Does Andre have any interest in us, does KP target him? I sure hope so..this seems like an obvious fit. Then S&T for Hedo and we are set.
Not sure if he has any interest in us, but according to Antonio Harvey on the MSP this morning, Miller has a grandmother that lives around this area, so he does have a connection to Portland. I'm not sure how accurate this info is, though.
Andre Miller: PER = 18.7, FTA/G = 5.0, AST% = 30.2, TRB/G = 4.5, WS = 8.6 Steve Blake: PER = 14.5, FTA/G = 1.1, AST% = 25.1, TRB/G = 2.5, WS = 5.5 Yes, Blake shoots the 3 better, but Miller penetrates MUCH better and gets to the FT line almost 5x as much as Blake. Miller's ability to penetrate creates opportunities for himself and his teammates. The more I think about Miller, the more I think he'd be a great fit in Portland. He played very well in Philly paired with Andre Iguodala - who is is a sort of Brandon Roy lite. Like Portland with Roy, the 76ers run a lot of their offense through Iguodala (5.3 APG vs. 5.1 APG for Roy). Yet, Miller still managed to average 16.3 PPG and 6.5 APG (compared to 11.0 PPG and 5.0 APG for Bake). I also think Miller's style of play makes him a better mentor for Jerryd Bayless. Miller and Bayless are both guys who can penetrate and draw fouls. Miller is also very good at penetrating, reading the defense and finding his open teammate - something Bayless needs to improve. Blake is more of a stand around on the perimeter and knock down the open 3 kind of guy. He does that well, but I don't see Bayless being effective in that type of role. Blake is also younger, but Miller has been insanely healthy and injury free (he's averaged 81.5 Games per year over his 10-year NBA career). He obviously keeps himself in top condition. So, I can easily see him remaining productive for another 2 - 3 years. If the Blazers could get Miller AND pick-up Blake's option, it would allow Bayless to gradually transition from 3rd string PG to back-up to starter over a 3 - 4 year period. 2009-10: Miller/Blake/Bayless 2010-11: Miller/Bayless 2011-12: Bayless/Miller BNM
Is there a stat for "running the offense better"? If there was, I'm sure it wold be something like Andre B+ Blake C
I'm not really sure why Kingspeed is using those statistics because I'd rather have 1.5 more assists and only .9 more turnovers. Especially when you consider Andre's ability to penetrate and post up in addition to his defense.
Actually, whoops on my end. I missed the "in addition to his defense." Not sure how I missed that bit.
Point guards who take 88% of their shots on jumpers shouldn't turn the ball over -- it's hard to turn the ball over if you aren't penetrating. A/TO ratio is a useful stat when talking about guys who are handling the ball in a lot of traffic, but in Steve's case I think it speaks more to his low risk, low reward style of shot creation. I'll take the guy with a draw-foul-rate similar to Brandon's, a FG% similar to Brandon's and the ability to create offense for himself and others off the bounce over a spot up shooting "point guard" every day of the week.
A more interesting thing to note - which adjusts for pace/minutes and the like is to look at assist%, usage% and tov% Blake: 25.1%, 16.9%, 13.6% Miller: 30.2%, 21.8%, 14% What we see is that Miller protects the ball just as much as Blake does - he is used more and creates more - but Iggy does not handle or initiate the offense as much as Roy. Honestly - if the offense improves with Miller - it is because Roy will be fresher and will not need to create as much and the bigs do well in the post - but I would not be surprised if the offense is not any better - we had a historic level offense - efficiency wise, this year. The defense is where we will see an improvement from Miller over Blake. Blake's offensive rating is a little higher than Miller's - 118 vs 115 points per 100 possessions... I have ot tell you that I would not mind Miller if we knew what we get from JB or if he or Blake were also around to play backup - but I am not sold on his advantage on the offensive end of the court.
