Danny Granger was an All-Star and the winner of the NBA Most Improved Player Award last year for the Indiana Pacers, but a heel injury has set the Pacers’ star back this season.  After missing over a month for the Pacers due to his heel injury, Granger returned January 8th and is still trying to get his consistency back.  Granger was able to put together some good games against the Raptors, Suns and Nets (all wins) but his shot has not been as consistent as it was for him last year and earlier this season.  Since his return, Granger has played in 7 games in which he has shot 37.% from the field.  In the Pacers most recent game, a blowout loss to the Heat, Granger had only 8 points on 2-16 shooting.  Granger is the Pacers’ best player by far, and he is really going to need to get himself out of this funk or they will continue to struggle.

The Pacers are expecting more out of 24-year old SG Brandon Rush. He has played in 41 games (23 starts) this season for the Pacers and he is averaging 27.6 minutes, 7.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Rush needs to improve his shooting before the Pacers even think of giving him more minutes. He is only shooting 40% from the floor and 56.4% from the free throw line and that is just not acceptable for a shooting guard at the NBA level.

Shooting guard Reggie Miller has parlayed his success as a player into a announcing job in the NBA. He played in 1,389 games (1,307 starts) for the Indiana Pacers and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 18.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Miller also shot 39.5% from three point range in his career which is pretty impressive. Miller is the all-time leader in Pacers’ history in games played (1,389), minutes played (47,619), points scored (25,279), three point shots made (2,560), assists (4,141) and steals (1,505). He also is ninth in team history with 4,182 rebounds. Miller was never shy about taking the big shot and he made more of them than he missed in his time with the Pacers.

Rumors are swirling that the Pacers might trade starting power forward Troy Murphy in the next month. To borrow a line from Lee Corso I would say, “Not so fast my friend”. Murphy has played in 26 games (24 starts) this season for the Pacers and he is averaging 31.3 minutes, 14.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Murphy is not only a great rebounder but he’s a good shooter from everywhere on the basketball court. He is hitting 50.2% of his shots from the floor, 40.7% from three point range and 80.4% from the free throw line this year. The Pacers will have a very hard time replacing Troy Murphy if they do indeed trade him because he is a very solid all-around player.

The rookies of the Indiana Pacers have a ton of talent but neither of them are shooting too well. Tyler Hansbrough has really played pretty well despite only shooting 36.5% from the floor so far this season. He has played in 25 games (0 starts) this season for the Pacers and he is averaging 19.0 minutes, 9.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. If Hansbrough can improve his shooting he will definitely be a starting forward down the road for the Pacers. Point guard A.J. Price is also going to start getting more playing time with T.J. Ford in the Dog House. Price has played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Pacers this season and he is averaging 9.7 minutes, 4.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. He is only shooting 37.9% from the floor and 28.6% from three point range this season and he will have to do better than that if he wants to get a lot of playing time down the road for the Pacers.

I don’t know what the Pacers are thinking as they are starting to play Earl Watson more than T.J. Ford. If the Pacers decide that they don’t want to start Ford then they should just trade him because it’s a sin to leave the better player coming off the bench. There is little doubt that Ford is a better basketball player than Watson is. Ford has played in 31 games (25 starts) this season for the Pacers and he is averaging 24.9 minutes, 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. It’s no wonder that the Pacers are awful this season as they just have not figured out that they should get the best players on the court.