Lost somewhere in Indiana is a fantastic basketball player who doesn't get nearly the hype or notariety that he deserves. Danny Granger has been a stud this season but you would never know that. Other than his highlights from when the Pacers knocked off the Lakers, the only Danny Granger you see is his ridiculous game by game stats rolling on the ESPN Bottomline. And even in that game, most people only saw the game winner by teammate Troy Murphy.Granger was a solid player immediately after he was draft 17th overall out of the University of New Mexico and has progressed exponentially ever since. I know, he's not LeBron or Kobe or Chris Paul, but he's immensly talented and it is being wasted in Indiana where competitive basketball goes to die.
The Pacers know what they've got and gave him a big extension after last season and are building the team around his abilities. Their personnel moves are moving in the right direction by getting rid of Jermaine O'Neil and removing Jamal Tinsley from the roster, but they're still a loooong way away from being relevant. Indiana is yet to reach double-digit wins and is last in their division with little to no hope of a playoff berth.
This season, Granger is averaging 24.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 3.2 APG up until this point and that includes him being the other player on the team worth worrying about. Granger is 30th in the NBA in PER (Player Efficiency Rating) and is a lights-out shooter from behind the arc. Should Indiana find anybody worthwhile to play along side him, Granger is going to be a star for years to come. Until that time, he is going to be living his life in obscurity while lesser players get all the publicity for being in bigger cities on better teams.
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Durant has identical stats and is 5 years younger. Granger will be overrated by the end of the year, fear not.
ReplyDeleteif you're looking for some Durant love you're not going to get an arguement from me. I love KD and i'll probably post something about him shortly. He's going to be a great player, it's only a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteYeah to a degree. I was more just looking through some stats and noticed that Durant and Granger have eerily similar stats and that Granger is starting to get some press as a future star in the league. Which made me think it ironic I guess that you posted about how he's not getting enough love, especially since Durant is getting even less love from media, because he's playing on an even smaller-market and even worse team.
ReplyDeletegood point but Durant got tremendous press coming out of college, in fact he got as much attention as anyone has every gotten out of college (only because LeBron didn't go to college). I think that Durant will be fantastic when the team around him builds up, but he loses a lot of the potential press because of his poor shooting percentages and huge shot numbers. Once both of those guys get better supporting casts, the sky is the limit.
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