<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> It was the summer of 2000, mere months after Reggie Miller and the Pacers came within two victories of an NBA title, and the team was being dismantled. Mark Jackson was following the free agent money to Toronto. Rik Smits was retiring. And then there was the final straw: Dale Davis being traded to Portland for a skinny kid named Jermaine O'Neal. Suddenly, Miller found himself alone, the last remaining vestige of a remarkable team, surrounded now by a bunch of 20-year-olds who were a couple of years away from accomplishing anything. "When I told him what we were doing, it really hit him hard because he was losing a lot of friends," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said. "I think he was like, 'Aw, man.' It hit him, 'I'm 37 and everybody else on this team is 21.' " That's when Miller made a conscious choice, a decision that has helped make the Pacers a championship contender less than four years later. He decided to not only stay here through the rebuilding, but to help the process by stepping aside and giving the young guys room to grow. He never demanded his minutes. He never required a certain number of shots. He never complained when his younger teammates were acting like less than complete professionals, even as Miller's personal window of opportunity was closing. At times, in fact, he was almost too deferential, sublimating his ego and his game while passing the ball, and the baton, to his teammates. Now, though, it's all paying off. Miller is eight victories from another Finals appearance. "I could have been a reluctant superstar and fought the transition," Miller said after Tuesday's practice. "But for this franchise to remain at the top, and it will once I'm gone, someone had to defer and step back. It happens in every walk of life."</div> <div align="center"><font color="blue"><u>Full Story</u></font></div> <div align="center"><u><font color="#0000ff"></font></u> </div> <div align="left"><font color="black">Reggie is a classic team player and he has been loyal from the start. To set aside your ego from being the best player on the team to a role player has to be hard on a player but Reggie has been a class act about it. He deserves a championship.</font></div>
