So Danny Granger is really into cars. That was the gist I got after talking with the Pacers’ All-Star forward late last week. He’s also pretty happy with the direction Indiana is going, and believes with just a little more experience, the Pacers can become pretty good.
I got the chance to catch up with Granger to talk about his off-court hobbies, Jimmer Fredette and his awesome charitable work with EAS and the Unstoppable Tour.
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Dime: Are you at all surprised that Dallas got all the way to the NBA Finals?
Danny Granger: I am. I am a little surprised. I think Dallas over the past few years, they’ve had really good regular seasons but then just kinda sputtered out in the playoffs. To their credit, they’re playing good basketball this year and I’m glad to see them there. You know, I’ve always been a Dirk Nowitzki fan.
Dime: You guys played Chicago pretty tough in the first round. What do you think Miami did, or does, that allowed them to beat the Bulls?
DG: I think Miami’s defense is really, really good. With their athleticism, obviously on the wings and I think Chris Bosh is pretty athletic inside, and even Joel Anthony is a good defender. So I think their schemes really took Derrick Rose out of what he wanted to do, and he’s the focal point of their offense. If you stop him then you really stop the Bulls and I think they did a good job of containing Derrick Rose.
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Dime: With Miami looking like they might start a run of dominance, do you guys in Indiana ever look at what they’re doing and compare yourself knowing you will probably have to go through them at some point as you improve as the years go along?
DG: Um, yeah. Obviously, they became a force in the East. We definitely know that they’ll be one of the teams that we’ll play a lot; like you said, one of the teams we’ll have to go through if we want to compete at any given point within the next four years or so. That’s in the back of our minds. I think this year, we played Miami well and we can compete. It’s just a matter of having the right schemes and executing.
Dime: Were you comfortable with where you guys finished up this year?
DG: Yeah, we finished the season fairly well. We had a winning record since the coaching change. I think we were three or four games over .500 after we had the coaching change. We got into the playoffs. We competed in the playoffs. Compared to where the year started and how we finished, I was happy with that. But I think we have a loooong way to go. With the experience that our younger players will get and whether we can add more free agents or not, I think that is very important for us.
Dime: You mentioned you think you have a long way to go. Do you think you need another scorer or will experience help you out?
DG: I think experience will be the big key. We had a second-year point guard starting for us, a rookie wingman. Tyler Hansbrough was basically a rookie; He didn’t really play his first year. And then Roy Hibbert was in his third year. Our starting lineup was really, really young. Our bench was young. So I think the experience would be the biggest factor for us.
Dime: With Larry Bird coming back, what are some of the things he brings to the organization?
DG: Larry brings a distinct leadership ability. He sees the game of basketball obviously in a very unique way, which has helped us be successful, and helped us to get back to where we want to be coming from everything that happened in ’05 still. Larry, he’s a legend in himself. I think he does a great job with the organization.
Dime: Talk a little bit about the Draft. Are there any guys that you know coming out that you would like to see Indiana draft if you get a chance at them?
DG: You know what? Everyone is saying we may take Jimmer Fredette. Obviously, I’m a big Jimmer Fredette fan. He played in the Mountain West, which is the conference I played in so I always root for Mountain West kids. I like him. I like Kawhi Leonard. I like the kid from Arizona. The draft will be interesting to see. We have a later pick this year then we had previously so it really just depends on who’s available at that spot.
Dime: Do you anticipate them taking the best player available or do you think they’ll take a player that fits?
DG: I think Larry and David (Morway, Indiana’s GM), they’ll take the best player available. We usually do that. We rarely draft for a position. I think we won’t pass up a better player just to get someone who plays a certain position. I’m thinking we’ll take best available and we’ll just have to see who’s there at that (draft) position.
Dime: You mentioned you’re a fan of Jimmer Fredette. What do you know about his game and how do you think that’ll translate to the NBA?
DG: I’m not sure. I’m sure he won’t be the type of scorer he was in college in the NBA. It’s just two different types of games and what he did for BYU, he primarily was their offense weapon. I think in the NBA some of his skills will translate over. Obviously, he won’t get as many shots as he got in college. And he’ll have to play defense. I know his story throughout the year, probably because he was so focused on offense that he wasn’t a really good defensive player. But I think he has the physical tools. He has a great body on him and I think he can adapt pretty well to the NBA.
Dime: Who’s kind of the toughest guy for you to guard in the league as far as wing players go?
DG: As far as wing players go, it would probably have to be Carmelo Anthony. I think he’s probably one of the top one or two offensive players in the league, as far as the things he can do with a ball, how quick he can get going. He can put up a lot of numbers in a little bit of time. So Carmelo is probably the hardest to guard just because he has a lot of tricks, a lot of different things and he’s very strong. He uses his body well to push on smaller defenders and he’s really difficult to guard.
Dime: For you, is there anyone that sticks out as a great defender that you think defends you pretty well?
DG: Yeah probably…LeBron is always a tough defender. His athleticism makes him really tough and probably Ron Artest even though he is getting older I think he has the tools and the experience to still be a dominant wing defender. Those two guys can give me a lot of trouble.
Dime: Off the court, what’s your routine in the offseason? Do you have anywhere you always work out or go on vacation?
DG: Yeah, I go to Cabo usually for vacation and just hang out there. The place where I workout is usually Los Angeles. I spend my summers there. I’ve been there for the past probably four years, get some nice weather. And L.A. is a great place to work out. A lot of guys work out there so there are always some good pickup games, some good competition. It’s just a great city to be in.
Dime: Is there anything this summer that you are specifically aiming to improve on or are you always just improving your total game?
DG: Yeah, it’s always improve my total game. What I’ll do is I’ll have film and break down film of a lot of my games from the past year and look at things that are most poignant to me that I need to improve on. I will incorporate those into my workout, whether it be my ball-handling, whether it be my inbounds screens or my defensive stance, those different things I kinda analyze and figure out which ones I need to work on.
Dime: Besides basketball, what are some stuff or hobbies you like to get into?
DG: Hobbies…I love bowling. I’m really into kinda playing with remote control cars. I race a lot of cars and stuff and do things like that where I gotta build them. I’m into hobbies like that, and I also like to watch movies. I watch movies probably once every two days (laughs), the newest movies. That’s probably the things I like to do the most.
Dime: With the cars, are you talking about video games or actual remote-controlled cars?
DG: I’m talkin’ bout actual remote-controlled cars. They are pretty cool. Not toy cars. I actually have to build the cars and do things like that. Then I take them to places and go and race them. It’s a pretty expensive hobby but it’s a lot of fun.
Dime: How’d you get started with that?
DG: You know what? I was out in Indiana and I met a guy, he was telling me he does it. I met him in a store and he showed me his car and he had this suped-up nitro car. I was like, “Oh man. I needa get one of them.” Once I got one, I put it together and once I started racing, I was hooked. So I would pay for the racetrack, wreck it, fix it, and then race it again.
Dime: Do you build a lot of these or do you just have one?
DG: Oh nah. I got a whole garage full of ’em. I got a bunch of cars. I just recently got into the airplanes so I’m flying the airplanes now too. It’s a unique hobby, but like I said it’s a lot of fun. There’s a nice group that does it so you always have a chance to race your car.
Dime: What about movies? What are some of the best movies you’ve seen lately?
DG: I love Thor. I’ve seen Thor three times already. I love Fast Five, the new Fast and the Furious movie. That one was pretty good. Those are the two that I’ve seen most recently. I saw Bridesmaids. I thought it was gonna be like a chick flick but actually, it was pretty funny. What other movies? And oh, I saw Hangover 2. It was okay. It wasn’t as good as the first Hangover, but it had some laughs in it.
Dime: Talk about your involvement with EAS and how you got involved with them and the servicemen and women.
DG: I’m taking part in the EAS Unstoppable Tour. What this tour was is Navy Lt. Commander Sam Tickle, he did his best to complete 30 sports in 30 cities on 30 consecutive days. It was really cool. I got the chance to do the basketball portion with him in Indiana and I just put him through some drills and stuff. He did some really interesting things. He swam to the Statue of Liberty. He ran a marathon. He did a firefighter fitness test. Everything that he did and everything that I did was documented on www.unstoppabletour.com. They give you sports nutrition. They did a great job teaming up with the Semper Fi Fund. What happened is they donate every time someone watches the video. So it’s a pretty cool charity. The Semper Fi Fund, it helps support the injured and critically ill members of the Marines and U.S. Armed Forces. We all know how special they are to us and how they protect our freedom. So I was happy to get up with EAS’s goal and help raise awareness for this. So like I said, I was glad to be a part of it and it’s a pretty cool video to view.
Dime: Does this go on for 30 days or is it all summer over and over?
DG: Yeah, he did it 30 consecutive days in 30 cities. That was the most impressive thing about it. He stayed in a different city and always did a different sport, and he kept going like clockwork. Like I said, it’s www.unstoppabletour.com and it’s impressive to watch. It really is.
Dime: With the summer and the lockout, does anything change for you as far as preparation goes, not knowing when you’re gonna start playing basketball again?
DG: Ah yeah. It changed a lot, honestly because this is the first offseason I’ve had in six years where I don’t know when I have to report back (laughs), so it kinda messes with your head. Usually, we have a schedule where we work up to a certain point to where going right into training camp, you’re ready to go. With this offseason, we don’t know when that’s going to be, so you kinda have to tinker with it a little bit and stay in shape but not be overly in shape where you’ll hit a wall somewhere in the season because you worked out too hard in the summer. I think all of the players are gonna be having this problem and hopefully we can get through it.
Do you think ‘Melo is the toughest player to guard in the league?
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