Danny Granger

Danny Granger, Jr. (born April 20, 1983) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA. He is mainly a small forward, though he does log time at the power forward position. ^[1] He is also able to initiate the team's offense and so is regarded as one who can play the point forward position. ^[2] Before his professional career, he went to Grace King High School in Metairie, Louisiana where he was a McDonald's All-American nominee before his senior year.^[3] He was a good student who scored a 30 on the ACT^[4] and was offered admission to Yale University. He played for Bradley University and then transferred to University of New Mexico before his junior year.^[5]

College career

Granger started his collegiate career at Bradley University where he played the 2001–2002 and 2002–2003 seasons.^[5] After a lackluster 12–18 season in 2002–2003,^[6] he transferred to the University of New Mexico for the 2003–2004 and 2004–2005 seasons. In 2004–2005, he became the first player in school history to get 60 assists, 60 blocks, and 60 steals in a season. He won the Mountain West Conference tournament MVP and led the Lobos to the NCAA tournament.

Granger graduated with a degree in civil engineering.

NBA career

Indiana Pacers (2005-present)

Granger was selected 17th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers,^[7] as the organization included former Lobo Mel Daniels^[8] and Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who was coached in college by the father of New Mexico Lobo Basketball, coach Bob King.^[9]

In his first NBA season, Granger played in 78 regular season games, averaging 7.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while making the All-NBA Rookie Second Team. He added 8.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in 6 playoff games.^[5]

With the departure of Peja Stojaković^[10] and arrival of Al Harrington^[11] during the 2006 offseason, Granger became the Pacers' starting small forward for 2006–07. After the first 15 games, he became the first man off the bench.

Since a January 17, 2007 eight-player trade with the Golden State Warriors,^[12] Granger started at the small forward and shooting guard spots, mainly due to the departure of Harrington. With the second and third scoring options (Harrington and Stephen Jackson, respectively) on the team gone, he was given more chances for scoring and averaged 13.9 points per game in 2006–07.^[5]

In 2007–08, Granger led the Pacers in scoring for the first time, averaging 19 PPG, while starting all 80 games he appeared in.^[13]

On October 31, 2008, Granger and the Pacers agreed on a 5-year contract extension.^[14] The contract pays him $9,930,500 starting in 2009–2010 and escalates ten percent each year, ending after the 2013–2014 season.^[15] The finalization of the deal was announced that night, mere hours before the midnight deadline which, if passed without any agreement, would have made Granger a restricted free agent the following summer.

In the 2008–2009 season, he scored a career high 42 points against the Detroit Pistons on December 12, 2008^[16] and again against the Golden State Warriors on January 11, 2009.^[17] On January 29, 2009 Granger was announced as an All-Star reserve for the Eastern conference. On May 12, 2009 Danny Granger was named the Most Improved Player for the 2008-2009 NBA Season.^[18] At the end of the 2008-2009 season, Granger had raised his scoring average by at least five points per game each year (7.5, 13.9, 19.6, 25.8) for three consecutive years, becoming the only player in league history to do so.

Following his breakout season in 2008-2009, the next season was a bit of a disappointment, marred by injuries and losses. On March 26, 2010, however, Granger scored a new career-high 44 points against the Utah Jazz.^[19]

In the summer of 2010, Granger participated in the FIBA World Championships, playing for the US Senior National team. On September 12, the US team won the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, beating host country Turkey 81-64.

College career statistics

^[20]

NBA career statistics

Regular season

^[21]

Playoffs

^[21]

Family

Granger has a younger brother, Scotty, who appeared on a reality TV show titled The One: Making a Music Star on ABC, in the summer of 2006. Scotty, an openly gay artist,^[22] plays piano, guitar, flute, sax, piccolo, and several other instruments.^[23] Scotty also won $50,000 on the ABC show Wipeout on June 10, 2009. Scotty is one of the 12 finalists on the 2011 news series on Bravo entitled Platinum Hit, a competition about songwriting.

Granger is also great-nephew of the "Queen of Gospel", Mahalia Jackson.^[24]

References