George Karl, Andre Miller And Their Eternal Partnershup

According to George Karl, the Sacramento Kings‘ newly instated head coach, veteran point guard Andre Miller is one of the best “true” point guards in NBA history — top-five, in fact.

This was what Karl had to say about Miller back in January 2013:

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“I’m taking about a true point guard who plays the game the way a point guard should play, not (necessarily) with the three-ball and the scoring point guards. But the ‘trueness’ of the position, I think he’s one of the best.”

While the definition of a “true” point guard has always been ambiguous and subjective, Miller is perhaps one of the most unorthodox — in terms of style — point guards of all-time. The only comparison that comes to mind is, perhaps, Mark Jackson; who had better natural court vision than Miller, but was not the crafty scorer that the Professor was/is.

Miller is deliberate and shifty, never the quickest but always seemed to get where he needed to go. He couldn’t/can’t jump whatsoever, but still manages to get to, and finish at, the rim better than 70 percent of the point guards today.

In fact, over 50.4 percent of Miller’s shots, thus far in his 16-year NBA career, are taken within 10 feet of the basket where he converts such attempts at a 53.9 percent rate, per Basketball-Reference.

Even at his advanced age this season, Miller is still taking over 72.1 of is shot attempts from 10 feet and in, where he is shooting at a more than respectable 56.6 percent clip. In comparison, point guards in the midst of their physical primes, like Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving, are not nearly as efficient around the basket.

On so many levels, the Karl-Miller reunion is unassumingly germane. For both, their respective demises have been greatly exaggerated.

Serving as an assistant coach on the floor, Miller has already shown his ability to conduct plays out of the high post and showcased his brilliance as a passer — just ask forwards Rudy Gay and Derrick Williams, both of whom have been diving judiciously towards the basket and feasting off of unimpeded dunks courtesy of Andre Miller dimes.

And while Miller is not the most vocal of leaders, he appreciates the same brand of ball moving basketball that Karl incessantly preaches.

Although his lack of three-point range will inherently hurt the Kings’ spacing, Miller is still one of the league’s finest in short isolation situations, either slithering to the hoop for a grounded up and under layup or finding an open teammate.

Explicitly, Miller has produced 1.29 points per possession (PPP) on isolation situations and 0.97 PPP on post-up opportunities thus far this year, according to NBA.com’s SportVU Data; numbers that rival Chris Paul, albeit on a much smaller sample size.

Similarly, many questioned Karl’s coaching future after his resignation from the Denver Nuggets in 2013. By all accounts, Karl was out-schemed by Mark Jackson when his Nuggets fell to the Golden State Warriors in six games. Even his beloved point guard (Miller) chimed in on the criticism, claiming Denver was “outplayed and outcoached” en route to their upset defeat.

Considering his age and health history, his coaching career was all but over.

Sacramento Kings /

Sacramento Kings

However, after two years away from coaching, and relentless persistence in promoting his ability to still coach, the Kings gave the 63-year-old another shot at coaching — and accordingly, paired the grey-beard coach with his favorite 39-year-old floor general.

Two games in, the Kings have already enjoyed an injection of much needed floor spacing, surrounding DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay with long versatile forwards, such as Omri Casspi and Derrick Williams, and a slew of guards, in Ray McCallum, Ben McLemore, along with Miller.

Their defense needs fine-tuning and the offense is too Cousins-centric, but Karl already has had his imprint on Sacramento’s style of play. More specifically, the Kings have averaged over 105.9 possessions per 48 minutes over the last two contests, up from their season average of 97.5, per NBA.com.

The presence of Karl’s coaching will be felt more conclusively towards the end of the season. On the other hand, Miller’s impact may not always be tangible, but his influence on the team’s play will most definitely be evident to the naked eye.

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George Karl And His Eternal Affection For Andre Miller

By Aaron Mah | Feb 23, 2015

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