Don’t disappoint KG (Photo. G.Land)Today’s Boston Globe has a good piece about just how close Reggie Miller was to signing with the Boston Celtics this offseason:
The Pacers, Mavericks, and Cavaliers all had made fruitless efforts to bring him out of retirement. But when director of basketball operations Danny Ainge called Miller about joining the improved Celtics, he listened.
“I got a call from Danny and he was like, ‘This is not a joke,’ ” Miller said. ” ‘We’re dead serious. We really could use you.’ That really piqued my interest. I said, ‘OK, if I’m going to do this I have to do it the right way. Why don’t you give me some time to actually get in shape to see if I could actually do it.’ And he would call every day to see how my workouts went.
“Then KG started coming by. And that’s what put the pressure on me.”
Garnett and Miller live in the same Malibu, Calif., neighborhood and had previously worked out together at nearby Pepperdine University. Once Garnett heard about Miller’s interest in the Celtics, he “had to jump right on it” and convinced Miller to take part in workouts at Pepperdine.
Said Miller: “It was just he and I and a bunch of onlookers who were mesmerized by Kevin in a gym.” Although Miller said he would have had no problem coming off the bench for Boston, it would have been “tough” and “awkward” for him to wear something other than a Pacers uniform. And while he felt he could take the grind of the NBA physically, mentally was a different story. He turned down the Celtics Aug. 24.
more stories like this“If you’re not mentally prepared or mentally into it, you cannot compete,” Miller said.
And when Reggie broke the news to Garnett:
“It was tough. I didn’t want to disappoint [Garnett],” said Miller in a recent telephone interview. “I almost was coming back. It was up to the 23d hour. I was like, ‘I’m doing it. I’m just going to do it. I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it.’
“Then I slept on it and I was like, ‘I just don’t think I can do it.’ When it was quiet on the phone and I explained to him that I did not want to disappoint him or let him down, he understood that.”
Now that we’ve all seen the Celtics play this year, do you think Reggie would have been a real factor? Would he have been more valuable than Eddie House? (That’s a serious question. We’re talking about a 42-year old Miller who hadn’t played in a long time.) Obviously, it can never hurt to have another shooter on your squad, and having another guy on the perimeter to knock down shots would have been a definite bonus - it’s already hard enough for teams to guard Boston’s perimeter players. You see it every night when Ray Allen somehow finds himself wide open.
At the end of the day though, while Reggie would have been another weapon and added to Boston’s depth, he would have done nothing for what appears to be Boston’s most glaring weakness: dealing with big, talented front lines. Once you get past Garnett, there’s no one who can guard opposing bigs. We saw it when Dwight Howard beasted them last week and we saw it the other night against Cleveland when Drew Gooden and Z had their way with Boston for stretches of the game.
To read the full story, go HERE
November 29th, 2007 at 11:43 am
smity says:
The clearly need another big body, one thats not undersized at the 5 spot. and after looking at the d league prospects (posted here yesterday) associated with their team i’m not sure that they can avoid having to make a trade to get somebody…unless the find some free agent somewhere but are there any athletic 7 foot big men out there somewhere waiting for a call? i dont know…
November 29th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Dime Magazine says:
you know the talent pool is slim when the Nuggets made news yesterday by calling up Jelani McCoy from the D-League to solidify their front line.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:47 am
sam says:
get sabonis out of retirement.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Myrie in NY says:
Celtics need Kwame Brown and Steve Blake to round out their starting five.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
The Jed says:
Reggie would still have been nice to have. I also think that Eddie House has played a nice role and played much better at the point than anyone could have expected. I seriously worry about Ray wearing down and having the depth to limit his minutes would have been nice.
November 29th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
smity says:
A kwame brown or haywood wouldnt hurt
November 29th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Myrie in NY says:
Smity–
Acutal, your right. After I gave it a thought, Brendan Haywood would be a better fit than Kwame Brown. I just figured Brown’s time in LA is done. Bynum will be the full time starter before the season is over (unless he is already) and Chris Mihm is healthy again. LAL have no need for Brown. Celtics could probably get him for cheap.
Danny Aigne should be trying to pry Steve Blake away from Portland and Chris Kaman away from the Clips. Those two players are exactly what the Celtics need in their starting five.
No way can they actually get Chis Kaman, but Kwame Brown or Brendan Haywood would be a solid fit.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
djKianoosh says:
whoah whoah whoah.. slow down with the kwame brown stuff there.. if you’re a celtics fan you dont want no part of him on your team. i live down here in DC and they dog kwame every time his name is mentioned. for good reason. KG would lose patience with this guy in one practice session..
you want a banger and boards guy like reggie evans (who a couple years back, when he was with the sonics, gave Duncan a lot of problems in their playoff series), or maybe a healthy Nene, if you can pry him away from Denver (not sure why they’d do that though). you’d rather have a healthy etan thomas than a haywood too.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
MoxInTheWest says:
Good for Reg not selling out just to make a title run. You gotta respect that.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Dime Magazine says:
must have been sooo tempting though; getting paid (well) to run with great players and you’re only responsibility is to launch threes. most guys would have definitely gone for it. he must have really known that he just didn’t have it anymore.
December 1st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Philipp says:
What about Esteban Batista?? He clearly showed a lot of improvement at the FIBA tournament and should definitely help out Bostons front court! Plus, they should be able to get him pretty cheap….