There's his first cousin, a few years younger than Danny and just out of jail. A place such as Metairie, La., a New Orleans suburb without shade trees and sidewalks, is "a magnet for trouble," Granger said. Trouble found his cousin there. Granger said he thinks he can help him, too. "Money doesn't buy you happiness, but it can help out with a lot of things," Granger said. "I have a cousin that was in jail, went down the wrong track. I can help him so much. I was thinking about having him come live with me so I can get him on the right track. "My grandmother. My aunts and uncles. I have so much family I can help." Most of all, however, there is Granger's father, Danny Granger Sr. The elder Granger, 45, went into business for himself when he was 20. He buys run-down forklifts, reconditions them and sells them at a profit. It has made a nice-enough life for the elder Granger and his three children. The younger Danny says he hasn't missed out on the good life - he has gone scuba diving, horseback riding and skiing. But he hasn't forgotten how hard his father has worked to give him those luxuries. Crawling under forklifts and getting covered in grease, oil and hydraulic fluid is hard, dirty and time-consuming. It has ripped away some of Danny Sr.'s fingernails and left him with the callouses of a ditch digger. If the NBA dollars come, Danny Jr. said, his father's forklift-repairing days are done. "Look at my dad's hands," Granger said. "His fingernail is missing. His hands are all busted up. "He won't work. Oh, no. He won't ever do that again. Us growing up, he worked so hard. He would work from 7 in the morning to, seriously, 9 o'clock at night. If I get drafted, he is definitely not working anymore. "I was always at the shop growing up. I hated it. My dad's work is hard. It's dirty and not pretty at all - under the forklift, grease, cutting up your hands. Basketball is cake compared to what he does." The younger Granger didn't begin playing basketball with the NBA in mind. He began playing because his dad wanted to keep him out of trouble. The elder Granger established some simple but essential rules that neighborhood children had to abide by in order to play on his basketball court. No cursing. No drinking. No smoking. No drugs. Follow the Granger rules, and you were welcome to play on the 60-foot court he built outside his South Cumberland Street house in Metairie. "We have a beautiful home," Granger Sr. said. "But the area is not too good - drugs here, drugs there. So I bought some land and put a goal outside my house. "I could keep an eye on Danny. It all worked out just like I thought. He would come home, do his homework and go right outside playing basketball. I even set up floodlights so he and his friends could play way into the night. And they would play. They would play like there was no tomorrow." That was the beginning of his basketball education. The court went up when Danny Jr. was 8. Playing there helped him build a toughness that served him well when he had to battle through shoulder and knee surgeries in the past year. When he was about 10, Danny Jr. was playing with his dad and other older men. Danny Jr. was fouled hard by one of the men. "He went in the house and started crying," Danny Sr. said. "I told him, 'When you are ready to play with the men, you come back outside.' To his credit, Danny turned right back around and came outside. "I knew he had it in him. The shoulder injury and then the knee injury? I knew he would come back. I knew the toughness that was in him." If the basketball lessons came young, the public relations lessons came earlier. Granger's obvious ease in interacting with fans and media is as central to his popularity as his basketball skills. Plenty of attention comes with being UNM's star player. When the hot lights shine on you and the blinking light of TV cameras comes on, it's easy to blank out. But growing up as a Jehovah's Witness helped Granger train for the spotlight. Answering questions or graciously dealing with requests for autographs is simple compared with field ministry work. Granger went door to door almost every Saturday as a child. He still goes when he can and did so as recently as last month. "It has helped me a lot more than you know," Granger said. "That is really nerve-racking - knocking on the door, not knowing who will answer it and trying to talk to someone about your religion. "Even when we would go to Kingdom Hall, which is what we call church, we would have to speak in front of congregation in order to get better at speaking door to door." Granger's graciousness is perhaps what makes his father most proud. The elder Granger has made almost every game this season - home and away - by flying back and forth from Louisiana. "I've been holding my tongue, because there is little I can tell him now," Granger Sr. said. "I'm elated at how he handles stuff. He's come into his own as a man. I told him that the other day. I've watched him evolve." There's one step left. Danny Sr. has always looked after his oldest son. Now his son wants to take care of him. Granger Jr. doesn't want his dad crawling under forklifts anymore. And that's OK with his dad. Granger Sr. said he would keep his business but leave the dirty work to someone else. "No more hydraulic fluid," Granger Sr. said. "No more hydraulic fluid." | 
