The Indiana Pacers played a tough and valiant series against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals after getting past the New York Knicks in the playoffs and the team made great strides from last season even while playing without star Danny Granger.
Granger missed basically the whole season while dealing with knee injuries and played in just five games, leaving Lance Stephenson to improve mightily and the team had its best season in years while making it to the Eastern conference finals. Granger will be coming back from two serious knee injuries and while he said that he expects to be in the starting lineup when next season picks up, head coach Frank Vogel responded that he "probably" will, which isn't always a ringing endorsement.
Vogel is the perfect coach for the Pacers and he will figure out what is best for his team, but after the way the team played this season, he could see Granger as someone who may come off the bench more. There were times that it seemed the Pacers desperately needed a scorer like Granger, including in the Game matchup against the Heat, but the team played so well at times that Vogel may not want to mess with that. Stephenson played well in the playoffs and for most of the season and according to the Indianapolis Star, Vogel said that he wants to see how Granger returns from the injury before deciding on what to do, especially with the way Stephenson played.
Granger is getting older and with his knees looking like problems just waiting to happen, the Pacers need to be ready for the possibility that he won't be 100 percent when he returns and clearly Vogel is ready for that with Stephenson. Vogel has the cache to make a decision like that after getting to the Eastern conference finals and possibly for the beginning of the season, Granger may come off the bench.
