Blazers Edge: Andre Miller Off The Bench Can Work

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for the Portland Trailblazers has been integrating Andre Miller. He started the season off the bench while Steve Blake started, grumbled about it a bit and then eventually moved back into the starting lineup alongside Blake once Nicholas Batum and Travis Outlaw suffered serious injuries.

Now, he’s coming off the bench again, which could rekindle the discontent we saw in preseason. However, as Blazers Edge, SB Nation’s Portland Trailblazers blog noted, Miller certainly succeeded coming off the bench Monday against the Bulls.

While the hot discussion topic might still be whether Steve Blake or Andre Miller should start at point guard, tonight we finally saw real evidence that Miller running the second unit is good for all parties. Make no mistake, Miller had a much better game than Blake tonight. But ask yourself this: Does Miller score the same 16 points if he plays all his minutes alongside Brandon Roy? Probably not. Does Brandon Roy score 18 points if he plays all of his minutes alongside Andre Miller? Do these two players, the team’s two best play-makers, combine for 12 assists if their minutes overlapped more? Are both Aldridge and Oden able to get going if Roy and Miller are both in the game simultaneously, if Blake isn’t there to keep the defense a little bit more honest? Does the team’s dominant second quarter take place if Blake is running the show rather than Miller?

We might not have solid answers to these hypothetical questions but we do have answers from tonight: simply put, Miller off the bench can work on the court. Indeed, it can work very well. Will it work over the long haul, taking into account egos, minutes, numbers, and all the rest of it? Who knows. But it produced the single best team performance of the season.

I’m sure Miller didn’t have this in mind when he signed with Portland, but it’s a good fit in theory. Portland’s bench has far more athletes than the starting unit and would succeed with a point guard like Miller that is adept at pushing the pace. As long as Portland is winning and Miller is succeeding in his role, it’s hard for him to really gripe about it.