Andre Miller Has Gone From Expendable To Untouchable
A lot of people (including me) thought the Blazers were crazy when they gave Andre Miller that three-year, $21 million contract over the summer. After all, the team was already high on Steve Blake and people doubted that Miller’s style would fit in with Portland’s style. For the first few months of the season, it was proving to be a bad fit. Miller was unhappy with not starting and his chemistry with the teammates and coaches didn’t appear to be there. A trade seemed to be destined to happen.
But in the past month, Miller has started to catch his stride with Portland. Miller has averaged 18.4 ppg and 7.7 apg in 37.9 mpg in January. Up until last night’s game against the Hornets, Andre had scored in double figures in 11 straight games. While trade rumors surrounding Miller have been circulating the media since November, Blazers’ GM Kevin Pritchard made a bold statement about his starting point guard’s availability.
“We have no interest in trading Andre Miller. Zero. None. Write it,” Pritchard told the Oregonian recently.
Even with Pritchard’s endorsement and Miller’s encouraging play, all hasn’t been perfect in the Rose City. The Blazers have only gone 6-6 this month, but at the same time, they’ve been without Brandon Roy (who’s missed 5 games due to a hamstring injury) as well as obviously, Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla.
Currently, the Blazers are in fifth place in the Western Conference with a 27-19 record. But as we know, a two or three game losing streak could move them out of the playoff picture in this close and competitive conference. I think Miller is blossoming into the veteran leader they envisioned when they signed him. Although they will be without Oden and Przybilla for the rest of the season, Roy will be coming back soon and Rudy Fernandez has recently come back from an injury. Even though I was opposed to the signing initially, I have to admit that the Blazers are going to need Miller if they want to get good playoff positioning and have a successful postseason run.
Can you guys see Andre Miller being huge for the Blazers for the second half of the season and the playoffs?
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January 26th, 2010 at 11:45 am
T$ says:
Of course! The Blazers needed some veteran leadership on that team, and they have found it with Andre and ‘the old oak tree’ Juwaun Howard. Come playoff time, Andre will become even more valuable to the team. You could tell last year they were just happy to make the playoffs, this year, despite the injuries, Andre and Broy will expect to make some noise.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:47 am
thenatural says:
andre has really come on strong for the blazers, but i am at a loss for words after last night’s performance against the hornets. sure he showed flashes of brilliance that confirm the opinions in this article. but he also felt the need to constantly try and back down marcus thornton and chris paul, only to throw up a pathetic two handed, fading to the side shot. the most prominent one that comes to mind was with 22 seconds left in the game and the blazers up by one. he, of course, missed the shot and chris paul somehow found himself wide open at the free throw line and hit the game winner with 3 seconds left.
seriously though, picture the fat kid at the playground who isn’t quick enough to get by his defender, so he drives right, realizes there’s no way in hell he can go around his defender so he backs him down and forces up an ugly two hander. that my friends, was andre miller last night.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Dime Magazine says:
@thenatural
hahaha Man that was the funniest comment I’ve heard all day! That analogy is classic
January 26th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Chaos says:
@thenatural
that was by far the best analogy ive ever heard to describe andre miller….ever!
he has been a fat boy for a while now. someone get him on the treadmill to cut some weight….and take down that pic of him
January 26th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Talented says:
I knew he was solid just nothin real special, I’m impressed this year though.
January 26th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
chris says:
the portland shit magnets been playing juwan howard 35 minutes a game, playing pendergraph and cunningham way more than they planned, and roy, batum, blake, fernandez have all missed big chunks of time. andre miller has played a lot cos portland has gone small by necessity; the less they have to play howard, cunningham, and pendergraph, the better. 1st round playoff exit is the sad but realistic ceiling for portland this year.
January 26th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Gees says:
Dre is the man! A true solid proven vet. Keep it up!
January 26th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
pdxballer says:
@chris
portland shit magnets? that isnt even clever.
and you call 5 missed games (for roy) a big chunk of time?
you realize the season is 82 games + playoffs right?
anyways im getting tired of this shit. why the hell do people come and dump on the comments on dime? people come to dime with no background research and without watching any games except for one or two on national tv and try to act like theyre experts! ive never claimed to know anything about any teams that i dont watch but people come here all the time with stupid ass things to say about teams they rarely even think about let alone watch, listen to or read about.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:33 am
aintnathan says:
I hated miller in Portland at first, But after watching him this last month post player/coach discussion,I’m now realizing the dudes a stud. as far as being the fat boy that’s the stupidest thing Ive ever heard.I would like to see you, a non athlete, go up against miller one on one. He would run circles around you and your ugly girlfriend.
January 28th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
ALPHA GOAT says:
Portland was crazy for passing on David Lee.Miller’s stats have always been consistent but he just doesn’t seem to have an impact with the teams he’s played for.I still dont understand why Portland traded Jarrett Jack, he’s a all around better pg than Steve Blake.And Lamarcus Alridge need to stop playing like a small forward and play like the 6’11 ridiculous wingspan havin power forward he sposed to be!