RealGM

Hey, i've never really seen him play that much, but what i have seen he was a pretty good play maker, could hit his shots, and had a good flow to the game.

A lot of people said hes a soft jump shooter, and that's what got me confused. Because, the games i've seen him play he didn't seem soft at all, and actually looked like he had some grit to him.

Then I checked his career stats on his player profile, and saw that hes usually had an average of 15 ppg 5 rpg and 3.5 apg. Then, when he came to Min his scoring went dramatically down, why is that?

So, if you guys could just give a little scouting report to just cover most of his game. Like, how does he usually score, how is he on defense, does he play with any grit, what are the pros and cons of his game, etc.

Please and Thank you.

Having not seen Miller play much prior to him joining the Wolves, my first inclination was to compare him to Wally Szczerbiak: great shooting percentages, poor defense, 3rd-option, etc. While those things are true, he's a completely different kind of player. Miller is not a good defender, but I certainly wouldn't label him soft. He's definitely not a straight jump-shooter, either. He is very active on offense, and is a good ball-handler/distributor.

When he was first acquired, I remember him saying in interviews that he wouldn't need to be relied upon as was of the main scoring options and that he would concentrate more on facilitating the offense, rebounding, and passing. However, when Al Jefferson and other players were injured and the team needed him to score, he never got out of that original mindset. He accomplished what he set out to do at the beginning of the season, but I think his desire to "fit in" wasn't always in the best interest of the team.

Watching Mike Miller a trained eye will notice that he has long hair. He is tall, even for a human male. He inhales and exhales the oxygen in the air but when he exerts himself he seems to do this more rapidly. When he gets the ball in his hands he does something with it. When he is on the court you can rest assured that he will stay there until called to sit down, this is a great asset because a player leaving the court mid game would be disastrous.

He speaks fluent English so he doesn't have any trouble understanding commands. He can see with his eyes which is an attribute found in the best of NBA players. Unfortunately he cannot seem to read minds so he is limited in his capacity to know what the other team is doing, at his age, it is unlikely he will ever develop this ability.

#1 rebounding guard in the NBA
Top 10 in the league in 2-point percentage
Ankle injuries early in the season
3-point percentage dipped this year, but FG% up 20 points
6' 8" size gives him a mismatch against some SG's
Incredible work-ethic
Team player. He'll play 2, 3, or even come off the bench.
Almost too unselfish (low FGA's)
Super-generalist

calinks, i had to log in just to thank you for the humorous post.

mchalupnik2 wrote:calinks, i had to log in just to thank you for the humorous post.

I think Calinks won the thread.

... I think his bleached new hair may change his game:

http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/article ... fm?id=6059

I wonder if he has any friends or a girlfriend/wife that let's him know he looks ridiculous, and he just ignores them? Or maybe he lacks friends?

He's got a wife - maybe she's doing it to him. But, yeah, it's intervention time. Mike: just cut your **** hair.

shrink wrote:Almost too unselfish (low FGA's)

Almost was removed from that long ago.

Calinks3 wrote:He inhales and exhales the oxygen in the air

So that's what I've been doing wrong, exhaling Carbon Dioxide all these years. No wonder I didn't make the NBA.

What the hell is up with the cleached hair!?! Come on Mike! Is he trying to be Hulk Hogan? Going Super Saiyan? What's the deal? Goodness man, you guys are right, intervention time. Next thing you know he will show up to training camp with wearing white face powder and a big red nose.

deeney0 wrote:

shrink wrote:Almost too unselfish (low FGA's)

Almost was removed from that long ago.

Yup. Miller almost killed my favorite Wolves blogger this year:

http://www.secretsofthecity.com/magazine/blogs/ball

Search Robson's blog for entries on Mike Miller... he puts it far better than I could have. To me Miller is the most frustrating Wolf since JR Rider, an obviously talented player who won't do what would most help the team. Shrink, I love you but your stats on Miller miss the point entirely - he's got an all-around game, but what the Wolves needed was for him to shoot, and he spent the entire season refusing to do so.

Robson claims hilariously at one point that Miller and Telfair must have switched bodies, with all the passing Miller did (post-Jefferson injury) and all the shooting Telfair did. Maybe Miller would be different on a veteran team (I can't imagine LeBron or Kobe letting him pass up open shots to barrel into the lane like he did four times a game for the Wolves this year) but he was frustrating, at best, for the Wolves.

I said "almost" too unselfish because his not shooting was a minus, but his passing was a plus. At times, MIN didn't have anyone to initiate offense, and while Miller wasn't good at it, he had a better chance than any other player with the possible exception of Telfair. Lots of players in the NBA can shoot. Who's going to get anything out of an athletic, but low-skill guy like Carney, if you don't have someone setting him up?

Anyway, I think you guys missed the point. The guy asked for a scouting report. While I dribbled back and forth across the line between scouting report and season recap, I was thinking about where he'd help at the time I wrote that line. His unselfishness might be an asset on a team like WAS or LAL, or somewhere else with a lot of scoring options. However, I think he might even be almost too unselfish for them as well.

Dang it -- now you guys got me pondering, and I so hate to be ponderous.

MIN was a rebuilding team last year. What would help this team more? Miller shooting more, or Miller passing to young players more?

Passing to the young guns.

This is a basketball team. Especially after three disastrous years, they really need to be trying to win now. Teams younger than the Wolves have made the playoffs. What would have helped the team most was Miller doing what it would take to win basketball games. That would require shooting quite a bit more than he did.

shrink wrote:Dang it -- now you guys got me pondering, and I so hate to be ponderous.

MIN was a rebuilding team last year. What would help this team more? Miller shooting more, or Miller passing to young players more?

Pondosity is one of your specialties, shrink.

To answer your question, they won 24 games, so I think you're talking "help" to the team in terms of development. Miller was brought in to shoot, to open space for young players (Foye and Telfair on the drive, Jefferson, Smith and Love down low.) Instead, he spent an inordinate amount of time "initiating" offense - driving the ball into the lane when an outside shot was available.

If the Wolves wanted to make the strategic decision to make Miller the point guard (bringing the ball up and actually starting the offense), I'd be fine with that. I'd actually welcome a run at that alignment because you could play Foye as the point guard on defense, off guard on offense. That would require a real stopper at the other wing spot, but Brewer and Carney will most likely be available at the start of next season... a lineup like:

Brewer
Love
Jefferson
Miller
Foye

... with Miller at the point is worth a thought, anyway.

My problem with Miller's play as a Wolf thus far is that he was not the point guard this year - Foye was, then Telfair. The team needed Miller to score, to finish plays and take shots within the offense. He continually, absurdly, refused to do so. Developing young players, in that position, means playing your role, not making complicated plays when simple ones (like SHOOTING AN OPEN SHOT!) have a better result anyway.

I just realized we don't really have much for young guns that would be considered shooters.

Love gets his without the offense running directly through him, so he's fine. So yeah, Miller, shoot em up, son!