Maybe Miller's the one who should come off the bench.

Start Patty or Batum. They can space the floor and look at Roy come alive like he did tonight. And we won. That's all Roy cares about. Some of you think it's about him. He wants the team to win and he believes it has the best chance when he has the ball and that has been proven in the 4+ years he's been here. When he's in charge of what happens and he is surrounded by shooters, we are a tough team to beat. When Roy is turned into a catch and shoot player, something he's not particularly good at, we're wasting our best weapon. I'm not sure Roy's career is over like some are saying. I saw Roy get to the rim and finish three times tonight. I also saw him shoot 9 free throws because the Suns were trying to prevent him from getting back to the rim. Don't write him off just yet.

 

Miller has been our best, most consistent player this year. He's a starter.

 

Miller's been great but we were 9-11 with him taking a larger role this season. He's not a good fit. There've been a couple games we've lost this season where he ended up having to take and brick three pointers late in the game. He and Roy have no chemistry. Roy has proven himself when he has the right personnel around him. Tonight, we won the 4th quarter by 13 points after weeks of horrible 4th quarters. We played our best without Miller. And remember the Boston game? We were down 4 and needed a quick three. Unfortunately, Miller was stupidly on the floor and ended up having to shoot that three, which is not his strength.

 

Miller for Mo is the right move.

 

With Roy's knee's being toast, are we still at a point where we want to make personnel based decisions revolving around him?

 

I think we should bench Miller, Matthews, Aldridge, and Camby.

We'll start Patty, Roy, Cunningham, Joel, and Johnson. Our bench will kick ass!

 

Hahahahahaha!

 

None of that matters when you're scoring 80 ppg as a team and losing games.

 

Did you watch the game last night? Roy looked like a different player than we've seen so far this season. Other than missing a few easy shots, he was actually driving by players because the lane wasn't clogged with players sagging off of the Bricklayer.

 

I think Rudy is a better player and a better fit with Roy. I think Patty and Armon are capable of handling our PG duties for many years to come and I think playing behind Miller helps them learn the game. When management is comfortable enough with Patty/Armon/one of the SGs sharing 48 minutes at PG, Miller will be moved. I think the fact that we're 9-11 with Miller and 1-0 without him (and a win against a better team than most games we've won) certainly gives management something to think about it.
You say "well, it's just one game" but with Miller being such an iron-man, him not playing for 1-game happens once every few years.
Also, I think what Roy said about him and Miller being similiar was a hint at the fact their games don't compliment each-other's very well. You can have only one slow, ball-hogging guard on the floor or the offense doesn't run as well. If Miller dribbles for 14 seconds and then he's not even the one creating the play, passing it to Roy with 10 sec's left - that's not basketball. I think one solution is having Miller as Roy's backup. Another is to use Miller's relatively high trade-value (considering the team option and the fact many teams are looking for a PG) and see what we can get for him (and if there's anything we really need).
I could see the lineup being Rudy, Roy, Mathewss, LMA, Camby with Patty/Armon, Miller, Batum, Dante and Joel coming of the bench.

 

Suns had a front line of Barron and Frye last night. Lets see if that changes when we play Orlando on Thursday. I hope we have the old Brandon back, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

People are really comparing our record of with and without Miller after 1 game? Really? Nevermind the fact it's one game vs. twenty. Like Miller is REALLY our main problem? Wow.

 

So the answer is to bench the team's best player this season so they can score even fewer points and lose even more games? Not sure about that logic. "This isn't working, let's try benching one of the few players actually helping."

 

So what you're saying is that Roy was misdiagnosed...it's not lack of meniscus but actually just Miller? Remove Miller, get back star Roy?

Also, Roy has had other fine statistical performances this year with Miller in the starting lineup. How does that fit in with your general conversational direction of "Roy and the team are better without Miller"?

 

I think that the low ppg is a product of Miller being the team's "best player", which I find laughable anyway since his piss-poor shooting allows teams to double Roy and Aldridge without fearing a 3-pt shot. I'm pretty sure opposing teams are very happy to let Miller be the "best player", which is why he is unguarded many times on the perimeter.

So, I say let's have 'Dre come off of the bench and see what happens for a few weeks. He's not a part of the long-term plan, so why not give it a shot? Last night's one game sample showed me enough to see if that kind of flow can be sustained without Miller pounding nails into the floor prior to "initiating" yet another flaming bag possession.

 

How doesn't it? I liked what I saw last night, and I'd like to see more of it before giving up on it. Just giving an opinion. It's not like Miller has ever won anything, so let's give it a shot.

 

Maybe. Benching him to make a worse player the new "best player" doesn't seem to make the team better.

Because I'd like to have a more compelling reason than "We suck anyway" to bench one of the few good players on this team.

 

Fair enough. I disagree, but I know that the reality is that Miller won't be benched, so it's a moot point. Also, I'm not coming from a "we suck anyway" perspective. I really liked the flow of the team last night. Had the team sucked as per usual, I wouldn't be advocating this idea.

 

If Roy has had other productive nights with Miller, it doesn't suggest that Miller is the problem for Roy.

 

Perhaps it does this season, though.