PACERS: Granger Eyes Return to "Hard-Nosed Basketball"

Caught In The Web Archive

Granger Eyes Return to "Hard-Nosed Basketball"

July 27, 2007

Danny Granger recently sat down with Rotorob.com's James Morris for a lengthy Q&A during his second annual youth basketball camp and said he hopes the Pacers can get back to "hard-nosed basketball" in 2007-08.

"We have to get back into playing Indiana basketball, that hard-nosed basketball of guys diving on the floor for loose balls," he said. "I think we kind of got away from that last year, and we need to bring it back to the type of team it was when Reggie Miller was there. So, if we bring that back, we’ll be alright.

Granger

"I don’t know what direction we are heading in for sure … that’s kind of still up in the air. That really has a lot to deal with whether or not the team makes trades. I think either way we go we will be OK since we already have veterans and we can always bring in more, but we also have young guys on the team too. If it was up to me though, I really think we should even it out — bring in some veterans and bring in some young guys. "

During the process of the camp, and the interview, Granger made a major impression on Morris.

"Let me just say that Danny was one of the best people I have got a chance to talk to so far," Morris wrote. "Not only did he take time to talk to anyone that happened to call his name out at the camp, but he was there every day to give the kids one-on-one instruction, do media interviews, sign autographs for the kids and their families. He even went out and made time to visit people in a nearby hospital. If I wasn’t already a Granger fan before this (which I was since he went to UNM and I had a class with him), I certainly would be now. With players such as Allen Iverson seeming to take over the NBA with their thug mentality and seeming to need street credit, it was really good to sit down and have an intelligent conversation with a player for once.

"With the NBA already pricing the average fan out of the game, and the never-ending circus that seems to follow some players around, I think it is safe to say that Danny Granger is a role model for kids to look up to."

WHITE RUNNING OUT OF CHANCES

There likely will be no shortage of teams interested in giving James White another look. What he must figure out is how to change his tendency to make a negative first impression.

White

White recently was cut for the second time in less than two years, this time by San Antonio. The former Cincinnati swingman has now failed to take advantage of two golden opportunities. The Pacers originally thought so highly of him they traded a pair of second-round picks to acquire his draft rights in 2006, but White didn't make it out of training camp after being clearly outplayed by unheralded Rawle Marshall.

He landed with the Spurs, a seemingly ideal situation for a gifted young player, but White appeared in just six games and managed to play himself off the roster this summer. In his brief NBA time, White has failed to build the bridge between athlete and player.

For their part, the Pacers wouldn't mind taking another look at White, although they have no more room for a guaranteed contract on the roster; the payroll already is pushing the 2007-08 Luxury Tax threshold. With Mike Dunleavy and Kareem Rush at shooting guard and Danny Granger, Marquis Daniels and Shawne Williams at small forward, they're pretty well-stocked at those two positions.

White still is too young and talented to be down to his last chance. But he's getting close.

INTERNOTES …

David Harrison told The Denver Post he remembered getting hit with "at least four technicals" by former NBA official Tim Donaghy, the man at the center of the league's current gambling probe, but the Pacers center didn't have any reason to suspect anything untoward. "I know that people will label him a (jerk) but I didn't have a problem with him." Harrison told the newspaper, "He wasn't the worst ref in the league. Man, I probably deserved every technical he gave me. But at the end of the day, he's not doing right either."

Former Pacers center Scot Pollard told the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World he felt much the same way. “I could say I don’t like him that much, but there’s a long list of refs I don’t like very much,” said Pollard. “When I first heard of this, it’s not like I said, ‘I know who that is.’ He didn’t stand out in my mind.” A free agent, Pollard said he doesn't expect to return to Cleveland.

Having joined one former Maccabi Tel Aviv teammate (Sarunas Jasikecivius) when he returned to the NBA last season, Maceo Baston will team up with another (Anthony Parker) in Toronto. The Pacers opted not to match Toronto's reported two-year, $4 million offer sheet on the restricted free agent. He hopes to show more of an overall game with the Raptors. "I can bring all the intangibles; shot blocking, charges, altering shots, deflections," he said. "(But) my offensive game is not too shabby either. People underestimate my offensive skills in terms of jump shooting, mid-range jumper, penetrating."

This week's signing of free agent Travis Diener as the backup point guard apparently encouraged Keith McLeod to expand his professional horizons. McLeod, who averaged 4.2 points and 2.0 assists in 22 games with the Pacers last season, reportedly is close to signing with the prominent Greek team Olympiakos, although a handful of NBA teams remain interested.