Uh, oh. Andre Miller not happy

[illmatic99]

Here's more followup from B-Edge: http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/10/11/1080444/in-managing-andre-miller-nate

 

[barfo]

I'm here every day between 7:30 and 8 o'clock.

Is that 12.5 hours, or 0.5 hours?

barfo

 

[SpamKing]

If the plan really is to bring Miller off the bench (and I ain't saying it is), but if coming off the bench will freak him out for whatever reason, then start the guy and pull him after a couple of minutes.

There! Problem solved...

 

[timbo]

I think something in their dinner may have got crossed or misheard; perhaps just simply fogged up in the time since the meeting. * * *

I knew that Nate's propensity for hammering shots of tequilla with his meals would come back to haunt him...

 

[The Sebastian Express]

I knew that Nate's propensity for hammering shots of tequilla with his meals would come back to haunt him...

You could say he shot himself in the foot.

 

[PapaG]

Seems like the local media has already pissed off Andre a bit, and I don't really blame him. Our media just puts everything in too much of a microscope.

Miller's quote was to a national writer. Explain how the local media "pissed off" Miller, when he apparently gave a whiny quote to a national writer. The big baby needs to learn that this team won 54 games w/out him. If he wants to still be "the man" on an average team, he probably should have had his agent work harder to keep him in Philly.

 

[MrSelfDestruct]

Miller's quote was to a national writer. Explain how the local media "pissed off" Miller, when he apparently gave a whiny quote to a national writer. The big baby needs to learn that this team won 54 games w/out him. If he wants to still be "the man" on an average team, he probably should have had his agent work harder to keep him in Philly.

In the link I previously provided, there are several quotes by Miller that make it pretty clear he's less than thrilled with the local media, like this one:

On whether he feels like he has received a bad rap from the local media since joining the Blazers:

Yeah, pretty much. And I normally don't say anything to media, you know — even-temperd. But when I saw what was put in about me in the paper then I did the article with Marc to, you know, have my say. I didn't want it to be one-sided, where people get a bad vibe about me coming to Portland. You know, I came here to help the team, you know. I didn't come here to bring the team down.

The rest of the conversation

 

[PapaG]

In the link I previously provided, there are several quotes by Miller that make it pretty clear he's less than thrilled with the local media, like this one:



The rest of the conversation

Andre Miller : bitching about PT to the national media, picking phantom fights with the local media, and basically accusing his coach of lying about what was said at the Vegas dinner.

What a week. No wonder he's bounced around the league.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

After thinking about this some more and reading Miller's new comments, I'm thinking it's not so serious. I think Miller isn't denying that Nate said he might be on the 2nd unit; he (Miller) just never really thought that was gonna happen. He thought he was gonna prove he was the starter. Now he is beginning to understand that isn't going to happen. he is saying that if he had realized 100% that that was not going to happen, he would not have signed here. I don't think he is saying he was misled, and he is not even really saying he does not want to be here; he's just saying being a "starter" is really important to him and he wouldn't have signed here if he knew he wouldn't be one.

But it sounds like he is willing to accept the situation and work as hard as ever. It would be nice if he could say that he will do whatever he has to make this a great team, he still seems to be holding back a little. I think it would also be good if Nate called him into his office and communicated more directly what he is thinking and doing. I think he would appreciate being a confidante of McMillan just like Roy is, but he is not the kind of guy to initiate that.

 

[Ghost Pepper]

I posted months ago that getting Andre may be a problem because players on teams he's played on before said he was a lockeroom cancer. Infact I think I had a debate with Crimson about Miller's reputation. That said... these are cancerous types of statements to make very early on before anything is set in stone. This might be a reason Miller was such an easy get this summer?

I for one think Miller could make this team a mess if not made happy about playing time and title of starter.

Buyer be ware of about Miller has already started to become accurate.

 

[jlprk]

From a Clippers fan:

That being said, if we love Roy, we really hate Andre Miller. He’s a good basketball player, and a strange, weirdly anti-social person. His vaunted arrival crushed a rising Clipper tide back before he went to Denver and Philly. He does his job and he’s good at it. He seems to be much better than Steve Blake, and that makes Blake a very solid backup. But Miller if funky and he seems to take the fun out of the game. He’s good on 2nd rate teams, even better on 3rd rate teams, and it should be interesting to see what he does on the Blazers.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/10/10/1078962/my-amateur-game-report-from-the

 

[mgb]

Until and unless his play is impacted negatively, I don't see anything significant here. Of course he wouldn't have come to Portland if he knew he was not going to start. I can't believe that any of you would think that he would have. Maybe you're surprised by his honesty?

*shrug*

Ed O.

I agree I don't think this is very significant, but he was told that Nate envision him coming off the bench before he sign his contract. He admitted as much when he said that was then this is now. He might have thought he would start anyway and sign the contract under that assumption, but that's his own fault for not taking Nate at his word.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I agree I don't think this is very significant, but he was told that Nate envision him coming off the bench before he sign his contract. He admitted as much when he said that was then this is now. He might have thought he would start anyway and sign the contract under that assumption, but that's his own fault for not taking Nate at his word.

I don't know what you mean by this. Every article I've read had this quote:

On the "If I was told right out when I had my meetings that I would be a backup, then I wouldn't have come here," quote:

AM: Yeah, that's accurate.

 

[jlprk]

Every coach tells every player that he may start or he may sub. The normal meaning is that the best player will start, so if you beat out Blake for the job, it's yours. Miller has clearly outplayed Blake. He was told he might sub, he took it at its usual meaning and performed, and now Nate's holding his feet to the fire with a strictly literal meaning--that no matter what he does, the inferior player will start.

"Relative" meaning = Nate told him he may sub (if he's not the best PG)

"Absolute" meaning = Nate told him he may sub (at Nate's irrational whim)

Miller heard the former and Nate claims he intended it to mean the latter. I think Nate was ambiguous on purpose. They were trying to sign him at the time, right? Or had they already signed him.

 

[Bob Dobalina]

I posted months ago that getting Andre may be a problem because players on teams he's played on before said he was a lockeroom cancer. Infact I think I had a debate with Crimson about Miller's reputation. That said... these are cancerous types of statements to make very early on before anything is set in stone. This might be a reason Miller was such an easy get this summer?

I for one think Miller could make this team a mess if not made happy about playing time and title of starter.

Buyer be ware of about Miller has already started to become accurate.

locker room cancer? All the stuff I've been reading since the signing was how much his teammates loved him. I must have missed something.

 

[THE HCP]

His teammates in Philly said they are going to really miss him!

 

[Nikolokolus]

His teammates in Philly said they are going to really miss him!

Exactly, I read a tweet from Andre Iguodala at the time he signed that basically said "No more Dre? What the fuck?!"

 

[noknobs]

Andre Miller : bitching about PT to the national media, picking phantom fights with the local media, and basically accusing his coach of lying about what was said at the Vegas dinner.

First, he never accused his coach of lying. Nate never told him he'd come off the bench no matter what, just that he'd have to compete and earn it, it wasn't going to be given to him. So to me, the entire question and answer from the Marc Spears article is mute since it doesn't apply to reality. Miller knew he'd have an opportunity and he also knew it wasn't a forgone conclusion that he'd be a starter. Miller has never said otherwise, it appears he was just answering a rhetorical question, or the quote in question was part of a larger quote.

I also haven't seen any quote by Andre in which he's bitching about playing time. And why would he? We're three fucking games into the preseason. On the contrary, here's some of what he said:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/10/trail_blazers_andre_miller_and.html

“That’s the mentality that every player should have. If it doesn’t go my way, it doesn’t go my way.

It’s a new situation and I don’t want to mess up the thing that’s going on here. I just want to come in and help and however I can help the team, whether coming off the bench or starting.

“I like the players. I like the coaches. I like the management. I’m here to win. However they’re going to use me, I have to deal with that.

I’m a team player. It was nothing bad as far as what I said about starting. That’s just a goal. Like I say, if the coach goes in a different direction then I have to live with that and that’s my job to continue to come out and support my players.”

I’m not here to cause any controversy. I’m here to play basketball.

I’ve never complained about any situation that I’ve been in when it comes to basketball. I just went out there and played.”

I also haven't seen him pick phantom fights with the local media. He talked to Marc Spears because he felt he was being portrayed wrongly in a few articles and wanted his side of the story to be heard, that's hardly picking a fight. I'd do the same thing. In his own words:

I normally don’t say anything to the media. I’m even tempered. When I saw what was put in about me in the paper, then I did the article with Marc (Spears) to have my say. I didn’t want it to be one sided where people get a bad vibe about me coming to Portland. I came here to help the team. I didn’t come here to bring the team down.”

It kind of felt like me coming in (that I) was not a team player, if you want to call it that, or I don’t get along with people. I didn’t mean it like that. I get along with all the players and we’re not even a week-and-a-half into the season.

He has every right to respond to what's written about him in a professional manner, and that's what he did because of stuff like:

“I’m sitting on the baseline and I’m hearing fans in the audience say, ‘Sit with the team.’ I just got here. [The fan] said, ‘Sit with the team. Stop acting like that.’

“I was like, ‘Damn.’ They wouldn’t have said that if [the media] didn’t give a false impression. I never have had any problems with any fans. I socialize with fans at appearances and in public.”

From scimming this thread I can tell you're all worked up, so if you choose to respond I won't engage you (edit - Because you have a history of ignoring reason and arguing for the sake of arguing). I merely want to ask you to quit being so reactionary, melodramatic, and absurd. I've read other articles about Miller and how he was raised and I personally have zero reason to think he's going to be a cancer or complain about playing time.

Get a grip.

 

[PapaG]

From scimming this thread I can tell you're all worked up, so if you choose to respond I won't engage you. I merely want to ask you to quit being so reactionary, melodramatic, and absurd. I've read other articles about Miller and how he was raised and I personally have zero reason to think he's going to be a cancer or complain about playing time.

Get a grip.

Oh dear Lord. How will I ever get over this snub?

"I'll lecture you at length about why I don't agree with your opinion, and I won't accept any return engagement to poke holes in my silly justifications."

 

[MARIS61]

First, he never accused his coach of lying. Nate never told him he'd come off the bench no matter what, just that he'd have to compete and earn it, it wasn't going to be given to him. So to me, the entire question and answer from the Marc Spears article is mute since it doesn't apply to reality. Miller knew he'd have an opportunity and he also knew it wasn't a forgone conclusion that he'd be a starter. Miller has never said otherwise, it appears he was just answering a rhetorical question, or the quote in question was part of a larger quote.

I also haven't seen any quote by Andre in which he's bitching about playing time. And why would he? We're three fucking games into the preseason. On the contrary, here's some of what he said:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/10/trail_blazers_andre_miller_and.html

I also haven't seen him pick phantom fights with the local media. He talked to Marc Spears because he felt he was being portrayed wrongly in a few articles and wanted his side of the story to be heard, that's hardly picking a fight. I'd do the same thing. In his own words:

He has every right to respond to what's written about him in a professional manner, and that's what he did because of stuff like:

From scimming this thread I can tell you're all worked up, so if you choose to respond I won't engage you (edit - Because you have a history of ignoring reason and arguing for the sake of arguing). I merely want to ask you to quit being so reactionary, melodramatic, and absurd. I've read other articles about Miller and how he was raised and I personally have zero reason to think he's going to be a cancer or complain about playing time.

Get a grip.

It must be painful to bend over backwards as far as you have to excuse Andre's boorish, me-first attitude. Your fictional revisionist accounting of how everything went down in your parallel universe is amusing, but fiction nonetheless.

I suppose you view Hitler as simply a misunderstood benefactor.

 

[PapaG]

edit - Because you have a history of ignoring reason and arguing for the sake of arguing.

Me not changing my opinion based on your own perception of Miller's words is not me 'ignoring reason'. I'm sorry if it frustrates you that I don't view Miller in the best light right now, but let me remind you, you answered me at length. I didn't ask for your own opinion, though I do appreciate you posting it.

I could have done without your personal attack, but I guess I'm not as petty as you are.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

If Miller produces, then alll will be forgotten . . . and that appears to be Millers's MO (let's his play on the court do his talking for him).

But could this apparent unease by Miller (if you believe the article) be the reason he wasn't high up on the Blazer's wish list?

 

[MARIS61]

If Miller produces, then alll will be forgotten . . . and that appears to be Millers's MO (let's his play on the court do his talking for him).

But could this apparent unease by Miller (if you believe the article) be the reason he wasn't high up on the Blazer's wish list?

One reason maybe, but I suspect the fact his style of play is not a good fit with this team was a bigger reason, and then there's the 4 teams that no longer required his services.

I still say it was an unwise PR move by an embattled KP to quiet the media critics.

You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.

[video=youtube;D8o6Os0xQf8]

 

[barfo]

I really think that song is great, from a story-telling point of view, but that rendition was amazingly limp. It reminds me of a cafeteria worker plopping mashed potatoes onto an endless line of trays. Is it 5 o'clock yet?

barfo

 

[STOMP]

I really think that song is great, from a story-telling point of view, but that rendition was amazingly limp. It reminds me of a cafeteria worker plopping mashed potatoes onto an endless line of trays. Is it 5 o'clock yet?

that or the greatest night ever in Branson.

STOMP