Holy crap it’s Danny Granger’s knee!

Van Wafer can't bear to see his dunk stuffed by All-Star Danny Granger

 Before we all start dancing in the streets over Danny Granger’s somewhat expected All-Star reserve selection (yay!), the news is that Danny’s been suffering from a nagging knee injury (which caused him to miss the last game against Milwaukee and makes him uncertain for the next game against Miami).

Apparently, the knee has been bothering him for a while, bad enough to cause him to miss workouts during the summer.  He also says he’s been icing the knee during timeouts as of late.  This might explain why his shooting has been off for quite a few games now.

This is enough to shoot a chill down the spines of all Pacers fans (and Granger fantasy owners).  So far, Granger’s been the only bright spot in this lackluster season.  And if he’s going to miss any significant amount of time, the Pacers might as well start looking at the top 5 picks for next year’s draft.

It seems Pacer players have a tendency to get injured more than other teams (or am I being too sensitive here?).  As of today, Jarrett Jack has been the only Pacer to play in all 46 games of the season.  Granger, Ford, Daniels, Murphy, Nesterovic and of couse Dunleavy have all missed a few games here and there.  And if we go back a bit in time, you have chronic injuries to Jermaine O’Neal (which led to his departure) and Jamaal Tinsley (what’s going on with him, by the way?).

Remember that other hugely talented player the Pacers drafted, Jonathan Bender?  He’s doing great things with his life now, but the Pacers can only wonder what type of player he could have been.  Let’s pray this knee injury is not serious or long-term.

PS: Has anyone seen the Pacers’ website?  It’s like Danny Granger’s been elected President.  Within hours of the announcement, we’ve got interviews, videos, pictures, wallpapers – even an extra front page – all dedicated to Granger’s All-Star selection.  They even had a dig at former Pacer legend Reggie Miller for suggesting that players on losing teams should get less recognition.