The problem with Blake is that it's not scalable. You tell Blake to take more shots, and he's going to take the exact same shots he already does (wide open spot up jumpers), plus more spot up jumpers with a hand in his face. There's just a finite amount of wide open looks a guy gets in a game, and Blake takes every one. If he tries to take more, his percentage will drastically decrease. If that weren't true, people would talk about his Ray Allen-like shooting ability. You tell Andre Miller he needs to take more shots, and he'll say "Ok" and just drive it into the lane more or post up more. As he becomes a little more predictable, his percentage might drop a little. But it'd still be pretty good. Miller scored more because his team was floundering and they needed that scoring. If Blake were in the same situation, I doubt he'd produce 20 ppg. In fact, he probably doesn't produce 10 ppg, because the defense could focus on him more than they do with him playing in Portland.
The PG here isn't asked to score 20ppg. If Miller is scoring 20ppg in a Blazer uniform, something is seriously wrong with the team. I'm not completely against Miller coming to PDX though, just at a lowball rate and short years.
I don't think anybody foresees Miller scoring 20 ppg for a season. For a playoff series though? Maybe. If the other team can't stop him from putting up those kinds of points, it'll be because they've conceded those points to try to contain Aldridge/Roy/Oden. If they leave Miller open to defend those other guys, it's Miller's job to score. I like our chances in any playoff series where Miller averages 20 points. The guy just doesn't take bad shots. It'll mean he's become the de facto shooting guard and Roy is running the offense.
Andre Miller is 33 yrs old. He'll be 34 in March. You don't invest alot of money in guys like this unless you are at the point of seriously challenging for the ring. We're not there! We'll be there in 2-3 years. It'd be a serious mistake to sign Miller. As goes Oden, go the PTB.
Blake in playoffs = fail. [video=youtube;BAKuELRTgBc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAKuELRTgBc[/video]
Miller has just turned in two of his strongest seasons. You don't invest a long-term contract in a guy like Miller, but short-term deals aren't a real problem. It's possible that he'll collapse sometime soon, but it's not a bad risk if you're only taking a two- or three-year (max) investment. 2-3 years? I think you're way underestimating the team as it currently is. They finished tied for the second-best record in the West and had the second-best point differential in the West (fifth best in the NBA). Yes, they didn't distinguish themselves in the playoffs, but they're not particularly far from being a serious contender. With improvements to young, core players and an upgrade at point guard like Miller, they could very well play deep into the playoffs. Oden's development is paramount, but it's not the only thing that matters. Plus, a talented passer like Miller is quite likely to help Oden get more involved on offense.
No offense RHR, I disagree. We can't keep saying we are still 2-3 years away. I believe we are 1 player away from competing now. Obviously a lot still depends on Oden but he can provide enough now to compete for a title. A good PG that can penetrate and dish will make the game much easier for guys like LMA and Oden. Miller isn't my ideal PG but he's a drastic improvement over Blake.
I agree with you that it is not a huge risk especially if it is a short term contract. But I disagree with you on Miller. I don't see Miller as having made any big men in his career successful, and he doesn't have any background of doing such things. What Miller does have a background of, is being successful on teams where the pace is a little bit higher and there is less perimeter shooting for him to have to do. He also has a record of performing better when a contract is coming up. That is why I am cynical about him. I don't think it is a coincidence that Andre Miller has never made it to a top end team, and I don't think it is a coincidence that most places he has played has let him walk when his contract was over. (Has any team bothered to re-sign him ever besides the initial contract? Doesn't this send off some alarm bells?) Hell most of the time teams start preparing to move him a season before his contract ends.
That would have been one of Sessions' better three-point attempts. Blake's worst shot is the norm for Sessions.
He hasn't played with any talented big men (except Brand, briefly). I don't think he's particularly unsuited to driving and dishing to a big man considering he can drive and dish to other players. I don't see any evidence of this. He's had two "contract years" in his career: 2002-03 and last season. His PERs in those seasons were 15.2 and 18.6. Here is his PER history (contract years in bold): On rookie contract: 17.9, 20.1, 21.8, 15.2 After signing his long-term UFA contract: 18.8, 16.5, 16.4, 16.1, 18.4, 18.6 Most of his best seasons came in non-contract seasons. I see nothing to suggest he "plays up" for a contract. His first contract year was the worst of his career. Yes, I think it's coincidence. There's only been one opportunity for a team to re-sign Miller before this season, I believe. And that team was the Clippers who, as I recall, Miller made clear he was not going to sign with as a free agent (which shows what a good decision-maker he is ). This is the second time in his career that he's a free agent and the Sixers are a young, rebuilding team...it makes perfect sense that they don't feel paying money to a veteran at the end of his career works for them. What are you alleging is the problem?
Ramon wouldn't have been as stupid to actually take the last shot away from the team's best player. He would have created an easy opportunity, something Blake knows nothing about.
I have read in many other places that he is not liked where he goes, and the issue in Philly wasn't how old he was, it is how he is not liked in Philly. I also disagree with you on Denver. If there was any team over the last years that needed a PG to help out it was Denver. Chauncey Billups changed that. Why was Miller not able to work it out there before? Are you telling me that somehow he is a great fit here, but couldn't make it work in Denver? The reason is because he isn't really very good. If he was good, they wouldn't have let him walk, because they needed a PG as bad then as the Blazers do now. Also I would point out, is that you say only one team had a chance to re-sign him. I call bullshit. Every single one of those teams had a chance to re-sign him, and sent him packing in a deal instead. Secondly, you can compare PERS from years all you want. He was on different teams, and I would expect a PG to have different results based upon which team he was on, and whether the tempo was to their liking. Look at how he was playing with Mo Cheeks as the head coach in a walk it up the floor system. He and the rest of the 76'ers were struggling. Then they change coach, went up tempo, and amazingly enough those numbers went up. (By the way, all running teams numbers go up after they start a faster paced system.) What do you think were going to run here? Has Nate Jedi Mind tricked you into thinking that Portland will actually run with him here? That is not going to happen. If the Blazers get Miller, IMO they are setting themselves up for failure unless they up the tempo.
Seriously? This is funny to me. I'm not questioning whether Ramon is a solid player, I just think it's funny that we are breaking down a single play and defining Blake with it. Hell, I could post a couple videos here of Lamar Odom - one of him passing it to one of his teammates - ON THE BENCH. And another of him literally dribbling the ball inbounds after an opponent's made basket. Not passing it. Just taking the ball out of bounds and then dribbling it in. And 70% of this board was clamoring for him to join the Blazers. My guess is that if you combed the history of plays of Ramon Sessions, you could probably find a few boneheaded decisions from him. The whole take that "Ramon would never do that" is pretty ridiculous.
David Aldridge article on Milller to Portland http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/david_aldridge/07/21/miller/
He did make it work. He played quite well there. Players move around for reasons unrelated to "not being able to make it work." I have no idea what you're talking about. This is only the second time in his career he's been a free agent, I believe. You cannot "re-sign" someone who is not a free agent. For Denver and Philadelphia, he was on a long-term deal, so extension wasn't relevant either until last off-season, when Philadelphia and Miller talked extension but Philadelphia was ultimately not willing to give him the number of years he wanted. That's an age-thing, not a matter of him being an attitude problem or not good. My point is that there's no evidence that he has big years only when playing for a contract. Nothing in his performance history suggests that. Obviously, fit on a team has something to do with performance...that isn't what I was addressing. I don't think McMillan "wants to run" or "doesn't want to run." I think he wants to play smart, which means not being careless with the ball or getting out of control. I don't think he'll ever helm a high-pace team, but I don't think he'd be against raising the pace over last year if the team has the personnel for it.
