Pacers' Granger remains true to his family values

	Considered by some to be the anti-Ron Artest, rookie Danny Granger has been a willing pupil of the Pacers' mercurial star. Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images

Danny Granger comes from stock. You know stock. It's parents, grandparents, maybe even great-grand folk, who worked and toiled, and toiled and worked, often at more than one job so that one of their descendants, one new branch on the family tree, would have it better. It's an elder whose eyes reveal every sacrifice, whose wrinkled hands convey every pain.

Johnny and Angelina Granger, Danny's grandparents, are stock. For three decades, Johnny rode the back of a garbage truck in Woodville, Miss., doing the best he could with only a second grade education. Angelina served lunch to public school kids.

Their son, Danny Granger Sr., is also stock. To support his family in New Orleans, he bought broken down forklifts, took them apart with his hands, repaired them and then sold them for a little extra piece of change. He did that day and night, bathing in black grease, yet still helped raise three kids--even after a divorce--including Danny Jr., the middle child.

Daddy Sr.'s hands are no longer stained and slippery. His oldest child, a daughter, is a computer engineer in Phoenix. His youngest son attends the Berkeley School of Music in Boston. The middle child is Ron Artest's playmate. He's a rookie small forward for the Indiana Pacers, and a reminder that God, indeed, has a sense of humor.

You won't likely hear much about Danny Jr. In three games, he's averaging about 11 minutes, 4.3 points and three boards. What you might hear is that he's the anti-Ron Artest, a young man whose focus is family and faith, and whose only reason for going into the stands would be to share his beliefs with fans or a hot-dog vendor. The Grangers are Jehovah's Witnesses.

Danny Sr., 48, lives with his middle son now; displaced like thousands of others by the hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast. The two men share an apartment in Indianapolis. No more grease. "He just wants to watch me play, "says Danny Jr. "He's so proud of all his kids."

Though his parents are divorced, Danny Jr. says their faith -- now his -- overshadowed any complications and challenges. "The way I was raised taught me a lot of values," he says. "How to treat people, how to handle people, how to be grateful. Humble. It's a blessing to be that way. In life, you have to be grateful."