Pacers Week in Review: Don't You Forget About Danny Granger

It has been a chaotic week on and off the court this week for Indiana but there is no need to fear as Jalen Bishop and Ben Gibson walk you through the wins and losses and go over the news of the week that was.

Wins and Losses

The Pacers started off the week taking care of the Atlanta Hawks thanks to a 16-0 run in the first quarter but any hopes of coming out of the All-Star break with momentum were eaten alive by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The bright spots were a (slump breaking?) double-double for Paul George and Chris Copeland contributing meaningful minutes as David West was in foul trouble and the rest of the line-up was next to completely useless. — BG

Goodbye Danny Granger

I was in favor of keeping Granger but other plans got going. We covered every corner and the ramifications of trading away Danny Granger. Tim Donahue updates us on the cap situation. Contributors let their thoughts be known in a roundtable. Jon Washburn told us how Danny Granger’s void will be filled. Jared Wade wrote a post on TrueHoop why Indiana couldn’t wait on Granger to come into form.

This may not be Danny Granger’s last game ever as a Pacer but I’ll assume this season it is his last. In nine seasons with Indiana, he’s second in three-point field goals made, sixth in points, seventh in steals, seventh in blocks, eighth in free-throws made and eighth in total win-shares.

My most memorable memory of Danny Granger was using the Indiana Pacers in NBA 2k10 ranked matches. He had a pretty good three-point rating as well as an easy shot release. My favorite memory of Danny Granger in real life was Game 3 of the 2012 Eastern Conference semi-finals. I was at a restaurant watching the game and the only thing I saw was Granger pulling on the back of LeBron James’ jersey. I missed the part where he got in LeBron’s mug because of a bad television angle. But I caught the replay of it after and that’s when I said to myself, “Holy s— Indiana might win this series.” — JB

Welcome Evan Turner 

Let’s welcome Evan Turner to Indiana. He doesn’t have range to stretch the defense past 24-feet, but he’s a steady ball-handler. My stance going into the deadline was standing pat. What’s the point of trading Danny Granger and a pick? What player would add more value than Granger? And what player Indiana could realistically get? My last question was who would take back Danny Granger for a short rental. Sam Hinkie, the Sixers’ GM, answered those questions for me. All I can think about is how bad Philadelphia will be for the remainder of the season.

Rob Mahoney of SI’s Point Forward graded the trade and had some thoughts on Turner’s role.

"In terms of base-level skills, he’s a standout. There’s no question that Turner can handle the ball smoothly and set up his teammates to score — a combination that puts him in select company among wing players. None of those skills, though, have managed to pull Turner’s career from an unfortunate gray area. As long as he’s neither efficient enough to justify a prominent offensive role nor well suited for a complementary one, Turner will continue to pose problems of utilization for whichever team employs him.That’s Indiana’s concern now, though it’s one the Pacers gave up exceptionally little to bear. Problematic though Turner may be (especially in a somewhat redundant role alongside Lance Stephenson), Granger is now 22 months removed from playing even replacement-level basketball. His 49-percent true shooting and shaky floor spacing weren’t going to help a championship contender, setting the bar for an upgrade rather low. Turner should hop over it without issue, and if all goes according to plan, he could wind up being a legitimate help to the Pacers as they vie for the NBA title."

—JB

Evan Turner: Advanced Stats

Let’s learn a little bit more about Evan Turner with mysynergysports.com. Through 54 games, Turner has scored 0.84 points per possession as a pick-and-roll ball handler, converting on 63 out of 137 attempts(46%). He uses 19-percent of his possessions in transition, scoring 71-out-of-144 times(49%). That’s not good. Running off screens is another way Turner scores. He’s converted 30 out of 75, which is 40-percent.

Since he can’t a stretch the defense with spot-up shooting, there’s another way to get him involved besides the pick-and-roll. Here’s where it gets interesting. As a team, Indiana has only attempted 89 shots in hand off situations. Evan Turner? 126 attempts and possibly counting. He’s made 51 and is shooting 40% in those scenarios, which is okay. That makes me wonder if Vogel will introduce a new quirk that will involved Scola-Turner or West-Turner hand-offs. — JB

Also added to the Pacers roster: Lavoy Allen

The forgotten part of the Granger trade is Lavoy Allen.
Some quick facts…

• He’s a 2nd year , 6’9 forward who played his college ball at Temple.
• Back in 2012 he became known as a Kevin Garnett neutralizer.
• He was once ranked the 500th best player in the NBA… out of 500.
• According to Wikipedia “He did not play much organized basketball until eighth grade. In an interview, Allen admitted he was not very good in the beginning, and focused on passing the ball to a better teammate. His initial motivation was how schoolchildren mocked him for his height yet not being able to dunk”

He is an above average shooter in the paint where you can expect him to shoot from almost 60 percent of the time while the rest come from midrange.

There isn’t really much to go off of so a acquiesce the floor to Grantland’s Zack Lowe.

"I don’t see Allen playing real minutes with four rotation bigs and Andrew Bynum already around, but a center who can walk and chew gum is always nice to have around."

I don’t expect much from Allen, but he’ll have his uses. —BG

And Orlando Johnson was cut

He may have been one of the last people to find out, but the man left with dignity and class so we wish him the best.

—BG

Roy Hibbert doesn’t hate the Miami Heat

Candid interview by the big dawg. He opened up about verticality, Joe Alexander being drafted ahead of him and Lance Stephenson doing Harlem Globetrotter stuff.  He doesn’t hate ‘Birdman’ either. Interestingly enough, Hibbert calls Chris Andersen “Birdman, Birdman” when he’s on the court.

All-Star Weekend 

Paul George, Roy Hibbert and the coaching staff starred for Indiana at the Smoothie King Center. George scored 18 points and you can watch the highlights here. He also participated in the dunk contest. Watch his sweet 360-between-the-legs dunk here. Important: Roy Hibbert wore a headband during the game that looked cool. — JB

Momentum for Paul George?

Here’s his shot chart in the last two games. Sample size!

Paul George in the last two games displayed nice shooting performances against Atlanta and Minnesota. Watch him score 26 against Atlanta here and 35 against Minnesota here. — JB

The Week Ahead

Hey, this looks like nice time to pull together a string of wins. LeBron James is playing ridiculous and the Miami Heat are closing in one-seed. Every team Indiana plays in the next five is bottom ten in scoring efficiency. That would be Utah, Milwaukee x2, Los Angeles and Boston. They get to play Milwaukee twice. Boost that point differential! — JB

Jalen Bishop (@jalen_ny) and Ben Gibson (@CowboyOnPatrol) contributed to this.
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