We don’t need to tell you the Pacers are doing just fine without Danny Granger — they have the best record in the NBA (19-3) and knocked off the Miami Heat this week.
Yet with Granger, they either will improve or they will have a potential trade piece to shop around at the deadline (or both).
Granger originally said he expected to make his season debut for the Pacers this Friday, but now those plans have changed as he doesn’t feel ready, reports Scott Agnes of Pacers.com.“I don’t like where I’m at with my timing and my rhythm and obviously my conditioning,” he said. “…I don’t feel like I’m ready yet. I dribbled the ball off my foot a couple times and just things where you haven’t [been] playing. Lost the ball in transition on a pass. My rhythm isn’t there yet.
“By all means, I could physically play, easily. Like I said, it’s more of a rhythm thing. When you’re playing at those type of speeds, you have to do it for a while to get used to doing it again.”
We’ve heard this same thing from other players lately — they don’t want to get on the court and not feel like they can do the things they expect to do. Still, as we have seen with both Derrick Rose (before the second injury) and Kobe Bryant there still is some rust you can’t shake off in practice.
After the Friday game against Charlotte the Pacers are off for the weekend, then face the Pistons on Monday before traveling to Miami for a rematch on Wednesday. A week from Friday the Houston Rockets come to Indiana.
