| 13 January 2010
There have been times over the past few months where Andre Miller has been locally and nationally dubbed the odd man out in Portland. I don’t think anyone would argue with that.
Miller wouldn’t even argue with that.
But whether his blowup with head coach Nate McMillan last week at the practice facility cured that ill or his recent solid play at the point made people forget, it appears Miller is settling in with the Blazers as mid-January rolls around.
The Oregonian’s own Jason Quick dove into this discussion with his late Tuesday night story on Miller finding his “comfort zone”, where Miller explained “people weren't comfortable with me. And I wasn’t comfortable.”
“I don't know, I guess because I'm quiet. But if you get to know me, I'm actually really talkative and playful. But as I have gotten older, I take basketball as a business,” Miller continued.
Cue the “these things take time” sound bite Miller, Roy, McMillan and even GM Kevin Pritchard have all been reciting since the season started.
Reading those lines about Miller though, I couldn’t help but think of a recent conversation with Brandon Roy where he talked about Miller – as I touched on towards the end of my feature story that ran on SLAMonline on Monday. In it, Roy preaches patience between him and Miller on the floor, admitting that things – the two building chemistry on the court for starters – are going to take time. But as Portland’s already seen signs of growth in that area, their overall relationship feels as if it’s also maturing.
“He talked to us about a month ago and said he was a quiet guy. He kind of let us know who he was when he introduced himself to the team. I thought that was cool,” Roy said over the weekend.
“He’s been on the inside. I hope he feels like it. The thing about this is, you have to accept everyone in the locker room. If a guy is quiet, you have to accept that he is quiet and reach out to him. He does a great job. We joke and laugh in the locker room.”
Remember last season when so much was made of Travis Outlaw bringing together Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and how their friendship developed from there? I don’t necessarily believe Roy and Miller are headed in that direction just yet, but if so, both guys are going to have to meet in the middle minus Outlaw as mediator.
The Blazers need both Roy and Miller clicking in unison.
In their own personal ways, they already are.
photo: bruce ely/oregon live
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