PG food for thought

[PHILLYLOVE]

For so long I have found it hard to root for Andre Miller, because for awhile it was tough to not think of him as a lame duck pg here. I felt like he could go at any moment and there was no reason to like him or care for him.
I still don't love Andre Miller, but I respect what he's done for this team. Eventhough he shoots more than I'd like at times and doesn't rack up assists, he has done a lot for developing this team of athletic slashers.
Here's where my food for thought comes in. I don't know if I want Miller here for the future, but I am scared if we hand the reigns over to Lou as the PG. Lou does a lot of things that remind me of AI. Is he as good as AI....no, but he is AI-like at times and I remember watching the sixers with AI and getting dissapointed at times because AI would do this thing while everyone else just watched. Now i'm not saying that's goign to happen with Lou definitely, but it's a possibility if he doesn't develop more PG skills. I think Lou's role should be as our combo guard off the bench who scores in bunches.

I think the PG position is almost as important for us this summer as the PF position. If we are not gonna go with Miller for the future, we need to think about our future PG possibly in this year's draft. I say this because this could be an underratededly excellent PG draft.
Rose, Bayless, Augustin, Collison, Lawson, Price...all could be 1st rounders. I am going to eliminate Rose and Bayless because for Rose i dont think we will pick high enough and for bayless, i dont think he's right for this team (score first pg with questionable floor general abilitY)

That leaves us with augustin, collison, lawson, and price. i don't love all four of the guys, but they are all great fits for this team.
All four are very fast which is great for a potential running team like us. all four are young so we keep millerh ere for another year or maybe til the deadline and let whichever we take slowly crack the rotation. and all four i believe have AS potential and potential to be a better pure pg than lou.

if you guys think this is too early than lock it, but i just got very excited when thinking about our future pg and how great of a situation we would be in bringing htem up the RIGHT way.

[bebopdeluxe]

If you watched the game Saturday night, what did you see in Andre Miller's game that suggests than he cannot play at this level for the next 3-4 years?

The Sixers virtualy lead the NBA in fast-break points, and who is the PG of our team?

Andre Miller.

I guess that I would be much more open to these discussions about getting rid of Miller if you could point out specific concerns about his game, and his ability to continue to play at close to this level for at least the next 3-4 years. He's NEVER been hurt (he's only missed 3 games in 9 years). Blinding speed is not essential to the success of his game...if he lost a step, he could still be an effective PG (something that you perhaps could not say about other PG's in the league).

Can you please explain to me - with substantive examples of Milller's game and what you see - why you think Miller's game is just going to fall apart over the next couple of years, and he will no longer be able to be an effective, efficient PG in this league?

[Skates]

I love the way Andre Miller plays on offense, he makes this team go. I do have a problem with him as the team gets better and its because of his defense. He has literally no ability to stay in front of a good PG due to his lack of lateral quickness, it's one of the reasons he has never been considered a first tier PG in this league. Remember when we played a bunch of good PG's like Deron Williams earlier in the year, guys were setting personal and team records for numbers of assists. Miller is a good team defender, but straight-up man D gives him lots of problems.

The dribble penetration he allows is one of the things that contributes to all the open threes this team gives up. Louis Williams is much quicker, but not much not much better, and possibly worse, at man to man D. Again, a guy who plays the passing lanes well, but he lacks on-ball defensive instincts and physical strength.

Miller's defensive problems don't seem like a big deal now, but if this team gets better and some of our other obvious flaws disappear it will be magnified. One possibility if we want to keep Miller long-term is to look for a back-up PG with better defensive skills. Kyle Lowry is a guy that interests me for this reason. This year's crop of PG's in the draft is none too impressive after Derrick Rose is off the board.

[phillyborn_jacksonite]

i have said it from thebeginning of the year that i am very happy with what he brings to the court for our sixers.

oh by the way, he needs to shoot alot on this team. Willie has been stepping up recently, but until we get a "real" starter at the 2 and 4 spots Miller will continue to shoot when we are dragging.

He only takes over when he senses that we need it. Quite the contrary to AI(god bless him) AI would just plain take over, period. At time he was brilliant and at times it was well bothersome to see his teammate disinterested. Don't confuse Andre Miller's willingness to shoot with a need to shoot. He only does it when we need it.

He had probably his one and only bad game all year against Baron Davis who is big enough to negate Millers post game but then he goes out and completely destroys the Suns.

I personally would like to extend him for 3 more years and point to BeBop's points about durability, playing style, and leadership as justifications for such an extension. That is if he'll sign with us.

You know what, I love his interviews. they are SOOO cliche and bland you can tell all he cares about is playing basketball and making his teammates successful. You can see that he has a distaste for everything media related with the NBA and just gives the interviews becasue he is supposed to. Its pretty funny.

Last time we had point guard of this caliber was ... well it was Mo Cheeks.. So with that in mind you don't let him go.

[bebopdeluxe]

Skates:

I have heard that criticism about Miller's D - his lateral quickness and all - but I though he did a pretty good job on DWade when they left him out on an island in the guts of the game a week or so ago...Miller had Wade straight-up...the Heat iso'ed him at the top of the key...and Wade didn't do very much. Same thing on Saturday night against Nash.

I give you that against the elite offensive PG's in the league, his lack of lateral quicks will be something that the Sixers D will have to try and accomodate, but Miller isn't the first guy that Wiliams, Davis or Paul will bust up...and he won't be the last.

[PHILLYLOVE]

To bebopdeluxe's post:
this discussion was never about getting rid of Miller.
And i never said he cannot play at this level for the next 3-4 years.
In fact he can. which is why i don't think he will be here after his contract expires. A good team that is a PG away from being a champ contender will offer Miller a big contract and I think the money he is offered will be too much for us to match.

To phillyborn_jacksonite's post:
On Andre shooting too much. I agree that he takes over when he has to and doesn't do what AI did, but i was never comparing him to AI. I just can't applaud a PG when they bring the ball up and shoot within the first 8 seconds of the shotclock without getting one touch to another player. I agree Miller doesn't do this a lot, but he is doing it more this year than in the past. I am pleasantly surprised thuogh with his fg% as high as it is, i just wish his apg were higher and closer to previous years.

[SendEm]

If Andre Miller is to be the PG here for the next 3-5 seasons then we need someone on the court to guard the faster PG's in the league. Iggy can't do it, nor can Thad and Willie Green obviously isn't in the plans 3-5 years from now. So with that said either Thad or Iggy has to go if Miller is to remain in the 3-5 year plan...Thad at PF is a no no...

[freshie2]

This is probably a bit premature...let's end this season, and then we have Miller in an expiring contract next season. Who knows what this off season holds, let alone next season up to the trade deadline. If the Sixers are at the bottom half of the conference or out of the playoffs next season, Miller may be gone.

Not as worried about the quickness factor. Their team defense is good enough to make up for the lack of a cat like PG. Iverson, Telfair, Barbosa are all quick as lightening, but none are known for their defense. A swing player with length can keep a quick PG in check.

[Skates]

Skates:

I have heard that criticism about Miller's D - his lateral quickness and all - but I though he did a pretty good job on DWade when they left him out on an island in the guts of the game a week or so ago...Miller had Wade straight-up...the Heat iso'ed him at the top of the key...and Wade didn't do very much. Same thing on Saturday night against Nash.

I give you that against the elite offensive PG's in the league, his lack of lateral quicks will be something that the Sixers D will have to try and accomodate, but Miller isn't the first guy that Wiliams, Davis or Paul will bust up...and he won't be the last.

Miller is not an embarassment defensively because he knows how to play position D and is strong enough to re-direct his man if he can get in front of him. D-Wade also does not have his usual explosion and is really more of a power shooting guard. Miller has the solid body to do well against those guys, and like I said he is smart. You can also adjust the D, as I think they have done lately, to limit his exposure. But for those days when he's not getting it done and the team can't zone up because they are facing a good shooting team, we need a defensive demon to be able to come in off the bench. Again, Lowry is a guy who can do that and run a team pretty well for a bench guy, but it seems like he only shoots well against us.

[bebopdeluxe]

Skates:

Agreed...it would be nice to have a quality defensive PG for when we play against quick PG's...I guess that I'm justnot convinced that Lowry has an NBA-level offensive game. In Boston, they have been able to get away with playing Rondo major minutes because of all of the rest of the offensive firepower they have...but there is a reason why they are signing Sam-I-Am tomorrow, and it ain't for his defense.