Mike Miller

Mike Miller
SF, 6’8, 218lbs, 37 years old, 17 years of experience

Has not said he will be retiring. However, with roster spots at a premium, and his own impact having dwindled to the point of being negligible, Miller’s main asset is his status as a heady veteran, which sounds more like an assistant coach than a fifteenth man.

Player Plan: Has an unguaranteed $3.5 million salary for next season. Worthy of the minimum or nothing at this point, however.

[...] The Grizzlies's roster is fairly young overall, but not the rotation, which is fairly old. Gasol is about to turn 29 and, when healthy, is at his career apex. Randolph is 32 and starting to slowly decline (although being so unreliant upon athleticism may make said decline a mercifully slow one). Allen is about to turn 32, while Prince is about to turn 34 and has lost his athleticism, jump shot and effectiveness. Mike Miller, the bench leader in minutes, is to turn 34 in a few weeks and is limited now to a one dimensional shooting specialist. The only rotation players to still be short of their primes are Conley (26), Bayless (25), Davis (24) and the sneaky-good Jon Leuer (24).

[...] Miami then signed Mike Miller, prioritising - rightly - their backup swingman spots before addressing their massive holes at point guard and centre. Miller signed a five year, $29 million deal starting at exactly $5,000,000; the addition of his salary, plus the removal of one roster charge, left the Heat with $3,574,426 in cap room.

[...] That leaves a market with few shooters on it. And those that are good shooters are either unsuitable or unavailable. Mike Miller's days of being able to defend opposing guards are pretty much over. Kyle Korver can't really do it either. I wouldn't want Quentin Richardson to attempt it. Anthony Morrow is desirable, but is not easy to get. J.J. Redick is also desirable, but he's restricted, and owned by a team who has spent extremely generously in the last two years. Roger Mason is OK, but he's no starter. And then there's Ray Allen, who, while an absolutely perfect fit for Chicago's roster, is setting records for Boston in the NBA Finals. He should be considered unavailable until further notice.

None of this would have been necessary, however, were it not for the mismanagement that put the team into the situation. Forgetting for a moment the slightly amazing decision to give $110 million to a man who will play in only 47 out of 246 games in three seasons, let's take a second look at the Wizards' past draft. Regardless of what you think of Ricky Rubio - and for the record, you should think a LOT of Ricky Rubio - you must accept that having him is better than having a combination of Randy Foye and Mike Miller. Miller was always destined to be a one year rental, and Foye was not equal in calibre to a top five draft pick, even in a bad draft. He, too, may not come back. As a basketball decision, the Wizards appeared to decide that one year of Mike and Randy was better than four years of cheap production from a quality young player. As a basketball decision, it was wrong.