Denver Nuggets: Would Mike Miller Be A Good Fit?

Mike Miller is the kind of player you hate to play against but would love to have on your team … if your team is a title contender. Fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and LeBron James haters all over most likely despised Miller in the NBA Finals: He seemed like he was a banged-up, washed-up, hobbled old man until he started draining wide open 3s  that usually led to a swing in momentum or kept Miami’s run going.

There was the decisive Game 5 of the 2012 NBA Finals, when Miller nailed 7-of-8 3-point attempts to bury the Thunder’s title hopes. And then this year, after only averaging 4.8 points per game and shooting 42 percent from downtown all season, Miller showed up when it mattered in the Finals, shooting 61 percent from 3-point range and starting the last four games of the series. I’d guess those kind of performances made Miller more annoying to fans cheering against the Heat than anyone not named LeBron or Shane Battier (for the same reason: An older, slower player knocking down backbreaking 3s).

But now that he’s been amnestied by the champions, that game that annoyed so many fans is now given the respect it deserves and is being sought out by numerous Western Conference contenders. The Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets have all presented themselves as strong suitors for this 3-point specialist. Kevin Durant and Marc Gasol have even reached out in an effort to win him over. And now, the Denver Nuggets have thrown their name into the ring as well.

The Thunder seem to make the most sense because they have Durant and Russell Westbrook to take the attention off a gifted shooter like Miller, which would provide him with plenty of open looks like he grew accustomed to with the Heat. The Grizzlies want him because they desperately need perimeter shooting and the Rockets’ effective “3-pointer or layup” brand of offense could always do with another shooter. But how would Miller fit in with the Nuggets?

Miller has made it pretty clear that he intends to sign with a Western Conference powerhouse, which makes sense since he’s not quick enough to get off his shot on a team without other strong offensive threats. Miller is useful as a complementary piece, not a main weapon. In Denver, that’s exactly what he’d be for a team short on shooting guards and small forwards. After losing Andre Iguodala to the Golden State Warriors and Corey Brewer to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver will most likely be starting Wilson Chandler and Evan Fournier now. No offense to those two promising pieces that made the Nuggets one of the most well-rounded and complete rosters in the NBA last season, but you can’t really win playoff games with Chandler and Fournier starting and no one to back them up.

That’s where Mike Miller comes in. He’s not in his prime anymore, he’s a liability on defense and he’d have a hard time creating his shot if he were starting, but coming off the bench? The Nuggets still have Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, JaVale McGee and other promising young pieces after all. Lawson is lightning quick and a master of penetration and the rest of Denver’s starters are talented enough to take most of the attention off Miller, which means he’d have plenty of open looks.

It’s anyone’s guess at this point how Denver’s high-flying offense will play under new coach Brian Shaw, but the pieces are all there to get Miller open looks should he choose to suit up in Denver blue this season. He’s a weak spot on defense, sure, but since Iguodala left, does anyone on the Nuggets really play great defense? One of Denver’s best perimeter defenders and 3-point shooters, Danilo Gallinari, won’t be back for awhile. Adding Mike Miller will only fix one of those problems, but since the Nuggets are still going to be weak defensively anyway, they might as well stock up on offensive weapons.