We tried to tell you guys Miller is honestly the #2 best player and I want him on the rockets since we're not getting Wembanyama.
We've officially reached the "we're bored so let's just fabricate some drama" portion of the NBA draft process. Scoot is #2 lol. Let's start to wonder if Miller is #1 over Wemby while we're at it.
Miller is just as good of a prospect as scoot. Most of you were just told by online/espn that scoot was a clear pick after Wemby. Then you do everything you can to stick to that narrative. Folks are welcome to be scoot fans or want to draft him but the reality is he isn’t some generational or can’t miss prospect and Miller is absolutely right there with him in terms of who should probably be drafted after Wemby
Woj: There’s more than a growing sense of Brandon Miller not just challenging for the #2 spot but taking it over, barring revelations that we or the teams aren’t aware of yet. JG: That’s accurate. It’ll depend on what team gets that pick and their risk appetite. Brandon Miller is a safe pick at #2. He can play in any lineup with any type of player. He’s older than your average freshman (20 1/2). He’s improved considerably every step of the way. I’ve seen him from a very early age. He did not enter this draft as a projected top 5 pick or even top 10 pick. He struggled early in the year. UConn did a good job slowing him down. North Carolina he shot 4/21. There was some real questions about him athletically, can he get his own shot, how good of a finisher is he around the basket, he was shooting under 40% inside the arc but going into SEC play, he’s improved dramatically every week. He’s become more of a playmaker for his team. He’s a 6’9 guy. He can handle the ball, terrific pushing off the glass, P&R, sees over the top of defenses, can pass to either corner, unselfish player. And he has that one skill every team is looking for which is he’s a dynamic shot maker. Making 3 threes a game, 40% from 3, 86% from the FT line and he makes tough ones - step backs, pulling up off the dribble, pushing in transition and elevating - that’s what the modern game is all about right now. Woj: His trajectory in contrast to Scoot, his season has been far more uneven. The player people saw (vs Wemby) and maybe coronated at that time that this is so clear cut 1-2. Nobody had Miller in that conversation. What has happened to Scoot? JG: Inconsistent by some, underwhelming by others just in terms of the progression you were hoping to see. He looks bored out there. I was just out there last week in Atlanta. Homecoming game for him. Lot of people in the stands. He laid an egg. Brought very little intensity on defense. Bad shot after bad shot. Bad decision after bad decision. You’re sitting there with teams and how pure of a PG is this guy? We know he’s an incredible athlete. Big strong frame. Embraces contact. In terms of getting others involved and playmaking, we haven’t seen him take that next step and shooting has been disappointing. Lackadaisical intensity on defense. Ignite have played 45 games, he’s only played in 25. Sometimes he’s there, sometimes he isn’t. How much is him, how much is load management with the Ignite? Then you have Miller. Every game player. There’s a comfort level with a guy who is SEC player of the year. 6’9, can plug him into a NBA roster tonight. He’ll score, pass, make things happen on defense, rebound. That’s an easy player to play with. Scoot, you need to put the ball in his hands and you’re probably gonna be bad next year. Detroit(Cade/Ivey), Charlotte(LaMelo), Orlando(Banchero), Miller is a better fit for those organizations. Houston, what will they do? Sengun is at his best with the ball. You have Kevin Porter Jr. You have Jalen Green. You want to get Jabari Smith going. The fact Miller can play without the ball is intriguing. … Woj: Prior to the shooting, what was the consensus about Miller about what people knew about him and how he was regarded by teams away from the floor? JG: I never heard any real concerns about any of this stuff. I was shocked when it came out. NBA teams said this isn’t the intel we have on Miller. Everyone says quiet kid, nice kid, life of the party, normal guy so this was shocking to hear this. If what his attorney states is the case regarding his involvement, if accurate, that’ll bring some comfort to teams. Spoiler You can have Scooter Westbrook Jr. I’m out.
I have Scoot at 2, but I don’t think it’s “fabricated” drama. There are concerns with Scoot. He’s short. He’s shooting .275 from 3. His shooting splits have actually gone down in some places this season. His defensive rating is 119. Etc.
The improvement of Brandon Miller over the course of the season has been exceptional. He started the season as essentially just a three point shooter dependent on his teammates getting him open looks. As the season has progressed, he has shown the ability to shoot contested threes, to put the ball on the floor, to get into the paint and to finish inside. There is a real possibility that he can be the most valuable asset in the NBA - a long and tall scorer and creator like Harden, Luka and a small number of others. With a strong tournament, he is very likely to lock down the #2 pick, which is amazing all things considered - and it really isn't an indictment against Henderson as much as it is that Miller is bigger and a better shooter. Why take a 6'3" creator and scorer when you can have one that is 6'10" with a 7'3" wingspan.......... and the shooting is real, he is shooting is 50/40/86. Right now Miller doesn't have a lot of assists, most of the creation is for himself - but with his handle and confidence, it doesn't take a lot of projecting to see him running an offense of at least being a #2 ball handler. Wembanyana Miller Henderson Those three all are premium prospects. Amen Thompson and Nick Smith have premium upside but with more volatility because of inconsistency, injuries or level of competition.
I think Miller at 2 over Scoot is a very real possibility. Like they mentioned in the pod, there's a handful of teams at the bottom who have their PG situation set (Detroit, Charlotte, Orlando, Indiana). A strong tournament and deep run from Miller can cement that #2 spot.
I think this team needs a guard with experience. Harden/van fleet/(anyone else?) and draft Cason Wallace. From what I have read a few times he is the best defensively gifted guard in a few drafts. Perfect to pair with Green. Have him come off the bench for a season or two then Van Fleet could transition to the bench. You take your best shot with Victor/Cam Whitmore/Brandon Miller. Then you have an actual TEAM. Not a one person team and Silas can take apparently what is a desired one man approach and go somewhere else. van fleet/Wallace Green/Christopher Martin/Miller Eason/Tate Jabari/Sengun or really go in on quick improvement Van Fleet/Wallace Green/Christopher Bridges/Eason Victor W/Martin Jabari/Garuba Trade what you need to move up and get Wallace with the Clippers pick. Trade Sengun/TyTy/KPJ Nets assets for Bridges. Wallace/Bridges/Victor/Jabari could be a defensive powerhouse.
So the rest of the world is coming around to where I have been on Scoot and Miller - pioneers get slaughtered, settlers thrive. First one through that wall is always criticized. DD
[…] And one opinion starting to solidify for executives in front offices across the NBA is that Alabama forward Brandon Miller is very much in the conversation at No. 2 overall, behind Wembanyama. This is not a media creation or something with which people are trying to drum up interest at the top of a draft that has had precious little intrigue thus far. It is not a foregone conclusion that Henderson will be picked at No. 2. I’ve talked with a number of lead front-office executives as well as high-level scouts who either think the margin between Miller and Henderson is razor thin or just have Miller ahead at this point. This is a very stark departure from what has been portrayed throughout the season, when Henderson has been seen at No. 2 on nearly every public-facing big board or mock draft since the preseason up until the last month. Heck, the NBA put on an entire scouting event for Henderson’s Ignite and Wembanyama’s Metropolitans 92 to face off against each other. I still have Henderson at No. 2 on my own mock draft and big board, even following these discussions with teams. He’s an elite-level competitor with elite athleticism, terrific passing and playmaking ability and high-end shot creation upside. I completely buy him. Miller is in the same tier for me, but I’m a believer in Henderson as something like a combination of Anthony Edwards and Derrick Rose. But the Henderson-Miller conversation has become real over the course of the last few weeks for many who work within NBA front offices. There are a few reasons for that. Largely, it has do with Miller’s play. He’s shown improvement over the course of the season in the exact areas in which scouts wanted to see growth. This isn’t a case where Henderson doesn’t necessarily look like a top pick anymore; it’s that Miller looks like a real option there too. Despite being a year and a half older than Henderson, Miller’s growth trajectory, per these sources, is on a positive plane we’ll talk about below. All of this, of course, is barring any further fallout from Miller’s situation at Alabama. A police investigator testified in court last month that Miller brought then-teammate Darius Miles the gun that was used in the Jan. 15 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris. Miller’s attorney rebutted the report, and Miller has remained an active member of the team. Miles and Michael Lynn Davis, who is not associated with the university, have been charged with capital murder. Prior to the shooting, NBA team sources, who were granted anonymity so that they could speak freely, indicated the cursory early-season background checks they had done into Miller had come back positively. However, this situation has shined a new light onto Miller, and teams will want to do their own due diligence to get all of the information they possibly can. If nothing changes regarding the current information at NBA teams’ disposal, Miller will be in the mix to be the No. 2 overall pick. Miller, a 6-foot-9 wing, is averaging 19.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3 on over seven attempts per game. He is considered a solid defender — not a future All-Defense guy like Paul George, but one who could end up as above average in the vein of a Khris Middleton. However, it’s the rate of improvement over this last month that has made scouts extremely excited. The first question scouts had revolved around Miller’s shot creation off the bounce, particularly going forward toward the rim. Over his first nine games, Miller shot a disastrous 32.8 percent from inside the arc, displaying difficulty getting all the way to the rim because of poor footwork on his drives and an ability to get bumped off balance. Throughout SEC play, Miller nearly doubled that mark, shooting 61.6 percent from 2-point range. In large part, that came from having better plans on his drives. Instead of aimlessly driving and predetermining his move, Miller is now reacting to what defenders present to him and maneuvering around them to get cleaner pathways toward the basket. His last step acceleration has really improved to be able to separate from defenders for that last instant, and he’s done a better job of using his frame to shield defenders from his path with the ball to the basket. Throughout the process, I’ve been higher on Miller’s ability to string out defenders in ball screens and force those mismatch opportunities against bigs. His handle has never been all that poor; he just hasn’t gotten the most out of that footwork when driving forward toward the rim. Getting to a stepback and being able to drag defenders out is a different skill than attacking the rim. Now that he has worked through the footwork and can play through contact a bit more, everything is coming together in a tangible way for him as an attack-oriented player who can get to the rim. Over his last 12 games, per Synergy, Miller is actually getting to the basket for four shots within 5 feet of the rim per game in the half court (not including transition opportunities). He’s making those at a 58 percent clip, which is good given that he’s self-creating most of them on drives as opposed to finding those shots off cuts. Off this improved driving patience and skill has come the development of his passing and playmaking. Miller has showcased some high-level, complex reads over the last few weeks that have heartened scouts into believing he can be a player who acts as a secondary initiator of an offense in time. He averaged 3.5 assists over Alabama’s last five games, including a few impressive cross-corner kick-outs and live-dribble looks that showcased impressive vision, as well as the ability to execute high-end reads with one hand. Long seen as something of a point forward at the prep levels, it took a bit of time for Miller to get comfortable with this part of his game at the college level. He’s there now, as you’ll see here.
Essentially, Miller has turned what were perceived to be weaknesses early in the season into strengths. He looks like the kind of prototype bigger wing creator who can defend at a reasonable level who teams covet across the league. Every NBA team I talk to is trying to find guys with plus positional size, athleticism, shooting ability and basketball IQ. Miller ticks some of those boxes more than others, but he doesn’t take anything off of the table in any one of those categories either. This is the player type NBA teams are trying to move heaven and earth to acquire. They’re arguably the hardest type of player to find, and they’re incredibly valuable when they hit. All of this is why Miller has moved into the conversation at No. 2. This isn’t to say he’ll go higher than Henderson, but it will depend on the team that gets the pick now. It also has helped Miller that Henderson put together arguably his worst month in two years with the Ignite program post-All-Star break. In those eight games, Henderson averaged just 14.9 points while shooting 39 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3. Within that stretch, Henderson also averaged 7.5 assists and upped his rebounding rate substantially. But on the whole, scouts who have seen the Ignite recently have come away just a touch underwhelmed given expectations. And now it looks like Henderson is going to shut things down, as ESPN reported on Tuesday that Henderson will not play in the Ignite’s final five games. There’s some truth and some fallacy to many of the arguments surrounding Henderson, even from scouts. Some will point to Henderson’s low free-throw rate as evidence that he’s settling too much and might not be an elite driver. I agree Henderson settled far too much recently, but his free-throw rate isn’t great evidence of that. He has only taken about three free-throw attempts per game this season. But in the G League, you only get one free throw attempt on shooting fouls for the first 46 minutes of a game. Only seven players in the entire league who have played in at least 20 games are averaging at least four free throws per game this season. Henderson is 32nd in the league in free throws drawn per game among those 324 players who have seen action in at least 20 games. You’d probably like to see that ranking a bit higher given his explosiveness, but I don’t think it’s a flag. What is a bit more concerning is that Henderson, an elite athlete with power and physicality to spare in a shredded 6-foot-2 frame featuring a 6-foot-9 wingspan and enormous hands, took 93 shots at the rim in the half court versus 149 midrange jumpers this season. Too often, Henderson seemed comfortable to just get into that midrange area and fire up a 15-footer from the elbows. He’s pretty terrific in the middle of the floor and from the right elbow but hasn’t made a ton from the left side of the floor yet. It’s not all that dissimilar from what we’ve seen from past elite athletes as teenagers. Edwards took just over 100 shots at the rim versus 224 shots from outside of 13 feet in his season at Georgia, per Synergy. Rose took 172 jumpers on 253 half-court shot attempts at Memphis in 2007-08, per Synergy. You can certainly make the case that Henderson, playing on an NBA-spaced court, should have an easier time getting to the rim. But there are real caveats there. The Ignite are not a team that shoots the ball well. They take the fewest 3s per game in the G League. The team tries to stick Henderson to elite shooting 2012 first-round pick John Jenkins in lineup combinations, but he’s really the only guy providing any space out there. Leonard Miller and Sidy Cissoko are not respected as shooters by opponents. Center Eric Mika has not attempted a 3 this season and is not a particularly vertical rim-runner. London Johnson, Cameron Young and Mojave King, Henderson’s three next-most common lineup partners, all shoot about 32 percent from 3. To me, it seems like Henderson has things in neutral right now. There are moments when he decides to truly dominate. But more often than not when watching him, it seems like we’re watching an ultra competitor who has nothing to actually compete for. Nobody cares if the G League Ignite wins or loses. Henderson’s been told he’s locked into the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 draft for over a year. I wouldn’t blame Henderson if he was making a business decision to try to avoid contact to not get hurt — especially given that he’s already suffered a nasal fracture, an ankle injury and a concussion this season. His recent play, where he rarely seems to get into areas with traffic and doesn’t seem all that engaged on the defensive end, would line up with that mindset. I don’t blame him for shutting things down given all of those factors. Many people around the league are largely willing to give Henderson a relative pass. I haven’t talked to anyone within the NBA who is actually worried about his play. But the race for the No. 2 overall pick is actually competitive, and Miller’s play has really made it a question for NBA teams.
https://theathletic.com/4310351/2023/03/15/hollinger-nba-draft-henderson-miller/ Is there a race for No. 2? I alluded to this in my column Monday when I wrote about Scoot Henderson’s somewhat disappointing season with G League Ignite, but Alabama’s Brandon Miller is making the No. 2 spot on draft boards a competition. Teams are going to have a lot of questions about Miller. A police investigator testified in court last month that Miller brought then-teammate Darius Miles a gun that was used in the Jan. 15 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris. Miller’s attorney rebutted the report, and Miller has remained an active member of the Crimson Tide. Teams are doing extensive due diligence on Miller and his background. On the court, Miller has made an impression. A 6-foot-9 wing who can handle the ball, shoot with range and defend on the perimeter, Miller is the prototype for the positionless league of big, skilled wings. While his shot can come out a bit flat, he has shot 40.1 percent from the 3-point arc on massive volume (12.6 attempts per 100 possessions) and 85.6 percent from the line. I’d say he’s a plus-shooter. Miller also offers rebounding from the small forward spot, secondary rim protection and passes the ball well enough in the pick-and-roll to serve as a primary initiator. I tend to put more weight on conference games than the rest of the season because the teams are better and heavily scouted. Several games also are rematches. And in conference games, Miller was even better, with a 28.1 PER and some excellent point efficiency — 61.6 percent on 2s with a high free-throw rate and 63.5 percent true shooting overall. Are there warts here? Sure, but you have to stare hard. Despite his size, Miller isn’t a particularly explosive or instinctive finisher around the rim. He’s also not a disruptive defender with low rates of stocks for this archetype. Finally, he’s an “old” freshman who will turn 21 in November — Henderson is 16 months younger, which is a big deal when you’re plotting out potential development growth. But this isn’t some kind of foggy upside play — Miller might be the best perimeter player in college basketball right now. Between his positional value and immediate dividends, it no longer seems zany to talk about him going second.
lol get over yourself. You are the guy who would rather have Keegan Murray over Jabari, who is 3 years younger and averaging more points, more rebound and better defense, over the same minutes. His shooting efficiency is getting better too. You also thought Paolo would be the 3rd option on our team. Self aggrandizing is a bad look with your draft take track record. Not that anyone is ammune lol
A top 3 heavy draft is great news for us. No matter who we end up with. We just need to secure one of those top 3 picks.
