BOSTON — The old man can still ball.
When Andre Miller was drafted eighth overall in the 1999 NBA draft, AOL was still mailing CDs loaded with 30 free hours of online service. Cell phones were only for super-rich people. The Charlotte Bobcats didn’t exist.
Yet at 38, Miller is still playing, still a contributing member of the rising Washington Wizards and still surprising much younger opponents like Miami Heat rookie Shabazz Napier with some occasional razzle-dazzle.
Miller smiled when asked about that play before his recent visit to TD Garden.
“I think the players that know me and that have played with me know I can still do a lot of things,” Miller said, putting down a stapled pack of game notes to answer questions while his teammates browsed on their iPads. “I think it was more of a big deal, not about the move, but about how old I am. People make jokes about the age, but it’s something that a lot of players do in this league. It’s more that I’m the ‘old guy’ doing it.”
Once painfully shy, Miller has opened up over the years. Maybe it’s because, in his 16 pro seasons, he’s seen enough to have a unique perspective on how the league has evolved.
“I think it’s more just management and teams having to figure out in a short amount of time a player’s potential, and the team having to decide whether to keep them or not,” Miller said. “Really, you don’t have to prove yourself as much now as you had to then. You’d probably have to take four, five years to get the respect of players around the league. Now, you can play five, 10, 15 good games and get a $70-, $80-million contract. That’s how it is, I guess.”
Miller says all this matter-of-factly, without bitterness. He has “a lot of respect” for the league’s younger stars, loves how the game has grown globally with the Internet and social media. He is a mentor to Wizards guard John Wall. He’s banked more than $91 million in his career, according to Basketball Reference. He has no reason to feel sour grapes.
Celtics point guard Phil Pressey, 23, almost cannot recall the NBA pre-Miller. Now in his second NBA season, Pressey has come to admire a player who was easy to overlook as a fan.
“He’s always in the right position on defense, never turning the ball over and leading his team whenever he’s out there,” Pressey said. “Always making sure everybody’s in the right spots and pretty much not losing any slack when he’s in there for Wall. I’m not going to say points-wise or scoring-wise, but you can always see the offense is moving efficiently and everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to do.”
He’s not done, either. Although his contract expires at the end of the season, Miller said he could play another two or three years — maybe more. If so, he could become the 23rd player to play into his 40s, before retiring to dominate pick-up games at the YMCA for the next 15 or 20 years.
Other loose balls from around the NBA:
— I give zero cares about the British royals’ visit, but here’s Dikembe Mutombo sitting with them and getting pumped at the Brooklyn Nets game Monday night:
[tweet https://twitter.com/Glidehoyas/status/542310679173414912 align=’center’]
— In one of the shockers of this young season, Flip Saunders’ Minnesota Timberwolves did not beat the Golden State Warriors on Monday. The revitalized Warriors, who finally have an offense under first-year head coach Steve Kerr worthy of a roster that includes Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, are running roughshod over the league. They have won 13 games in a row, nine of them by double digits.
“Ever play Risk?” Saunders asked reporters after the Wolves’ 102-86 loss. “I feel like I’m Macedonia with two people and I’m surrounded by 50 people and have to roll 12s 49 straight times.”
Here’s a simpler board game-related analogy: The Warriors are playing chess, while the rest of the NBA is playing checkers.
— Say what you want about Wall — he gets a little out of control sometimes, his shooting could improve, he turns the ball over a bit much — but he’s grown into one of the NBA’s seemingly good guys. Longtime Boston Celtic Paul Pierce, now a teammate in Washington, raved about Wall’s desire to go from “good to great,” and Wall’s emotional breakdown on live TV after the death of 6-year-old Damiyah Telemaque-Nelson to cancer Monday showed he’s not your stereotypical detached athlete.
Thumbnail photo via Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports Images
