No doubt he deserves a lot more than he's gotten for being the glue of this team. We definitely would not be where we are without him. Great blog giving him some proper Respect: http://blogs.trailblazers.com/Publi...99/EntryID/1868/IamaUserID/21807/Default.aspx
If he's gonna play four more years, I want them all to be in Portland. Andre is solid, smart, and is now our enforcer with Joel gone. I like him in his role here, even though I was hard on him when he arrived. He's really won me over. We need him on this team for the toughness and fight.
Well I think he has at least one more good year in him. A year from now we will know for sure. After next year ideally we will have someone better and he can move to the back up spot. But I won't bet against him lasting another 3 years after this. I also hope he sticks around.
Couldn't agree more HailBlazers. I was driving into work this morning thinking that I hope he knows how much he's appreciated by the real diehard Blazer fans. People were getting all excited about trading for the constantly injured but much younger Harris because Andre was getting old (and isn't going to be able to play much longer). Ummmmm, well, he's actually never missed a game due to injury while in Portland (and a bunch of other teams going back several seasons). Given Harris' and Miller's histories why would you think Devon is going to be more durable in the next few years than Andre? Plus, you know he wants to be here! He worked out over this last summer and came to training camp in shape when he had been well known for using training camp to get in shape in the past. I love the guy, I was so relieved when the deadline passed and they hadn't traded him.
Picking nits here, but it sure would have been nice to read "and win an NBA championship" as a part of that goal. It is nice to hear he is still doggedly trying to work on his shooting, though, and he has slowly won me over, just because he is such a pro and so consistent on the court. Anyhow, I digress...
I said this back at the time, and it's not meant to be a perfect comparison, but he has kinda fit the Pippen role. An offensive stabilizer, a true quarterback who holds things together. He doesn't have the defensive presence, of course. But his mentality, toughness and offensive leadership.
This new team has become so multidimensional. Miller is a very important piece to this success. I would love for him to retire as a Blazer. That would be so precious!
Just out of curiosity, here's the whole list: http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ast_career.html I'm sure he knows that to reach the top 10, he's got to supplant Mo Cheeks at 7392. He's at 6922. He's only 470 assists away. If he wants to play 3 or 4 more seasons, that's only 125-160 assists a season, which seems ridiculously easy for a guy who has averaged 629 assists/year. That's if he continues to start. What this tells me is that he's smart enough to see that at most he's a starter in this league for another year or so. But even if he were to go to the bench next year, he'd still easily reach his goal in the stated time frame. If you read a little between the lines, you could see this as a slow recognition that at some point soon he'd be ok with coming off the bench to wind down his career. Which is very nice to hear.
I love a lot of the things that Dre has brought to the team. His ally-oops have been killer and I love that he tries to get the ball to the hot hand. But, I don't know if I would call him a "Glue Guy". He has had some major confrontations with Roy, Nate, and who knows which other players. He is known to be very quiet and keep to himself. Usually (not always) I would consider a glue guy to be more of an emotional leader and one that rallies the heart of the team. But Andre is someone who I see as just a member of a team who does his job very well.
I'd go as far as to say those "confrontations" were a good thing. Especially in the long run, lighting up Sarge and humbling Roy. Those were two things that direly needed to happen. IMO, Dre's glue is one of the stickiest types, leading by example. He's the quiet General out there, and the players have the utmost Respect for him following his lead, Cool as Ice.
I seem to recall Pippen having confrontations with teammates and even Dunleavy on occasion. Pippen had always been more of a teacher (Phil Jackson used to say that Pippen and Jordan were equally good leaders on the Bulls, just in different ways--Jordan was the in-your-face leader while Pippen was more of a teach-and-help-teammates-get-better leader) while Miller has never struck me as that type. But they seem similar in terms of being intense and private and potentially prickly if things aren't going right in their opinion. I think that's fine for a veteran leader, so long as they don't take it too far, to disruption. I don't think either guy did, and the confrontations they forced led to better play from the team. So I'd still stick by my comment that Miller is a glue guy, especially on the court.
The second Andre nailed Blake Griffin, not only did it diminish what Blake did the rest of that game but the other games that season, it showed to me he's the guy who should be taking charge of the team (in the "stfu, I got this" sorta mentality)
I don't think I've ever respected a cheap shot as much as I did that one. If his Iron Man streak had to end, I'm glad it ended the way it did. Not with an injury, but a fuck you.
Andre Miller has saved this team so many times in the last two years it's hard to remember how many times!!!! The thought management even considered trading him is laughable! Rose, Parker, Wall, Williams and Rondo may be the best right now, but Dre has seen it all and still keeps going at a very high rate and one all blazer fans should be greatful for! Our entire team is now a team in my eyes because of Dre!
