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Granger expresses confidence in knee, little concern about calf strain

Danny Granger may not be ready to start the regular season due to a calf strain, but after seeing him discuss his health, the injury doesn't appear to be a long-term concern.

By Tom Lewis
Marc Serota

Reports from the Fieldhouse earlier today had Frank Vogel breaking the news the Danny Granger is still struggling with a calf strain and likely wouldn't be ready for the start of the regular season.

As Mark Montieth wrote for Pacers.com, Granger's calf strain puts his current status in doubt since he won't be in the starting lineup on opening night. But after reading Mark's story, check out the two video clips with Granger speaking after practice and then Vogel making his comments. The tone of the news appears much different after hearing both speak.

For starters, Vogel was dancing and prancing around the news and didn't want to make any declarations about Granger's future, even leaving open the chance that he could play on Tuesday, although don't put your paycheck on that possibility.

More telling were Granger's comments which for starters, showed he was taking part in practice, reportedly doing some drills with ball handling and shooting but not any straight-line running. Granger talked more about his knee and how well it held up through camp than he did about his current calf strain. In fact, he seemed to dismiss the importance completely, referring to it as a muscle strain.

So from this we can take that neither the Pacers nor Granger are concerned about his latest "setback" in the long term. Granger certainly would rather be ready to go at the end of the season than the beginning, so he can remain patient at this time of year with the big picture in mind. Believe me, if this latest injury was more problematic or had anything to do with the knee, Granger would've been long gone when the media showed up and certainly wouldn't have addressed the topic head on, as he does in this video.

I wouldn't go so far as to say all of this is good news, but as bad news goes, the latest reports on Granger could be much worse.

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