Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan and guard Andre Miller became involved in a 30-minute shouting match at practice this week.
The argument centered on insubordination and late-game strategy. Mike Quick of The Oregonian reports:
One of the topics discussed was an incident late in Tuesday’s game with Memphis, when Miller told Jerryd Bayless to make his second free throw with 4.3 seconds left and the Blazers trailing by two. The coaching staff and team captain Brandon Roy told Bayless to miss the free throw so the Blazers could attempt to rebound and make a tying basket.
Of course, the larger issue could be the fact that Miller doesn’t really fit as a member of the Trail Blazers, and is looking more and more like one of the worst signings of the 2009 offseason. Brandon Roy doesn’t like playing with him. Incumbent point guard Steve Blake is probably a better fit alongside Roy in the backcourt, and the emergence of second-year player Jerryd Bayless and rookie Patty Mills (who absolutely tore up the D-League in a recent stint with the Idaho Stampede) would seem to make Miller an unnecessary luxury on a team decimated by injuries in the frontcourt.
Miller wasn’t general manager Kevin Pritchard’s first choice — far from it. Pritchard had a verbal agreement to sign Hedo Turkoglu, but Turkoglu backed out to go to Toronto, a more cosmopolitan city with a large Turkish population. Pritchard then made an offer to restricted free agent Paul Millsap, betting that the Jazz would be forced to let him go after Carlos Boozer decided to stay in Salt Lake City for one more year. He lost that bet when Utah matched the offer. After that surprise, he opted not to extend an offer to another restricted free agent, New York’s David Lee.
Instead, he signed Miller to a two-year deal — with a team option for year three — worth around $7 million per.
Can this situation be fixed? The obvious solution would be to trade Miller for some size; Portland is comically thin at center after losing both Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla to severe knee injuries. But finding a partner will be difficult — as John Canzano points out, the Knicks were the only other team to express much interest in Miller during the offseason. I’m sure Donnie Walsh would be more than happy to send Eddy Curry to Portland, but Walsh has shown no interest in taking on any contracts that extend beyond this season.
Miller, McMillan Argue at Blazers Practice originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 11:00:59.
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