The Indiana Pacers were one of the best teams in the East last season after making it to the Eastern conference finals against the Miami Heat and this year the club is expected to be even better after retaining David West and trading for Luis Scola and heading into training camp they will try to fill out the roster and one option will be Ron Howard and Danny Granger is on track to be back as well.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, Frank Vogel said that Danny Granger is on schedule to return after missing basically all last season with knee issues. The Pacers will have Howard in training camp with the veterans and will have a chance to play for a spot on the tea, after starring in the D-League. The report says that Howard previously played for the Indiana Pacers affiliate in the Developmental League team the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and is a long-time veteran for the team. Howard put up very solid numbers while playing the d-league, averaging 19.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists last year and he has been playing since trying out in 2007.
Howard has been to NBA camps before with the Bucks and the Knicks and this could be his first chance to actually make it on an NBA roster, as the Pacers have 13 guaranteed players currently with two spots left open. While Howard has been solid in the NBA D-League, that is no guarantee he will make the team, but if he shows head coach Frank Vogel that he can bring an element to the team, there is a chance he could be an end of the bench player.
In some other Pacers news, George Hill said on Tuesday to TMZ Sports that while he may have messed up his chance to play for the USA Basketball team after withdrawing soon after being added to the roster, he didn't want to miss his youth basketball camp. Hill was invited to play for head coach Mike Krzyzewski at the USA minicamp that was in Vegas earlier this summer, but after coming in for Kawhi Leonard, he decided to back out and said it was because of scheduling with his basketball camp. He said to TMZ that if he could help one kid that was more important that USA Basketball, which sounds like he's not really into coming back in the future anyway.
Hill played well for the Pacers last season in the playoffs and down the stretch in the regular season, averaging 14.2 points per game. "I probably messed up my chances, but if I can impact one kid's life ... that's way more important than the USA basketball team." said Hill talking to TMZ Sports at Venice Beach on "Ron Beals Day."