in and you know Derrick Crows
and Russell Westbrook, they they were already very good. But
(13:54):
if I what if I play the entire first season,
I'm in the Rookie of the year conversation. Uh. And
in the NBA, if you have there is a lot
of stereotypes, and so if that's an understatement, If if
you have a great first season mentally for you and
for everybody, he helps a lot your process. But it wasn't.
(14:17):
It wasn't like that first. So this is a perfect
segue talking about battling through injuries. You're doing it again
right now, as we all know now back in August
Plan for Italy in the World Cup qualifier, you went down. Um,
as we know now, it's a torn left a c L.
Talk to us about where you're at with the rehab process.
How's that going? Uh? And how you feeling every day now? Uh,
(14:39):
feel better every day. The rehab is going very well. Um,
faster than expected, but he's going he's going very well.
I'm happy, the trainers are very happy, and and everything
is going. Like I said, s plan. Uh. So UM,
you know it's he's a long process. We all know that. UM.
(15:03):
Unfortunately unfortunately there are no secrets about it. So you
know how long it's gonna take, what you need to do. Um.
And so it's just I know it's a long road ahead.
But like I said, I've done it before. I've done
it maybe in the best moment of my career when
another another bed timing in my career. Right, you do
(15:25):
an injury, you don't want to get injured your rookie season,
and you definitely don't want to get injured at the
best time of your career, which was the best, not
get one of the best Nuggets teams ever that couldn't
make it where we were supposed we were projected to go.
Uh And I told myself right before playoffs, So terrible timing.
(15:48):
But like I said, I came back from that one
playing another ten years doing what I did. Uh and
now again but I know myself, I think that by
now everybody knows what apple of doing even after injuries
and so um, there's still a lot of a lot
of fun to have had. You said, faster than expected?
(16:09):
Is that with comparison to the first time that you
went through it or how would you is just compared
to like when you have protocols and you think about,
you know, the protocols nowadays, least in the NBA are
nine to twelve months, and that's that's what they what
the protocols usually are. If you look at the other
guys from I don't know play to Kaua, I like
(16:31):
recent or ingles like recent injuries like that, that's that's
the protocol and and so it is measured inside those months.
Faster I could mean a week, faster, a month faster.
I don't know, but is that's what it's looking like,
But that that doesn't give me a timing. You're looking
(16:52):
at the front end of that spectrum. Is where you
would hope to be back, which would be around nine months. Yeah, okay,
there's being around own this group, seeing what it's like
at the garden when the self explaining is that a
what you hoped it would be? The environment when you
decided this is going to be the place I want
to come. We've all seen the picture of you where
(17:13):
the Celtics Jersey when you were thirteen years old. And
does it drive you a little more every day when
you've got to come here by yourself, which is such
a drag that people don't realize all the work that
goes in to drive you a little more knowing what's
waiting for you at the end of it. For sure. Um,
it's not that I didn't know about the Celtics fans.
I knew of course. I know what what is like
(17:35):
to play against the Celtics and so I can imagine
what it is to play for the Celtics India environment. Um,
definitely something that especially when when you come in and
and you look at the pictures on the wall and
you look at the best ever on the wall. Every
(17:56):
time I come in and I look at that, Um,
it's it's a little bit of motivation. That's just a
little bit that I need to to work part every day.
When was the first time the word Boston Celtics made
it into your home? As a kid, my the Celtics
(18:17):
and Larry Bird were my dad's favorite team and favorite player,
and so since probably I started to understand Italian a
little bit and learning the language a little bit. So
I don't know, I was maybe six, seven, eight years old.
I don't know. It wasn't your first word spoken Celtic
maybe second or third one, but yeah, that was it
(18:38):
was very early because you know, growing up with with
my dad playing basketball and my dad being a used
Celtics fan, it was it was very early. Sean touchdown
it already. But you've made the decision to be around
the team during your rehab. That doesn't always happen. I
mean a lot of guys who were going through what
you're going through, they kind to go remote, um somewhere
(19:01):
with their trainer or one of the team's trainers and
just go through a day by day you've made that
decision to be here to travel with the team that
we've talked about it. Your first trip was back down
to Atlanta and your old stomping grounds. But why what
made you make that decision that you wanted to be
around the team while you go through this whole process. Um.
First of all, because I trust the staff. I think
(19:24):
the staff is very good, and so I I know
I've been in situations and I know some players they
go with their own staff. Maybe they go back home
and they got their own team. But the staff is
very good, and so I trust them. I like to
work them with them a lot. I trust the doctors,
the doctor that did the surgery on my knee, and
(19:45):
so that's trust first. And then mentally, at least in
my my experience, being with the team helps a lot.
You're the one you don't want to stay away from
the team, and then all of a sudden you gotta
come back with the team and lowly get back into
the practicing and into the playing with the team. It's
it's a tougher process, but if you are with the
(20:07):
team every time, I think he helps, uh, he helps
myself mentally, but also he helps the process of coming back.
You talked about being a sixteen year old kid playing
against thirty five year old men and this path you
have even in your earlier stops, You've always been someone
that wanted to be around younger players to help younger
(20:28):
players you've been around, You were with Shay with the
Clippers and Okay see Trey Young and just young players.
There's a great opportunity. Blake, it seems, has really adopted
that role here of just passing on this wisdom some
of the stuff we're talking about now. And I imagine
being around the team, even if you're not playing, you
can help impart some of that, Yeah, for sure. And
(20:50):
that's that's the mental part that you know, this game
is such a mental game when you play it, but
also when you are in my situation there you are
recovering from an injury and this comes into play, and
when you're close to the team, you can you can
talk about basketball all day every day and help. Of course,
this is a young team, but he's inexperienced. He's not
a young team like I was in you know l A,
(21:13):
Okay see Atlanta, very young teams, but this is a young,
experienced team and so it's it's a little different, but
you can, you know, exchange opinions and and talk about
talk about basketball, you know, all day every day when
when you're at the game practice and that helps me
(21:34):
and helps you know, some younger players talking to me
about basketball. Blake made an interesting point about Jayalen and Jason.
For everything they've accomplished, they haven't walked the path that
you guys have walked. Where you've been in different places,
You've seen how it's done in different cities. You get
a different feel for the NBA that way, and for
better or worse. But that's wisdom. For everything they've done,
(21:58):
they only this has been their only home. They haven't
experienced all the different things that come with playing in
different places. Yeah, I mean it's um like like you said,
is good and bad. Uh is the good and bad
of the NBA business. The NBA business is crazy. We
all know that. And so when you play for so
many years. Uh, there are few Kobe's, few Dirt Nobsky's,
(22:22):
few players that play for the same you know, franchise
for twenty plus years. It happens, it doesn't happen. Uh,
And so when you know you gotta you gotta take
the good about every experience that you do, every city
that you that you live, every city that you play for. Uh,
different coaches, different teammates. That's why I, like you said,
(22:43):
the bag that me and Blake have, you know, changing
so many you know, teams and different situations. I think,
I think is great for for for us, but also
for like you said, for the players that are here
with the Celtics that have been just with the Celtics
sword career. Why did you love Denver so much that
you chose to make it your home? And it was
(23:05):
probably because, Um, I was there for seven years, so
so most of my you know, n B a NBA years,
I was there in one city for seven years, and
so I made you know, friends, I know a lot
of people there, and so he made it, Uh I
feel you know home to me. Uh maybe the same
thing could have happened if I've played in another city
(23:28):
for so many years. But Denver, even you know, even
if it was for less years, Denver is a great city.
So I still have a lot of friends there. The
people who do know of your dad nom as a
basketball player, but he was doing something else and then
it wasn't it. Yeah, he was he was doing this
crazy experience when I when I think about it, I
(23:49):
don't know. You should ask him. I don't know why
he decided to do it. You know, he had an
amazing basketball career. He is, uh, he is being a
he was. It was actually an exam ple not just
for what and I always tell this to everybody, not
or just for he did on a basketball court, but
the transition from a basketball player to a businessman, which
(24:10):
is something that unfortunately the majority of us struggle with, right. Uh.
And so he became an agent. It was he was
doing an agent. It was an agent already while he
was playing. And then he became an agent. And he's
been an agent with the one, maybe the second third
or even the first some years, biggest agency in Italy.
So um, he's been great with that too. And all
(24:32):
of a suddenen he decides to manage a restaurant in Denver.
How is that possible? But it had to be an
Italian restaurant, right, an Italian restaurant by just making sure that.
The crazy thing is that food is not a big
part of the culture. Yeah, of course. So it's like,
I don't know, it could have been something else. I
don't know, but yeah, of course Italian. But it was
(24:54):
it was a two and a half years experience that that.
It was was fun. It was a lot of hard work,
probably too much hard work for for my dad, and
that's why. And then when COVID hit, you know, it
was it was tough for everybody, especially in the restaurant business.
And I thought that when I was looking at my dad,
(25:15):
I thought it was a little stress and I was like,
you know what, why you have to do this, Go
go back home and enjoy life. And and so I
helped him in the process of finishing that business. And
and now is I'm happy because it's back enjoying life
and doing you know, watching basketball games, traveling all around Italy,
(25:39):
following helping young players. You've seen him here. If you've
seen him here, of course I was here. You know,
it was great to be to having me here, especially
at the beginning of the reap when you really need,
you know, physical help to move around, drive you around,
and um, so it was it was great. I listened
to an interview did a couple of years ago before
(25:59):
you became a fault and talking about your childhood, how
much you wanted that experience. It was so important to you.
And you've been around guys your whole life in this
league who did not have an ideal childhood that you did,
and you speak romantically about it a couple of years later.
How has that part of your life be able to
fit with the rest of it, because I know how
(26:22):
critically important it was to you. Yeah, it was. It
has been great. When when you talk about dreams, the
life that I'm leaving now being a dad, it was
one of my dreams and and so I can say
that I have you know, achieved this dream. But and
now is uh, he's even you know, he's a dream
(26:43):
that I'm leaving and and I'm so happy because, like
you said, it's something that I was that I wanted
to replicate and reproduce because I lived it. I was
very lucky to live in, uh that kind of family.
But I want to do the same thing now and
as a dad, me and and me being you know,
husband and and dead and uh, it's being a great
(27:07):
experience and at the right hate, at the right age.
He's something that I advice to everybody. At the right
age though you can sea to that well, it does.
It changes everything. One of the amazing things about Jason
and Jalen is at the age what they've done, and
I think other people don't appreciate the things that get
(27:27):
thrust upon you. And that's why I wanted to start
with you being twenty years old and having to come
to a different country and play against the best players
in the world. Two have thrown at you at a
young age. But Jason, it's always amazing to me because
we know who he is now in the world, we
know who he is in the basketball world, who he's
going to be, and yet it's amazing he becomes a
dad in nineteen twenty years old and so he never
(27:49):
has that selfish time like the game ends and he
can score forty one points on national TV. But the
first thing he does, because that is that becomes your mindset, right,
It's like where's my daughter, where's my son? Because that
it centers you in a way that is difficult to describe. Yeah,
it's difficult to describe, and so it's something that is
something that you really need to experience to to really
(28:11):
understand it. Uh, And he helps especially. I always say
that you know when when when you win a game
and it's a great day, you go back home it's
even better. But when you when you lose a game
is amazing because before I lose the game, and I
think about the game until I played the next game,
and I win the next game, or I have or
(28:33):
I have the next great game. But now I lose
a game. I'm home and my daughter is running towards
me and smiling. I wanted to play with me. I'm like, okay,
let's see, we lost one. We think about the next one.
I had the bad game. Okay, the next one is
gonna be better. You know it's it's a mentally is better.
I can't to answer your question. No, I don't think
(28:54):
I'm ready. Well, is anyone ever ready? No, you're not.
You don't get that choice. No one's ever. I'm perfectly ready.
Today's today. I've got to become with that. It just
thrust upon you. It's like a lot of things in life.
It's like, it's how you reacted, that's why. But I
think I think the reason an age like I was
saying before, um, and my brother is nine years younger
than me, and my parents were telling me the same thing. Um,
(29:17):
you know you you. I don't think it's good to
do it too early. If you do it too early.
It's it's not good. The reason, the reason an age
where and you kind of feel I felt it mentally
that I was I was ready to approach something like this,
but there was a time, you know, I was single,
Sayce you know eighteen nineteen. I came in the league
(29:39):
until thirty, so for eleven twelve years I was single.
And so you I think you have to have that
experience before you get into the you know that family stuff,
which makes it even more remarkable to me of what
we're just talking about. With the way that Jason has
navigated the start of his career, Robert Williams navigating the
(30:02):
start of his career. These guys are young fathers who
are somehow I mean, I know I wouldn't have been
able to do it, just with my professional life of
at nineteen years old, being able to navigate these two
gigantic parts of your life. I think about myself at
their age, I wasn't ready. So what they're doing is
(30:23):
honestly amazing. What would you tell I just talked about
twenty year old you and that game that always sticks
in my mind, a preseason game to think of, what
would you tell your twenty year old self now coming
into the lag that he didn't know. Um, I would
tell myself to manage my body better. Um, because the
(30:47):
body is what we use for our job. Without our body,
you can have all the talent in your hand and
your head, but the bodies you needed, you needed every day.
You needed to be a great player to sustain an
NBA season, which is tough. Uh. And you know when
I when it came in, you know, I was I
(31:09):
never said, no, work out twice a day, do weight
lift team that I've never done before, which was one
of the causes of my back injury. Uh. And you're
you're young, You're coming to the league, and whatever they
tell you are, you gonna do it. Uh. And that
was the biggest mistake. And so when I think about
(31:31):
my younger self, that was just you know, manage my
body better. There's no sleep doctors in two thousand and eight,
there's no I mean, as we're sitting here, we're sitting
here at the Celtics practice facility, and now a lot
of the teams have them, the state of the art places,
and you think, well, as you sat down there, you're like,
two thousand and eight doesn't seem like that lot, but
what it is interference of sports science and things like that,
(31:53):
the different nutrition, what we're eating, getting on guys going
to McDonald's and grabbing stuff and bringing it on the
plane versus now. I remember I remember guys my first
year and I was telling this to all my friends
needed because it's something I had guys eating something right
after the first step finished the first step, you go
back to a lot from guys eating all kinds of stuff.
(32:15):
I'm like, like, what is this about? How can you remember?
Like what is it? Can be pizza, it could be
all kinds of stuff, and I'm like, probably not good
for you. This is this is impossibly So I was like, what,
welcome to America. So but now like something like this.
Now we got better with that as as as the
(32:36):
NBA as players, we got way better. Um, And I
can tell you so many other things like the thing
that you mentioned, like all the technology and the studying
of the body, the managing, the practicing or the nutrition, uh,
blood exams, all the medical exams that we do before
(32:57):
and the studies they make too to prepare your NBA season.
I don't remember any any of that when when I
when I came in so when the Russian hockey players
came into the NHL, when they first let them come over,
there were several players who just ate themselves out of
the lake because they had never been able to get
whatever they wanted. And they come to the U S
and all of a sudden, there's fast food restaurants and
(33:18):
they just started. Pretty soon within a few months, they
were just completely out of shape. Whenever in my partner
I already talked about em Cedric Maxwell, he would send
the ball boy out. He would he would send the
ball boy for hot dogs during the game. There's shots
of him hiding hot dogs in a towel, sitting on
the bench. Yeah. I remember, and not that I want
to talk about these fast food chain and in the States,
(33:38):
but I remember I was living in White Plains. Right
underneath the building there was apple Bee's Are good? Oh man.
I still remember the apple Bee's Ultimate Trio's menu, and
I was ordering that. I was going there with my
dad because we didn't have that he needily and it
was easy. Wow, what is this? So we were going
(33:59):
like two or three times a week, We're going in.
At one point I was like, maybe that is not
a good idea. We gotta, we gotta stop this. So
one of the ways you would take care of your
body is training mm A. Yeah, in Denver. In Denver,
yes said, by the way I see other people don't
realize and you're training in Denver. That's a real thing.
(34:19):
When you go into Denver and all of a sudden
you're there for a day and you try to go
out for a running you're trying and start as a different,
as deferent animal. So the nanny was a teammates yep,
mine in Denver, and he was he was doing m
m A with with Luke Cardillo, which is the trainer
that then I used um used to be a USC fighter,
(34:41):
and so he told me, listen, you should try and
train with me. And I tried one summer and then
for a lot of summers in a row, every time
I go to Denver, I tried to get some training
with him. And I think it's a great training because
the biggest, one of the biggest mistakes I've done as
as a young player growing up, I only played basketball MHM.
(35:04):
And and that's something that that's not advised that I
would not give anybody because for your body to be
strong and grow different part of you know your musclely
learn how to use your body. You gotta do different sports,
not just one. And I only did one, and so
for me to do for example, m m A, you
(35:25):
work on stuff on your body that you don't you're
not used to it, and all of a sudden, after
one minute of training, you are dead. I'm like, why,
I've been training basketball all my life and I do
a couple of minutes of M m A and I'm done.
And so you know, you learn there is a lot
of other stuff that you can do for your body,
and m m A is great training. We used to
(35:46):
play every now and then on game days at TV Garden.
They would allow us to go on there like six
dirty in the morning and play on the courts. And
I used to think I was in pretty good shape.
You know, I was working out, I was lifting every day,
running on the treadmill and do the X, Y and Z.
I would play one game of basketball because I wasn't
doing it often, and the next day I couldn't even
get up. Because it's just muscles that you're not using
(36:07):
when you're doing those other things. So, like you said,
the more sports you play, the more different muscle groups
you're using on a daily basis. Yeah, that makes me
feel old. I couldn't even get up the next day
and I was in my twenties at that and let's
face you can barely get up there. Yeah, this is true. Um,
we're we're getting low on time here, Danilo. But I
(36:27):
want to ask you about your experience here with with
these guys and what you're seeing of being able to
watch them every game on the court. What is making
this team so success successful and in particular in the offense.
We haven't seen this type of offense with the Celtics ever. Well,
it's it's what's funny about it is it makes me
realize that the moving of the ball and and the
(36:50):
beautiful game is probably what made your dad fall in
love with the Celtics for years ago. Slideway probably probably. Yeah,
I mean what I see is that you know, there
is um great chemistry. Um, everybody knows their role, which
is something that is key in a winning team and
buying into that role. To buying the role is key.
(37:11):
If you have somebody that doesn't buy into it, then
all of a sudden things don't work. Um. The guys
are very straightforward with each other. They talk about you know,
if you are not doing something, somebody's going to tell
you and adding very good leaders in the team that
tells tell you right away when you're not doing the
right things and bring you back to the the team
(37:33):
goal and what we need to do every single action,
every single game. Those things together are things that are
part of a winning culture and a winning team. And
then of course you know you have uh great talents
and that that of course is needed to win championships
and he's needed to win games and he's needed to
(37:55):
have fun. Um. But then, like I said, the player
is like j B and j T with amazing talent.
They are two way players. You see a lot of
players in this league having great stats but not having
that two way mentality. Debt, Okay, we're gonna win this
game also because these two guys are are bringing it
(38:18):
also on a differense event um, And like I said,
all these things together. Of course, I don't want to
talk two early because it's still early the season. But
is what you need for as a base to win
championships again, imagine drives you just a little bit harder
every day part of it. For sure, Where do you
(38:41):
think you would fit in in this group now that
you've been able to see them for half the season. Um,
where do you think that you would fit in or
will fit in? Who knows? Uh? Well, I'm the way
I always seen see me as a player. I'm a
very versatile players. So I played in different with four
different coaches, different systems, different roles. Started as a point guard,
(39:07):
then started playing the three position all my most of
my career, and then I went to the four. Uh,
and now I'm playing the four and sometimes the five.
So I played in different positions. So I think that
I can fit in in many different ways. Uh. Definitely,
the team doesn't have to fit me. I can fit
(39:28):
in the team pretty easy. Whatever whatever they need they
need from me. So I don't have anything you know
in mind. Of course, I I could be that the
role at the beginning was to be, you know, a
bench player like I've been in the last few years
studying in Atlanta. UM, and and so be be a
(39:48):
player that can really help the bench is of course
the my I think my biggest role. But anything that
needs to be done on the court, UM, I think
I'll be able to mark He's already made the biggest
impact in this organization. You made Brad quit knock it
down all those three that game two years ago. That
(40:08):
was I'm pretty sure he walked out that nice. So
I'm done. I can't do this anymore. I need a
different job. Was that the best you ever felt shooting?
But ten? It was ten? Have you ever had a
moment where you felt on fig We were winning by
thirty at one point, and remember and I was like,
I'm I mean, I'm sure coach is gonna take me
out because we have by twenty. But I want to
(40:30):
play because I want to break some records. I I
broke some records with that game with the ten threes,
and he was most from a bench player, the most
in the Hawk Seas three. So but I wanted to
break some NBA really wanted to embarrass us. That's what
you He broke the coach, I'm telling. But they they
were saying that there was somebody it might have been
(40:51):
Joe or somebody else Scowry reports, so they were debating
with this. The scout report was but that's right. It's
just one of one of those you know games where
everybody everything is going well for you, for the team,
um and you see the basket he gets bigger and
bigger and bigger, and it was just a good, good game.
Do you remember that feeling when the basket looked at big?
(41:12):
I feel away with the microphone. Sometimes the microphone seems
so huge and I'm going a game, you know. It
just fits in to do a couple of questions before
we let you go. Um your connectivity with the city.
You've been here for a handful of months now, living
in Boston. How often do you get to the North End?
Have you ever been there before you moved here to Boston.
So every time I was coming here to play the Celtics,
(41:34):
I was going I like to change the restaurant every time,
but most of the time I was just going to
the North End, walk around and just speak a place.
So I've been to most of the places in the
North End, but always because I think the North End
is not just for restaurant, but it's good to walk around. Yes,
the nice area to walk around, and it feels like
you're in here. It feels like you're back, you know, closer.
(41:56):
It's definitely is definitely I would say in the United
the States, is definitely the best little Italy that there
is in the state. Yeah, you know, I loved it.
Kobe obviously it leave was a big part of his childhood,
his life, whatever. But he whenever he came to Boston.
But the exact reason it wasn't just the restaurants. It
wasn't just the food. He would always go to the
(42:16):
North End because you wanted that experience. Yeah, And I walked.
I walked around as soon as right before the surgery.
And right when I started walking around, I walked around
the old city from literally from Seaport, North and South End.
Uh you know, back baby Carneel, older Common Area, everything,
(42:37):
all were walking. I lived in the North End for
the first ten years that I lived in Boston. Just
every day I woke up, I felt like I was
in a place that other people wanted to come to.
Oh great, do you have a favorite restaurant that you've
gone to? H And then I think, um, uh Strega
is can't miss Why don't you can't miss it? Uh?
(43:00):
I think I think, I think it's great, not just
for the food, for the the atmosphere. Um, so that's
definitely a must. Um. I think there are some good places,
even in in Back Bay where I stay, uh dadios,
And I think it's a good place. Um that I
(43:20):
can name so many good Italian places, but not just Italian.
I like to try different foods too, so from Asian, Greek, sushi, whatever,
they are good places, apples. I mean, that's that's the
top of the top, not in my not in my plan,
and it was good. I don't take care of my diet.
I don't think the training staff would be happy if
(43:42):
they saw some video clips on so how men if
you'd be in an apple piece the decks that the
decks exam is not going to be good when they
measured the mess and the fat. Last one for you.
Any fun stories of running into fans on the streets,
are you know, just meeting new people in Boston? Um, definitely.
What I what I like is that everybody, everybody knows
(44:04):
the Celtics, and so when when you walk around, every
even if from injured, everybody you know knows, uh knows
who I am uh and you know wishes me every
time to come back for this season because they want
me back this season and be ready for playoffs and
uh and be able to help the team on the core,
(44:25):
you know, winning a championship. So everybody, everybody when they
stopped me. They talk about that. I I have met
a lot of Italian people, especially like young people that
are here, especially in the research, medical, uh, business and sector,
which is which is great because you know, having all
(44:46):
these these young talents not in basketball like me, but
talents in other geniuses and alice in other sectors. I
think is uh is great for for for me to
see it from my country, to see it and to
see them succeeding something else, especially in the research. I
think it's great. Well, they want to see you back.
(45:08):
We want to see you back, if it's this year,
if it's next year, whenever it happens. Man, we're gonna
be looking forward to seeing you in the Celtics uniform.
Appreciate hopefully sooner rather than later. Good luck with the
rest of the rehab. Danito got a natty, the goat
of Italian basketball. Let's stick to it. Don't be too humble.
Don't you think Bellanelli is listening on this. It doesn't matter.
I'm with you. I'm just saying, all right, we'll call
(45:29):
me Trump Marco. If you've got a problem, bring it
to me, all right, man, is my guy. Well, we
appreciate the time. Good luck the rest of the season,
and again like I said, we can't wait to see
out on the court. Thank you, appreciate it.
Host
Marc D'Amico
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