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Sports Goodbye, Johnny Lobos Conquer MWC, Set Sights on the NCAA Some Ex Lobos Put the ‘New Mexico’ in N.M. Games ‘He’s Going To Do What It Takes’ |
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Granger's Dad Had a Hunch
Journal Staff and Wires
Sitelines: Weekly nuggets from around the Web about New Mexico athletes, and the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences.
The Washington Post on Saturday published an in-depth feature on former Lobo Danny Granger, who will compete in today's NBA All-Star game.
Wrote the Post's Michael Lee:
The summer before his senior season, Granger earned $10 an hour, five hours a day, four days a week, working at an Albuquerque racetrack, getting quarter horses to the starting gate and cleaning the track. He had been working at that job since he arrived in Albuquerque because Bradley (University) refused to release him from his scholarship, forcing him to pay for his first year at New Mexico.
When Danny's father found out that he was still spending his summers at the horse track instead of working out at the gym, he immediately went to the bank, withdrew $5,000 and flew to New Mexico. "I said, 'You have NBA potential, you don't need to be picking up manure, you need to be in the gym,'" Danny Sr. recalled. "That's the kind of stock that I had in Danny."
Granger quit his job and hit the gym. And coach Ritchie McKay eventually persuaded Granger to attend longtime NBA assistant Tim Grgurich's camp for NBA and college players in Las Vegas. His father tagged along and was awestruck by NBA stars such as Jermaine O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace and Paul Pierce and coaches such as George Karl and Rick Carlisle. While Granger was slowly building his confidence, his father was seeking autographs.
Near the end of the camp, Granger spotted him and told him to put away the pen and pad. "You don't need to get their autographs," he told his father. "I can handle this. I'm going to be a star."
Granger certainly proved capable of fulfilling that promise, as evidenced by his first all-star selection in this, just his fourth year in the NBA.
More than a few publications have been down on the performance last season of former Lobo football star and Lovington native Brian Urlacher.
The Chicago Sports Review chimed in this week on whether the linebacker will be healthy enough to be effective full time during the 2009 season:
"Can Brian Urlacher play every down even after having off-season back surgery?"
Seattle Weekly reported this past week on the Albuquerque Thunderbirds' star guard, Will Conroy. The NBADL's leading scorer won the league's H.O.R.S.E. competition Friday night and played in his second All-Star game on Saturday night.
Here's what Seattle Weekly wrote:
"Brandon Roy won't be the only University of Washington and Garfield High alumnus involved in the NBA's All-Star festivities this weekend in Phoenix. Will Conroy, his former teammate at both schools, will be there too, starting in the NBDL All-Star game.
Conroy, a 6'2" point guard who's had a couple cups of coffee in the NBA, plays for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, the Developmental League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. This year, Conroy arguably has been the NBDL's best player, leading the league in scoring at 25.8 ppg while ranking fourth in assists."
— Sam Aselstine
See a good story with local ties on the Web? E-mail the link to saselstine@abqjournal.com
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