Portland GM Pritchard Stays Aggressive: Blazers in Talks with PG Andre Miller

Andre Miller is 33 years old. In his current 10-year career, he has never reached the second round of the playoffs.

Last year, with the Philadelphia 76ers, he only took 53 three-pointers and made just 15. He averaged nearly three turnovers per game, and didn’t run a particularly up-tempo style offense.

So, why would the Portland Trail Blazers open discussions with him?

Well, he has been a steady scorer in his career, and, given his abysmal three-point shooting, has wisely lived predominately on the mid-range jumper. Because of his successful perimeter game and unselfishness (he averaged nearly seven assists last season, a tad lower than his career mark) he has been a borderline All-Star and very dependable.

Evidently, Portland is desperate to make a big splash, and evidently, they don’t trust Steve Blake, nor are they completely sold on Jerryd Bayless as their point guard of the future.

Blake helped the Blazers win 54 games last season. He averaged 11 points, five assists, and was fifth in the NBA among guards with a 3.22 assist-to-turnover Ratio. That’s not good enough for Portland.

They want a veteran, which Blake is. But they want someone who is more veteran, Miller, to replace him, someone that is on his last legs who has something left in the tank.

Though this swap of sorts may seem to make little sense, Miller, even at his old age, can do a lot of things better than Blake: he runs an offense better, runs the pick-and-roll better, shoots better, even if his range is eighteen feet, and has a more versatile game; he posts up, and is more physical.

So, based on his upsides, General Manager Kevin Pritchard may not be as crazy for targeting him as I originally thought.

I think the Blazers could improve upon their 54-win season with Blake as their starter, mainly because, overall, he succeeded in their scheme, and forged a substaintial amount of chemistry with teammates that will only get better. But I’m not sure that they could challenge the beasts of the West and make a run in the playoffs with him as their starter.

This is Pritchard’s thinking. Miller would be a gamble, but, like I said when the Blazers were targeting small forward and current Toronto Raptor Hedo Turkoglu, he could take the pressure off Brandon Roy scoring-wise, and be able to consistently answer a run by the opposition with a burst of his own. So, perhaps he’s a gamble worth taking.

Throughout this free-agency period, I have wondered why Pritchard hasn’t expressed interest in younger guards such as restricted free-agent Ramon Sessions or current Charlotte Bobcat Raymond Felton. Now I know why.

He doesn’t want to block Bayless out entirely. He has faith in him, and still thinks, despite his scorer’s mentiality and iffy point guard skills, that he could take the reigns down the road. So, by signing Miller to, say, a two-year deal, Bayless has a mentor, a veteran and a proven star to look up to, and, once Miller’s contract expires, can take over at the sprightly age of 23.

A signing of Miller, an unrestricted free-agent, isn’t imminent, but is a distinct possibility. There had been rumblings that a sign-and-trade could be hashed out, meaning Miller would sign with Philadelphia, then be traded to the Blazers for Blake.

Now, it appears Pritchard is looking at Miller solely as a free-agent, and wouldn’t acquire him. So, instead of trading Blake for him, he could get another player of need, a backup power forward perhaps, for Blake and presumably Travis Outlaw.

If the Blazers feel the need to upgrade, and think Miller would fill their need, then pull the trigger. After all, given what he could bring to a team full of youth, he’s not a bad player to go after.