Season in Review: Mike Miller

Mike Miller had a roller coaster season emotionally but a solid season on the court. He is a consumate professional in that regard and a good role model for the younger players who are the future of the franchise.

However he is not a part of the future of the franchise. Whether he makes it until the end of his contract or gets traded earlier in unknown at this time.

It's kind of sad to think that Miller is considered too old to be a part of the future of the franchis. He is only 28 after all. Hardly an old man even by NBA standards but the Grizzlies are focusing on 3-5 years out and Miller at 31-33 would be past his prime and he has value now that won't be there later.

Anyway, back to this year. Miller came into camp after a rough stretch with Team USA in the Olympics qualifying tournement. He was basically the worst player on the team. Still Miller came into the season ready to play and put together quite possibly the best overall season of his career. He was one of only two players who shot over 50% from the field (50.2%), 40% from the arc (43.2%) grabbed more than 6 rebounds (6.7) and scored more than 15 ppg (16.4). Danny Granger at Indiana being the other. His decrease in scoring from the previous season can be attributed to the 139 fewer field goal attempts as well as the 3.8 fewer minutes played per game.

It seems on paper that Miller may have been struggling down the stretch as his shooting percentages and minutes both decreased sharply. The minutes can be explained by the team's desire to see how the younger players performed (Navarro and Crittenton) but the shooting percentages and rebounding seems to imply there was more to this than just decreased court time. Mike is a 100% player who frequently throws his body around to make plays. That may be causing back problems which could have far reaching consequences. Miller is a noted gym rat who may not allow his body the proper time to recuperate regardless of the amount of minutes he plays in a game or what he commits to in the off-season.

Heading into next season Mike is still slated to be the starting SG and backing up Rudy Gay but this is a long off-season and a lot can happen between now and then. With the cap space the team enjoys a trade could be made to bring in a more expensive player at the SG position enabling Miller to become the 6th man again backing up both Rudy at the 3 and the SG position. That may be Miller's best role on the team since defensively he is still viewed as a liability. Assuming he is still the starter then Memphis should expect to struggle against the better scoring guards in the league despite Mike's shot making ability.