Cmon. You know what he meant, right? Scoring was easier. That's a good thing. Trying to work harder doesn't necessarily make you a better player.
He could stick with us for 6 more years and still be effective, I think. Like I said, his best seasons may yet be in front of him.
Looking at the numbers, Andre actually had his best year from the three point line last season. He's getting better. Maybe he can make .333 this season.
Billups is younger than Miller. I don't think it's realistic to expect Andre to actually improve. Ed O.
Actually, I believe 9 through 12 (he has only played 12 seasons), from 29 till 32. They could both fall off somewhat in the next 2 seasons, but they can also maintain their play from the last 2 years (like Nash). Both have a record of having extremely healthy careers. I'm optimistic. Whether Miller can actually improve his output largely depends on how he fits here. I'd be more than happy to have the Andre Miller of the last 2 seasons for 2 more.
As Miller ages, he'll get more savvy to compensate for a slower step. This was already a very smart team (remember the boneheaded Porter/Drexler days?), and Miller just made it smarter. So I expect the assist numbers to be higher this year - I would not be surprised at all if Miller had a career year in assists. There are so many rapid scorers to pass to - Rudy, Oden, Aldridge, even Pryz near the basket. iWatas
Me too. He will add to the D, give us experience and help those around him. What more can you really ask for? Also he seems to have a great attitude and the trade just seems to fit. Good call for me. Now will Bayless stay or go? .........
I hope they are right, and I am wrong. God knows, won't be the first time or the last. I'm just not stoked about Miller... Seems like the Blazers have all the O they need, and what they are lacking is some serious D force. His defense can be absolutely nil at times.
I wouldn't bet money on it. I'll just be super happy if remains effective for the duration of his three year contract.
We just added the second best player from a .500 team. And who was Philly's third best player? Yeah, I had to go look at their roster too. Brand only played a handful of crappy games. It was Thaddeus Young. This was not an especially deep or talented team. And we got one of their only two really good players without giving up anything. What's not to like? That he also filled a position of our greatest need is gravy. This reminds me a lot of the Steve Smith trade, in that we gave up nothing of value (well, in that case we actually unloaded Rider) and got back a proven veteran who'd spent a fair amount of his career stuck on some really bad teams. This is a far, far better acquisition than Hedo. The more I think about it, the more excited I am for the season to start.
After reading the articles on Miller and digesting the idea of Miller at PG for the next 2-3 years . . . I'm not as excited as others but do believe this makes the team better. My concern is that some posters say there is nothing to lose with a contract like that (2 year with team option third year). But my thought is this was the summer to add a key player with the core unit. An A+ role player, with great character to teach others and accept his role and bring in great skills to plug into a postion for 30 mins a night. If Miller doesn't work out, it's true the Blazers can dump him after the second year and the costs haven't been too great. But it's not like the Blazers then get the salary cap flexibilty back to get another free agent that summer. This was the rare summer of salary cap space . . . 7 million/yr with increasing salary to bring in a key long-term player to the team. I do think Miller could be a key player on the team . . . for how long is my concern. Either I hope the window for the Blazer championship is now or that KP can pull off a major trade in a couple of years, because he will be limited to the MLE for the next 5-7 years.
More Articles on the Miller signing: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AtdFY5P604q55Vmu0Xv2S45bPKB4?urn=nba,178891
Of course I know what he meant! The internet, and having to read things without listening to intonations and such can be a frustrating experience. I don't know how many fights my wife and I could have avoided back when we were dating because we could never tell exactly what we meant in our e-mails.
While it's always fun to imagine, you simply can't time all your good players to age and expire together. I'd have loved to add someone like Sessions who'd add to the core and all that, but the dream of an entire starting lineup that is all around the same age and hangs together for a decade just isn't realistic. You have to identify your core (seems like Roy/Aldridge/Oden) who hopefully will be of similar age and then complement them with the best talent fits you can find, young or old. Batum and Rudy are young. Przybilla and Miller are older. Miller helps the team compete in 2009-10 which has major value...it means a year of Roy and Aldridge aren't wasted. Not that summer, but they can always dump him that trade deadline or the next season's deadline as an expiring contract. His team option means Portland has two chances to trade him for a similar sized contract, depending on when his effectiveness starts to dwindle and when the best offer comes along. Plus, Miller's deal is not much above MLE. Using the MLE and draft picks, Pritchard can also keep the talent pipeline moving.
Billups took basically the same team Miller was on, to the WCF, while Miller was there they never made it out of the first round and there were chemistry issues. I sure hope it doesn't work that way for Portland, but it seems to me that Miller has to fit his environment, where Billups is much more "Plug and Play" for success. The reason being, Billups is a much better player. Period.
Miller's last year in Denver they were plagued by injuries... Nene only played in one game. Camby missed 26 games. Martin missed 26 games. Another way of looking at it: DerMarr Johnson started 21 games, Greg Buckner started 27, Ruben Patterson started 20 and Francisco Elson started 54. Heck, Earl Watson started 10, in spite of Miller playing in all 82 games. The current Denver team, even setting aside Billups v. Miller, is significantly better than it was then. Ed O.
