pass first, smart player.
here's hollinger's scouting report:
+ Big, crafty point guard with outstanding left-block post game. Good rebounder.
+ Best alley-oop passer in game. Struggles to stay in front of quick guards.
+ Terrible long-range shooter but makes free throws. Good team defender.
Miller is 35, can't shoot, and doesn't exactly look like Jack LaLanne out there, so we keep waiting for his performance to tail off. And waiting. And waiting. At 34 last season with the Blazers, Miller was still as good as he's ever been. He was more of a distributor and less of a scorer, ranking 10th in assist rate and 11th in pure point rating, but still scored at a decent clip despite his poor long-range shot. Miller made only four 3-pointers all season, but his awkward set shot isn't bad from mid-range (37 percent), and he's actually a very good foul shooter (career-high 85.3 percent; he's at 80.7 lifetime).
Miller's biggest weakness is what his shot means for the others on the floor. Because he has no value as a floor spacer, it makes it very easy for opponents to collapse and take away other players' driving lanes. With the right players around him it's a nonfactor, but if another non-shooter is on the court it's a real problem. Now surrounded by Denver's shooters after a draft-day trade, it may become less of an issue.
Defensively, Miller can't handle quick guards, but has good size, rebounds well and is a smart help defender. The biggest worry remains his lack of conditioning -- he tends to play his way into shape as the season goes on -- especially given the work stoppage. He has historically played very poorly in the first month or two of the campaign; this year, that time frame might be most or all of the season.
12/8/2011 4:58 PM