What If Scenario 1: Danny Granger

As you know thejnotes.com is a big supporter of David Locke and his morning tip-off show.  On the September 10th tip-off show David wanted to go through some “what if” scenarios with every one of us as far as if the Jazz had made moves at a different time then this past off-season.  This morning David brought up some Danny Granger stats comparing his first couple seasons to Gordon Hayward and his progression.  I can remember some Danny Granger rumors circulating during the trade deadline last season due to the rise of Paul George and the Pacers not wanting Granger to come back from injury and throw off the teams chemistry.  Let’s go over what could have happened to make this deal work and try to project the best we can where the Jazz would be if they had pulled the trigger on this.

The Deal

The Indiana Pacers weren’t going to give Danny Granger away for nothing and we don’t know how interested they really were in moving him in the first place.  Taking a guess the Pacers were most likely shopping him as a super star caliber player and in turn would want a proven player that could help them win in the short turn as well as something that can help their future.  Last season the Jazz may have had a package they could have put together for the Pacers.  The Jazz would most likely needed to put a package together of Al Jefferson/Paul Millsap and a young piece as well whether it was Gordon Hayward/Alec Burks or a draft pick.  The Jazz aren’t interested in moving Gordon Hayward and that may have been why a deal wouldn’t have worked.  Without getting too deep into the money and other players being involved to make it work lets say the core of the trade had the Jazz giving up Paul Millsap, Alec Burks and their 2013 14th pick for Danny Granger.

This deal if somehow got done it makes quite a bit of sense for the Pacers.  The Pacers get Paul Millsap to help them try to win the East as well as Alec Burks and a draft pick for the future.  The Jazz on the other hand get a proven all-star caliber player who is injured and seemingly takes them out of the playoff race they were in.  Looking back and knowing we didn’t make the playoffs it may seem like we didn’t get up that much for him but we also do know if we made this trade we wouldn’t have been able to make the trade on draft day to get Trey Burke.

Where The Jazz would be

Pulling the trigger on this deal puts the Jazz in a completely different situation then they are in now.  Granger would be coming off injury and there would be questions surrounding him wondering if he can return to the form he was before the injury.  The Jazz are thin at Point Guard as the free agent market didn’t have a lot of options.  The Jazz probably would have drafted a rookie Point Guard with the 21st pick and resigned Mo Williams to a 1 or 2 year deal.  Favors would have got half of a season in the starting line up and had a little more experience coming into this season.  We most likely still let Jefferson walk as we will now rely on Granger to take on the scoring load.  The Jazz on paper may look better to the media then the current roster we have but are we fighting for a top 4 seed in the Western Conference?  Probably not.

This move in my opinion would keep this team fighting for the bottom seed in the playoffs while in the mean time we lost assets in acquiring Granger.  The Jazz take the risk of being burned on this trade as well if Granger comes back and isn’t able to produce like he was prior to the injury.  Mo Williams was not the point guard of the future and so we still are looking for a point guard to fill that.  I personally really like Danny Granger as a player and think he’s a bit underrated but the assets and position this trade would have put the Jazz in to me wasn’t worth it.  The plan the Jazz executed and where the team stands now I think has a brighter future then they would have if they would have taken this route.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on this trade scenario and if you think this would be a good or bad trade for the Jazz?  Feel free to comment below or send your thoughts over twitter to @purpleandbules1.