Let’s start this off with one of the weirder facts ever seen in this segment. From Miller’s Basketball-Reference page:
“June 30, 1993: Traded by the Golden State Warriors (as a 2000 1st round draft pick) with Anfernee Hardaway, a 1996 1st round draft pick (Todd Fuller) and a 1998 1st round draft pick (Vince Carter) to the Orlando Magic for Chris Webber.”
Yes, it’s true. Mike Miller was traded by an NBA team when he was just 13 years old. Sort of. Miller came into the league as one of the best college players and was drafted 5th overall out of Florida in 2000. After winning Rookie of the Year in Orlando, Miller continued to thrive as a shooter averaging double digit points and never shooting worse than 36% from 3.
In the 2008-09 NBA season Miller had just been traded to his third team, a particularly bad one at that, in Minnesota. The T-Wolves ended the year 24-58 after Kevin McHale parachuted in as coach after just 19 games with Randy Wittman at the helm. His worst year statistically in nine NBA seasons, Miller put up just 9.9 PPG and started just 46 times. His best game came on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 when he put up 22 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists (3-4 from beyond the arc) in 38 minutes of work during a 108-99 Minnesota win against the New Jersey Nets.
Miller’s career has gone downhill but he’s no doubt been a serviceable SG/SF during his time in the league. He’s probably a bit underrated, suffering from having “good” player talents while playing a superstar position. Here, in this card, Miller’s hair looks to be a bit outlandish and you’re not sure whether he’s going to shoot a layup or if he’s merely trying to destroy Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer.
The newest edition to The Hoop Doctors writing staff, Dane Carbaugh is the editor and lead writer of the popular new basketball blog A Young Sabonis. Dane is a published research author and also writes for Dime Magazine and the ESPN TrueHoop Affiliate Portland Roundball Society. He can be found on Twitter at @DaneCarbaugh
