Matthew Emmons – USA Today Sports Images
When Danilo Gallinari initially went down to the ground for the Denver Nuggets, most people knew it wasn’t good. He went down with what seemed to be a non-contact injury, which usually means structural damage. As it turned out, Gallinari indeed had structural damage in his knee, tearing his ACL.
Though Gallinari has had an up and down 2012-2013 NBA season for Denver, he’s still the best shooter on their roster and is easily their biggest threat from long range. In fact, after Gallinari, the Nuggets really don’t have many players that would be classified as strong outside shooters. With Gallinari out of the lineup for the rest of the season, Wilson Chandler was going to have to step up to keep the Nuggets rolling.
Through the first three games that Denver has played without their starting small forward, Chandler has been phenomenal. His minutes have increased to 34.9 per game and he has excelled in that larger role. Over the three games he has averaged 22.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, three assists and two steals per game. Moreover, he’s also been able to shoot a fantastic 56 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from beyond-the-arc. He’s been lights out.
Chandler has been solid for the Nuggets all season when he’s been healthy. The worry with him replacing Gallinari, though, was the fact that he hadn’t played as many minutes as he was going to have to. That doesn’t seem to be bothering him at all through these first three games.
The sample size for Chandler playing in Gallinari’s role is obviously small, but it’s undeniably promising. As the Nuggets still have their hopes set on making a run in the NBA Playoffs, they need an outside scoring threat to open up their fast-paced and interior-attacking offense. From what we’ve seen, there’s no reason to believe that Chandler can’t be that guy.
Cody Williams is a Senior NBA Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.
