Did Reggie Miller singlehandedly make the Pacers championship contenders? Absolutely not, that was a fairly balanced team with many important contributors. Run TMC was not a great team but not a bad team either, made it to the second round 3 times I think. If you replaced Richmond or Mullin with Reggie Miller, would that team now become a championship contender? I don't think so. I stand corrected on Mullin's defense but he was a better playmaker and arguably a better scorer, and Miller is not a plus defender. Richmond I think was a decent defender. There is almost no distinction between SG/SF anyways. Basically my argument against Miller is that he was a one dimensional player, a scorer, and he was not a great scorer. I don't think anyone would claim that he was above average in any other facet of the game, and as a scorer, he was not great; he only finished in the top 10 in scoring once. Sure he was a great shooter, but Steve Kerr was a great shooter too, was he even a good player? Just being a great shooter can't be the determiner of how good a player was. Also, was Miller an elite guard of his era? I think that's arguable; he only got 3 All-NBA Third Teams, Mullin, Richmond, and even Glen Rice have outperformed that. I know the memorable buzzer beaters are there but I think that's clouded perceptions of what Miller actually did in the NBA.
an old school hard foul will get you ejected or at least called for an intentional now adays unless you are derrick fisher.
this is an example is east coast media. reggie miller goes off on a good new york team in and he gets a doc? in the same series for example as the miami hurricane dynasty. did they run out of things to talk about that fast? the guy was an above average shooting guard on an above average team
Reggie Miller >>> T-Mac. /eom HOF no doubt. He did the 8 pts in 8 seconds before T-Mac's 13 in 35. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjPzgisMh3w Or you can say T-Mac is a flashier Reggie Miller without heart.
Sorry for double post, I was thinking /end of discussion (eod) but ended up /eom (habbit LOL). A extra link for people who missed that game on TV back then... a play by play transcript of that historic moment from espn. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=moments/90
This doc was made from the perspective of a Knicks fan. When Jordan left the league, many Knick fans felt that Miller was the biggest obstacle in getting a championship which was "rightfully theirs." Plain and simple. Those series were the most emotional for them.
Wow its amazing how your criteria for being a good player is "singlehandedly making a team championship contenders". How many guys do that? Kobe and Wade couldn't do it, does that make them inferior players? Reggie Miller wasn't the best, but as far as I can see not only was he really clutch, he was also well rounded and above average in all areas of the game. He had good bball IQ, and while his D wasn't Jordan or Pippen style lockdown it was still good. He also had good passing skills and good leadership abilities as well. When he was still playing the East wasn't such a joke, teams like the Knicks were competitive and the Pacers were a decent team while he still played for them. None of his qualities stand out but as a sum of his parts players as well rounded as Reggie are pretty rare in the league. He was definitely one of the premier players in the league during his time IMHO.
I'll say it again- it's Reggie's playoff numbers that separate him. Not just buzzer beaters. Go look at his playoff scoring averages. I really wish I could find some 4th quarter scoring averages- remember when we all made a big deal about how Landry was so good in the 4th quarter? That was Reggie in the playoffs for his entire career. He might have been one-dimensional from a talent perspective (though he was better at getting to the basket than given credit for, but he was such a good shooter that he rarely drove), but that one talent is what is demanded most at his position. Is an NBA GM looking for a shooting guard than can do everything but shoot? No. A guy can be an athletic, good-passing, and good defending shooting guard, but if he has no shot he's not going to play (think Bruce Bowen without a shot). But a guy who can hit from anywhere on the floor, including 40% from long range? And doesn't suck on defense? And performs even better in the 4th quarter? And isn't just a stand-still shooter, but can shoot on the run and off balance? You make the call. And Steve Kerr? Seriously? You're comparing a guy who couldn't even get off the bench to an all-star.
Richmond, Mullin, Glen Rice were all fine shooters too, not quite as good as Reggie but still very good. The reason I bring up Kerr is that if you want to use "great shooter" to say that Miller was great, Kerr was a better shooter and nobody thinks he is even a good player. Don't bring out "great shooter", as some people have to justify that Reggie Miller was really elite, it doesn't determine anything. I really don't care that much if he was a great shooter, I care if he was a great scorer, and he wasn't. As for playoff scoring average, Tracy McGrady has one of the highest of all time in that regard, so that stat is suspect. Mullin and Richmond also had high scoring numbers in the playoffs when they were in their primes. roslolian, Lebron has done it for example, Duncan, but the Pacers were really quite a balanced team and to call it "Miller + scrubs" is really doing a great disservice to what that team was, much, much more than calling the current Cavs "Lebron + scrubs" or the current Lakers "Kobe + scrubs". Smits was a fine low post scorer and very close second to Miller in scoring, they'd count on him at times in the playoffs to deliver and by and large he did. The Davises were a tough defensive presence but could also score down low. They had Jalen Rose on their team, Mark Jackson was still a very good PG who was a threat down low to post up other PG's, etc. Also Miller was not above average in any other phase of the game.
You make it sound like Reggie Miller was just a spot up shooter and had no other scoring capabilities. He wasn't a pure scorer like Jordan, Kobe, or Carmelo today, but he wasn't just camped out at the three point line his whole career either. He got to the foul line pretty well too from driving to the basket. I'm not trying to put him up there with Jordan, Kobe, Drexler, etc. But he's clearly better than Mullin and Richmond, and arguably better than Glen Rice. You can't just say "well, substitute Richmond/Mullin for Reggie on the Pacers and they get the same result." That's pure assumption without any evidence to back it up- Mullin and Richmond don't get a pass just because they never played in the biggest games during their prime. By that logic you could say that Mcgrady is as great as Kobe, just that Mcgrady never got the chance to prove it- there is no doubt that Tracy never had the supporting cast that Kobe has had, but that doesn't automatically put him in the same class as Kobe. The fact is that Reggie had a longer career and more success than them period, and there is no doubt that he was more feared with the ball in the 4th quarter. Being able to closeout games is a premium trait, and what makes a guy like Kobe Bryant even greater than his talent level. You are right that those Pacer teams were not full of scrubs, but they would have been a borderline playoff team without Reggie, and first round fodder without him carrying them in the playoffs. Smits was terribly inconsistent, and they really had no other true scoring threat until Jalen Rose. The Davis brothers were very good defensively and rebounding, but only Antonio had any post-game whatsoever. They were put together very well, but it's really a testament to Larry Brown and then Larry Bird's coaching that they got as far as they did.
Without question the greatest Pacer, and one of the greatest shooters of all time. Should be in the hall of fame, and deserved a title
Reggie should have really had a ring. That team that had Jermaine O'neal, Artest, and Tinsley all in their primes, plus a very good Reggie Miller had so much talent. If it was not for the brawl at the palace that year, I think they would have won the championship. Such disappointment....
I'm talking about the years when Jordan first left. The Heat-Knick beat downs happened years later when Jordan was back in the league.
