Brandon Miller’s Ceiling Is Higher Than We Thought | Tim Legler and JJ Redick

Brandon Miller’s Ceiling Is Higher Than We Thought | Tim Legler and JJ Redick

Let’s be honest uh I want to this entire Brandon Miller segment I just want to have a have a caveat to this uh in that the Charlotte Hornets stink they are not a good basketball team however however we have spent time a lot of time on Chad

We’ve spent a lot of time on wemy we’ve spent some time onime hakz Jr uh I believe you know early in the season especially we talked about uh Thompson from Detroit um we need to to spend some time on Brandon Miller right now because he’s playing

Unbelievable I have a ton of stuff here uh I’ve watched a ton of uh film recently uh so I have a lot of thoughts on this I I want to start with you though I what are what are your uh observations takeaways right now from uh

Brandon Miller’s play as of late yeah uh it’s it’s been tremendous and and you’re right there there’s no real reason to watch Charlotte um he’s the reason that you want to watch Charlotte play he is the reason thank you yes’s he’s a reason there’s no other reason right so and and

Here’s what here’s what I’m seeing from him and I really liked him coming out and you know early on he there were there were there were times he looked a little bit like physically overmatched just from a sheer strength standpoint and getting to where he wanted to go and

Maintaining balance on drives and like and as and it was part of it you know like his physical build part of it was also I just think you know being young and new to him and and coming into the league and it’s just a lot guys so you

Know and I knew he was a good pick but I just didn’t know ultimately like how great what is his ceiling here’s here’s what I’m seeing out of him lately now I thought that and I do like sometimes comparisons to current players when guys are coming out I I think for point of

Reference for people that aren’t aware of who the guy is they haven’t seen him that much if you can give a little bit of a description of like well he’s kind of like this at the ultimate ceiling if everything pops he could be this this

Reminds me of and I said Paul George at the time coming out now Paul George has a much more accomplished handle much more a polished handle right and that’s that’s that definitely is the difference main difference between the two of them where I saw some of the similarities in Brandon Miller coming

Out I’m really starting to see them now and there’s another guy I’m also starting to see uh comparison to it particularly the way he operates on ball screen is Jason Tatum now Tatum also now he wasn’t like this when he came in the league but Tatum’s handle now is Elite level where

He can go back and forth multiple times with the ball and get you off balance and then pick a direction and go or go counter different move go the other direction that’s not quite Brandon Miller yet with the handle let’s be honest about it but where he is

Excelling his Triple Threat pivot work it reminds me so much of Tatum where he the ball screen comes and he’s not going to already be pounding it he’s holding the ball on his hip as the ball screen comes and now he’s going into his jab

Step stuff J and here I am sitting in the chair doing this in my office this is how into this stuff I get but he is he’s so good with the ball with his foot with his pivot with his rocker stuff to get you sort of off balance and make the

Defender of the screener not know where he’s going and then he’s so good at then that first step either direction going and exploding so his ability now to operate out of that and he’s look he’s averaging 25 points a game this month this is where he’s going with his

Scoring right now and the main two areas of improvement are his ability to create off the ball screen to a pull up three or to get into the lane and and he’s starting to develop these one-footed floaters 8 10 12 feet these running shots are going in at a high rate and

Then the other incremental Improvement he’s shown here lately is and I saw a number on him earlier in the year he was at 54% finishing inside of five feet on all field goal attempts which is a low number for a wing with size is by time

You get in there like they should be shooting a higher rate than that that’s up now in the low 60s over the last whatever many games 15 games so it that’s a pretty significant jump 54 to 62% in that period of time so that tells you also he’s more comfortable now of

How to manipulate the ball around guys to absorb contact a little bit better make the shot not rush it as he gets in there so the the patience and how he’s seeing the floor at the NBA level it’s all coming together for him but he’s a very talented offensive player and the

Best news about it for Charlotte you didn’t have much of a choice at two because you knew who was going to one and for this guy to be basically fall in your lap as the second pick they made the right pick this guy is legit man and

And and and the way he has grown throughout the year has been the most impressive thing because it’s been very rapid and he’s going to finish this thing man over these last 25 30 games on a just a heater he’s gonna average probably 23 to 25 points a game over a

30 game stretch to finish the year it’s an enormous sample size even on a bad team you brought up February since January 18th 14 games uh 49% from the field 39% from three uh on almost 8 of 10 22 a game five rebounds two and a half

Assists I’m going to talk about the defensive stuff in a second in that 14 game stretch he’s got 1020 point games you use the Tatum comp which I like um you know it is funny that Paul George right he said that Paul George coming out he said Paul George is my goat and

There’s certainly some Paul George comp there the other guy that I you know in in watching film the other guy I see a little bit of is Brandon Ingram and the reason I say Brandon Ingram is because out of that pick and roll his ability at

With his positional size to just get to the mid-range going to his right going to his left it doesn’t really matter and just kind of shooting over defenders and he’s got a little bit of that especially going right he’s got a little bit of that Brandon Ingram tilt now he’s got a

Lower release Point yeah he’s yeah exactly he’s got a lower release Point than bi but he has that tilt where he can kind of Fall Away going to his right and just shoot right over the top the pick and roll stuff lately has been Inc incredible I talked about the mid-range

You brought up the finishing and I’m glad you did because he’s had a number of drives I mean he had two against Anthony Davis in that Lakers game where he’s finishing on the other side of the rim with his off hand um so you have that stuff shooting threes off the

Dribble is to me the thing that unlocks every Elite offensive player on the perimeter that is the thing and he had a step back three against the Lakers uh that just totally totally shook Austin Reeves that he made um there was a play from the Lakers game that I was my

Favorite play I’ve seen so he’s he’s in a strong side pick and roll in the corner and they they run the pick and roll towards the middle he tags Austin Reeves catches the ball in the wing he closes out they go to try to post Austin

Reeves you know passes passes him uh P tries to pass Anthony Davis the ball he steals the ball and he goes down and bangs on somebody goes down and dunks and it’s like if we’re gonna if we’re going to comp Paul George if we’re going to comp Tatum wait you’ve got to be

Disruptive on the defensive end and and that to me is I’ve seen a lot of that recently he had a chase down block that was just insane and I yeah it’s the reason I want to bring up this so he gets the chase down block goes down

Makes a spot up three they’re running a ton of stuff for him right now uh for catch and shoot threes so they’ll come out of a timeout and they’ll run a pick the Picker for him to get a catch and shoot three his versatility offensively as a rookie is super impressive here’s

The most important thing with to me with Brandon Miller and this is why I brought up the chase down block there was a viral thing the other day where he scores a layup they the other team takes the ball out they go down they score a

Layup he’s the first guy back he started at the Baseline he screaming at his teammates you know get the back get the back um I talked to I talked to some people in the Hornets organization it’s like I can see this guy I can see

What I see on the court what’s this guy like here’s here’s some words thrown around smart great IQ competitor coachable great teammate detail oriented detail oriented as a rookie come on man buy this guy’s stock buy this guy stock because it physically he has it skill-wise he’s he has it you have two

Of the three boxes checked if you’ve got it up here if you got it in the mindset oh my gosh this guy’s G to be an All-Star all NBA type player for years that’s how good that’s how good Brandon Miller can be totally agree seems like

We’re in lock step with what we’ve seen out of him and it’s it’s now he’s a guy that like I said he’s the only reason to watch so you’re I’m going to watch the condensed version and just watch his possessions there’s no other reason to watch Charlotte I got a question second

Spectrum it’s the best thing ever so let’s let’s finish this up with on Brandon Miller with this then because I think this is important you know you got Victor you got Chad Brandon Miller you got three guys I’m GNA ask you like do you consider the Rookie of the Year award to

Be mostly just flat out stat based and what what the the guy’s ultimate based on what you’re seeing what this guy’s ultimate ceiling really is and like so meaning like who’s really going to be the ultimately the overall better player when this is all said and done and

They’re putting up numbers how much do you play into a competitive environment because Chad hr’s on a team that’s going to win more games than San Antonio Charlotte combined and he’s been starting from the beginning he Al also and Victor too all three of these guys

Which is great you said it they’re all disruptive defensively right they’re all Major Impact players on that end of the floor but Chad is on a team that’s been near the top of the West the entire season and we’ll probably stay there and so his numbers might not be as good by

The time certainly not as good as Victor’s right now but but close I mean and his shooting splits are incredible hrin but and and Brandon Miller’s numbers are continuing to climb up so by the time this is all said and done he he he’s probably going to end up with

Better just raw scoring numbers then Chad how much do you factor in when you’re looking at this award because it’s mostly been Victor and Chad that’s all we’ve talked about for Rookie of the Year obviously Brandon Miller needs some consideration here I’m just curious you personally how do do you factor in the

Weight of the competitive environment that they’re in every night and the rle in that Team guys starting averaging 34 35 minutes a game on a team that good in Oklahoma City how much weight does that carry relative to what you know wanyama and Miller are getting which is every

Night is like it’s not about winning at all it’s about their development only really that’s what the season is is left on so I’m just curious to get your thoughts on that because I think Miller’s now in the conversation but ultimately how do you how do you you

Know par those those uh choices yeah we spent some time on this with the dunker spot guys uh maybe six weeks ago and look I said at the time I thought Chad holgren was the MVP uh and and maybe I was a little flippant about Victor wean

Yama’s uh Rookie of the Year chances and for Spurs fans I apologize for that you know I think those two guys are are neck and neck uh right now I guess look to your point about factoring in compet like Tim Chad holgren right now is an anomaly

He was the second pick didn’t play and now is on a West leading team that because they’ve developed their guys internally they drafted really well uh you know late in the lottery to get Jaylen Williams who’s a Star had a monster game last night so I think I

Think it’s weird because normally you don’t factor in competitive environment with rookies right because none of them have the counting normally a rookie that goes to a competitive environment is the 24th pick the 28th pick whatever it may be he’s the sixth guy seven guy the

Right exactly and maybe he has you know nine points five assist whatever it so you’re not really factoring in that person because the accounting stats just aren’t there right yeah even going back to last year you know Jaylen Williams had an insane stretch post Allstar break

Towards the end of the regular season I said he deserves some consideration I’m not saying he’s the Rookie of the Year I ultimately V voted for Paulo Beno because of the role that he had to have as a rookie being along with fron vogner one of the two primary guys in terms of

Shot creation and the offense running through them as it relates to this year I think I think you’re right I think there’s there’s it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Brandon Miller continues this stretch of games and uh continues the stretch of play and ends

Up with maybe better you know scoring numbers than Chad whatever it may be um you know if I had to say right now I think I think what Vic has done since he moved to Center and since they started playing him more with Trey Jones but since he moved to Center most

Importantly and they got Zack Collins coming off the bench and he’s got more space the production effici all that stuff’s gone up you also have to factor I think with Vic to some degree the wow factor yeah just the plays he’s made yeah you’re like all right I I would give

Probably the slight Edge to Vic right now now we have 30 games I know yeah I’m GNA do the same thing I did last year when’s the last day of the regular season April 10th okay my votes due April 11th whatever the last day is I’m voting on the last day I’m factoring

It all for all this stuff there’s just there’s too much on the line and and I think it’s important as we go down the stretch to have these check-ins with rookie of the year six Man of the Year MVP whatever I like doing this later in the season there’s so much just random

Noise five 10 20 games into the season to me it’s not worth doing it uh but right now these three guys have been the three best rookies uh you know hakz Jr who I said was the third best rookie for a couple times early in the season had

The groin injury hasn’t been the same player since he got back he’s obviously in in the top five of the rookies as well but these three guys I think have really separated themselves in this rookie class um and last thing I want to say Tim last thing I want to say yeah I

Was just thinking about this as we were talking about Brandon Miller do you remember at the draft or around the draft when uh a very prominent reporter uh who uh has a show with a sports book uh tweeted out that the Charlotte Hornets were getting giving consideration to scoot Henderson here’s

The thing Charlotte was always gonna take Brandon Miller Charlotte was all Brandon Miller was their guy he was their he was their guy he would they were always going to take him just interesting how that stuff plays out it’s well and look look I think the

Purpose what we did today is is great because we the three the three players we focused on and a couple of teams that we focused on in this session it are all we’re all not discussed much first the first half of the Season Clippers Cavs specifically kawhai Donovan Mitchell and

Now Brandon Miller where this was just was like two guys is all we talked about all we mentioned all year for this rookie stuff now he deserves to get the love he’s getting because the way he’s playing if you’re not not watching him there’s no reason to watch Charlotte

Just might want to hey pull up a highlight video you could probably find a 9 Minute highlight clip of Brandon Miller onl just take a look at him if you’re a hoop junkie and you haven’t watched Charlotte and look at this guy’s Evolution as a player from day one and

What he looked like you know that first month in the league to what he looks like now because this looks like a super accomplished Elite level Wing in the making like that’s what he looks like and you you know you need those guys to have a chance to get tend in this league

And Brandon Miller looks like he’s got a chance to get there based on what he is doing right now offensively how comfortable he’s getting with what he’s his ceiling is every night

In this clip, Tim Legler and JJ Redick talk about the unbelievable play of Brandon Miller of The Charlotte Hornets.

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