Denver Nuggets: Should They Trade Andre Miller?
The Denver Nuggets are in an odd place this season, one they haven’t been in for quite a few years. With general manager Masai Ujiri at the helm for the past few seasons, Denver’s roster has always been set. Like a well-oiled machine, Ujiri deftly turned mediocre pieces into slightly better ones so that even when changes were made, the Nuggets improved and kept their continuity intact. Over the course of an offseason that can only be described as “Red Wedding-esque,” the Nuggets made a lot of personnel changes and for the first time in a long time, they weren’t all worthy of praise. But what does this influx of point guards mean for Andre Miller?
Miller can only be described as Denver’s wily veteran. At the age of 37, he’s by far the oldest player on the Nuggets. Miller is set to make $5 million this season and another $4.6 million in 2014-15 before becoming an unrestricted free agent. Playing behind Ty Lawson last season, Miller averaged an efficient 9.6 points and 5.9 assists in 26 minutes per game for a Nuggets team that looked like a Western Conference dark horse heading into the playoffs. He also finished in the top 20 in the league for total assists (484) and assist percentage (32.2 percent).
Miller’s production was often overlooked during the regular season because of the excitement Corey Brewer brought off the bench, but Denver’s old backup showed his veteran leadership in Game 1 of the first round against the Golden State Warriors, when he exploded for 28 points, including a nifty game-winning layup, to give Denver the win. While the rest of the Nuggets stalled on offense, Miller scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead a deer-in-the-headlights, George Karl-in-the-playoffs Nuggets team to victory.
So why give up a valuable asset (on a manageable contract) so easily? Well first of all, there’s a personnel issue. The Nuggets signed Nate Robinson to an ultra-bargain deal of $4 million for two years and also brought in Randy Foye as part of the Andre Iguodala three-team trade. The leaves Denver with Lawson, Miller, Foye and Robinson all vying for minutes at the point guard position.
Now, it’s true that the Nuggets will likely move Foye into the starting lineup at the shooting guard position since he’s 6’4″ and could form a pretty effective duo with Lawson on the offensive end. But how many undersized guards can Denver afford to play in a single game? Or over the course of an entire season for a playoff hopeful team? Lawson is listed as 5’11”, Robinson embodies Mighty Mouse even more at 5’9″ and old man Miller is barely 6’2″. The Nuggets’ defense was already 23rd in the league last year in points allowed per game with Iguodala, so things certainly aren’t going to get better now that he’s gone and the undersized Foye will be taking his place on the wing.
The personnel issue doesn’t stop there, however. First-year coach Brian Shaw has an awfully daunting challenge ahead of him in trying to find playing time for everyone on Denver’s solid roster. The difficulty lies in the fact that almost every single player on that roster is good, but not great, and there’s not too much difference between some starters and some bench players. Add in the fact that Evan Fournier may be ready for more responsibility, that Shaw will have to work Danilo Gallinari back into the mix once he’s healthy, that J.J. Hickson puts up double-double numbers to earn minutes but plays zero defense and that Denver has four guards at 6’4″ and below, and Shaw will have plenty of headaches to deal with this season.
Brian Shaw should prove to be a good coach in time, but Denver’s roster won’t make things easy on him in his first season. (Photo courtesy of The White House Office of the Press Secretary via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brian_Shaw.jpg#file)
Simply put, the Nuggets have very little reason to hang on to Miller. With Danilo Gallinari sidelined for awhile and Iggy gone, this won’t be Denver’s year to contend for a title. If anything, that was last season. JaVale McGee has to grow accustomed to more minutes as the starting center, Kenneth Faried still isn’t ready for the big stage and Lawson’s great but not excellent play hasn’t been enough to lift the Nuggets in the past. At this stage in his career, a savvy vet like Miller is effective only as a backup on a team that will be contending for a title, and that team is not Denver.
By trading Miller, the Nuggets free up a pretty good amount of money considering they’d only be giving up a backup point guard. The Nuggets are short-handed on the wing, with guys like Foye, Evan Fournier and Wilson Chandler being asked to assume too much responsibility this season. Obviously Denver won’t be getting any superstars in return for a valuable bench asset like Miller, but the reduced playing time he gets with so many guards to choose from could hurt his production and overall value to the team.
General manager Tim Connelly said he doesn’t plan on trading Andre Miller and that the Nuggets go “three deep” at each position. But don’t be fooled. Robinson’s a cheaper and potentially more productive alternative, which means Denver’s not-so-distant days of needing Miller are close to an end. At this point, Miller is just clogging up a rotation that will already be hard enough to handle for a first-year coach. And if the Nuggets can work out a favorable or even decent deal for Miller, they will pull the trigger.
Andre Miller has proven to be a serviceable backup to Ty Lawson in his time with the Nuggets. In fact, if it weren’t for his late Game 1 heroics in the playoffs, the Nuggets’ already disappointing playoff exit could have been an even more disappointing sweep. But one decent postseason performance that still ended in an L for the team doesn’t make a backup point guard indispensable, especially one who’s set to make $9 million over the next two seasons. And now that the dynamic Nate Robinson and shot-happy Randy Foye are on board, the Nuggets should see what they can get for Andre Miller.
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