While the strength of Italian and European basketball continues to make leaps and bounds compared to the global competition, when he was growing up in the Italian town of Graffignana in the 1980s and 90s, veteran Boston Celtics forward Danilo Gallinari was not exactly awash in a sea of high-level basketball.

But he has fond memories of that part of his life and struck out on his own to follow in his father’s footsteps playing the sport, helping elevate the profile of Italian basketball considerably in the process. Starting on a humble hoop on his family’s farm, he has grown into the ambassador of the sport that he is today.