Hoops Haven

Author: Allen Moll (161 Articles)

Allen Moll is the Site Administrator and head writer for Hoops Haven. He has published thousands of articles on various sites including the Hoopdoctors, Bleacher Report, Upper Deck Blog, and Fox Sports.

Current Portland Trailblazer and former Philadelphia 76er point guard, Andre Miller has to be getting a bit of satisfaction that his former club is having such a disappointing season by having the league’s 4th worst record at 15-30.

Miller left everyone know his thoughts on just why the Sixers are struggling this season at an interview before the Sixers/Blazers game recently. The usually soft-spoken Miller readily gave his opinion that the Sixers are no better than when they got Miller from the Denver Nuggets in return for Allen Iverson back in 2006.

He also warned that teams are making a mistake by constantly going with younger players instead of veterans because all teams need vets to offer knowledge and help guide the younger players.

The comments obviously were directed towards Philadelphia and shows signs that Miller still harbors a little ill will towards his former club for not resigning him.

They are the first comments made by Miller concerning his slightly controversial departure from the Philadelphia club this past Summer when he accepted a multi-year free agent deal with the Trailblazers.

The Sixers made an obvious move to youth, when they hesitated to give Miller the long term deal he coveted. At age 33, Philadelphia just couldn’t justify locking Miller up to a long term contract with the 9 years younger Lou Williams, already under contract and with rookie PG Jrue Holiday waiting in the wings.

Although Miller was arguably the glue that held the young Sixers together and a fan favorite, he was only offered a 1 year deal for financial reasons. The whole situation left a bad impression on both Miller and the Philadelphia fans since the Sixers had made the post-season the previous 2 seasons and seemed poised to take another step forward with the inclusion of the veteran point guard for the future.

Miller has statistically been one of the best point guards in the league during his career and ranks 3rd in assists in the 2000’s behind Jason Kidd and Steve Nash despite playing under the radar for 5 different teams in his 11 seasons.

He has seen some ups and downs this season in Portland with their numerous injuries and saw inconsistent minutes as the leader of the Blazers 2nd unit at the start of the season. But because of the many injuries, Miller has settled in as the starting point guard alongside Brandon Roy in the Portland backcourt by averaging 12.9 ppg and 4.9 assists.

Apparently Miller’s change of scenery has worked out for the best as Williams has excelled as a starter in Philly and Miller will again be making a trip to the post-season with Portland.