Danny Granger

Granger will spend his 10th season in the league playing for the Heat. He managed to spend time with three franchises last season (Pacers, Clippers, and Sixers) but will likely be an integral piece off the bench for the transitional Heat team. Last season, the pride of the University of New Mexico averaged 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.4 blocks, and 1.1 three-pointers in 21 minutes per game. The 31-year-old still hasn't fully redeemed himself from the career-stunting knee injury that he suffered back in the 2012-13 season and will look to carve out a defined role on the Heat as a wing three-point threat. He'll come onto the court in relief of either Dwyane Wade or Luol Deng and should be comparable to Mike Miller or Ray Allen's previous roles on the team, albeit with a little more pep in his step and offensive and defensive flexibility. While the best days of Granger's career are almost certainly behind him, the current Miami depth chart denotes that he'll be a significant part of the rotation while receiving an abundant amount of three-point opportunities.

All the news coming out of the organization is that Granger (knee) looks great, and while he may not be the same player in 2013-14 as he was in his prime, he will still bring a lot of things to the table that are enticing from a fantasy perspective. He has averaged 2.0-plus three-pointers in each of his last five full seasons dating back to 2007-08, and it's even possible that we could see him touch his career high (2.7 per game in 2008-09) in that category. The added emphasis that's been placed on the long ball over the past two seasons in the NBA and the current construction of the Pacers both point to a big year for the 30-year-old wing man in that category. Paul George has ascended to the leader of the team, both on offense and defense, which will leave Granger free to spot up on the wings and in the corners for a lot of open looks. In addition to being a good shooter from distance (38 percent for his career), Granger is also a career 85 percent free-throw shooter, which gives him sneaky added value in category leagues. He will be a health risk, considering his knee injury was so severe that he debuted in late-February of last season, and was shut down again in early-March, but he should come at enough of a discount that he'll be worth a flier.

Granger has seen his numbers steadily decline each of the past three seasons, but he was still a top-10 small forward in 2011-12. That said, the writing is on the wall that Paul George and Roy Hibbert are the future in Indiana, and Granger very well may see his stats decline once again this season. Granger doesn’t get to the line as much as he once did, but he still makes plenty of three-pointers, finishing ninth in the NBA in threes made last season. His defensive stats are no longer above average. Granger finished with a career low 0.6 blocks per game last season, and his 1.0 steals per game were his worst average since the 2006-07 season. He’s still a valuable player in fantasy, just make sure your expectations are somewhat tempered.

After failing to exceed 67 games in either of his previous two seasons, Granger remained healthy for all of last year, playing in 79 games and averaging 20.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 three-pointers, 1.1 steals, 0.8 blocks and 2.6 turnovers. Granger’s scoring took a slight dip as his minutes were reduced, and the Pacers ran fewer plays for him while getting center Roy Hibbert more involved in the offense. With coach Frank Vogel shedding his interim title, it’s possible Granger’s offensive stats could take another small dip this year – after Vogel took over the coaching reins last season, Granger’s minutes dropped from nearly 36 per game to 32. But it might not be a coincidence that Granger finally stayed healthy when carrying a lesser load, and even in 32 minutes, he has the talent to be a highly productive fantasy asset across the board.

If you've owned Granger at any point over the past couple years, you know how frustrating he can be. It's not his on-court performance that's the problem – to the contrary, he's one of the top five or six best fantasy performers when he's playing. No, the problem with Granger has been his inability to last for anything like a full 82-game season. After a breakout 2007-08 campaign, during which he took the reins from Jermaine O'Neal to become, verifiably, The Man in Indiana, Granger has played only 67 and 62 games, respectively, over the past two seasons. That may not seem like a huge problem, but for those owners who've taken him (very reasonably) as a first round pick, the impact is less than ideal. For that reason, Granger is probably most safely regarded as someone who'll deliver first round production for 65-70 games and then force his owners to scour the waiver in search of something above replacement-level talent for the other 15 or so. In terms of his on-court value, one of Granger's obvious strengths is his scoring, as he's averaged just about 25 points per game over the last two years. With Indiana's second-leading scorer Troy Murphy's offseason departure for New Jersey, there's little reason to believe that Granger's scoring will do anything but remain static or, possibly, even increase. But beyond the points, the real thing that separates Granger from the pack is his three-point shooting. Granger has averaged about 2.6 threes per game, which places him atop the charts in that particular category.

Granger made the leap to fantasy stardom last season, exploding into the top-five in scoring (25.8 ppg) while also adding about five boards, three assists, a steal, and more than a block per game. A large small forward at 6-9 and almost 230 pounds, Granger uses that size to his advantage with a nice midrange-and-in game on offense. He‘s able to post up smaller wings, and he’s also comfortable facing up and knocking in jumpers over slower defenders. But what really took his game to the next level was a mastery of the three-point shot, as he was among the league leaders in threes made (182). Much like Shawn Marion of a few years ago, Granger’s roto value far outstrips his casual name recognition, which means that there’s a good chance he’ll be a good value in the middle of the first round. The only negative for Granger last season was 15 games missed due to injury, but he had averaged 80 games per season in his first three years. Granger has improved markedly in each of his first four NBA seasons, and as the centerpiece of the Pacers’ run-and-gun offense he should continue to produce big numbers moving forward.

With the trade of Jermaine O’Neal, the transition is complete. The Indiana Pacers are now, officially, Granger’s team. A powerfully-built wing forward that’s equally comfortable facing up or playing with his back to the basket, Granger is well-suited to Jim O’Brien’s system, which places a premium on tough defense and a fast pace on offense – with lots of threes. In his first season playing for O’Brien, Granger posted career-best numbers in nearly every standard roto category, with 19.1 points, 6.1 boards, 2.3 combined blocks/steals and 2.1 made threes per game. This season, we’re anticipating even bigger things from Granger. With O’Neal out of the mix, Granger is the unquestioned number one option… and with the addition of a pure point guard – and one of the quickest players in the league – in T.J. Ford, Indiana should be able to push the pace even more effectively and create higher-percentage shots.

Granger was a big beneficiary of the trade sending Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson to the Warriors, as he averaged four more minutes per game, roughly 1.5 more shots per game and 1.7 points per game after the deal. The Pacers will continue to build around Granger, especially if they trade O'Neal as part of their overhaul. Granger, who made 110 three-pointers last season, is tailor-made for new coach Jim O'Brien's system. The one defect in his game is his lack of rebounding - at 6-9, he should be pulling down more than 4.6 boards per game like he did last year. Still, he's the one Pacer clearly on the rise - get him now before he starts to get expensive in your league.

In theory, this is the year we should see a bit of a breakout from Granger, who really came on strong over the second half of his rookie season, but playing time might be a problem for him. The Pacers went out on brought in Al Harrington to start over him, and Marquis Daniels to replace Austin Croshere. Daniels is a more versatile player who represents a greater threat to his playing time. On his merits, Granger is the type of player that could produce across the board, contributing in terms of scoring, rebounding, and most importantly, helping out in steals and blocks. If he could somehow be guaranteed 30-35 minutes of playing time, he'd be a nice late-round sleeper. As it currently stands, he'll probably only get 20-25 minutes.

Granger, the Pacers' first round draft pick out of New Mexico, is a classic swingman - he's quick enough to create his own shot, and big enough to be able to defend most small forwards. A knee injury suffered during his senior year and the Pacers' ridiculous depth could limit his playing time in his rookie season.

Granger is a versatile big man with long arms and a good shooting stroke. He can knock down the three ball and also get his share of rebounds. Granger is a superb defender who can guard both forwards and guards but will likely play the three in the pros. Granger projects to be a mid lottery pick.