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Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari tells Emiliano Carchia, of Sportsnado, his timetable for a return to action:
I'm very happy with how things are going even if the path is still long. It 'been a summer of hard work. Eight hours a day. You see the ball just in picture and the time never passes. But I can see the results of the hard work and according to the doctors I should be ready for the end of November.
If Gallo were to return to action on, say, Nov. 29th vs. the Knicks, that'd mean he missed 14 games and would have 68 to play. Or if he returned Dec. 13th vs. the Jazz, that'd mean he missed 21 games and would have 61 left to play. Why those two dates? Well, it would be awesome if the team brought him back during a home game so his fans would welcome him properly. The Nuggets embark on a season-long six game road trip from Dec. 1st through Dec. 9th against Eastern Conference teams.
When Gallo is able to return to action, the Nuggets will likely need to bring him along slowly. Ricky Rubio returned to NBA action last season after an ACL injury and during his first 13 games back he averaged 20 minutes a night and missed five games during that span. We may likely see a similar path with Gallo where he takes a couple weeks to log more-and-more minutes, until he's fully back in action.
For now, take what Gallo is saying about his return date and shelf it for now. This is a player talking about his return and it could be a later date, depending on how he responds to rehab. His return will come when his body and mind are ready and whenever that is, it will be fine.
It is nice to hear that Gallo and his doctors feel that his recovery is going well.
For more on our thoughts on Gallo's return and his unique recovery from a partially torn ACL, check out the Colorado Sports Guys podcast where we discussed it all: click here.