Brad Miller (basketball)

Brad Miller

No. 52 – Minnesota Timberwolves
Center
Personal information
Born	April 12, 1976 (1976-04-12) Kendallville, IN
Nationality	American
High school	East Noble, Maine Central Institute
Listed height	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight	261 lb (118 kg)
Career information
College	Purdue
NBA Draft	1998 / Undrafted
Pro career	1998–present
Career history
1998	Bini Viaggi Livorno (Italy)
1998–2000	Charlotte Hornets
2000–2002	Chicago Bulls
2002–2003	Indiana Pacers
2003–2009	Sacramento Kings
2009–2010	Chicago Bulls
2010–2011	Houston Rockets
2011–present	Minnesota Timberwolves
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA All-Star (2003–2004)
Stats at NBA.com

Bradley Alan Miller (born April 12, 1976 in Kendallville, IN) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA. He plays at the center position.

High school career

Brad Miller attended East Noble High School, located in Kendallville, Indiana for three years; he attended the Maine Central Institute, a private High School in Maine for his Senior season.

College career

Purdue

Brad Miller returned to his home state to attend Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he played under head coach Gene Keady and assistant coaches Bruce Weber and Frank Kendrick. During his Freshmen season, along with senior Cuonzo Martin, he led the Boilermakers to a 25–7 record. Along the way, he was part of a Big Ten Conference Title and an NCAA Second Round appearance. He averaged 6.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a game.

During his sophomore season, he helped lead Purdue, along with fellow sophomore Chad Austin, to a three-peat conference title and a consecutive NCAA Second Round appearance. The Boilers finished the season with a 26–6 overall record. Miller averaged 9.6 points and 5.5 rebounds on the season.

His junior season showed more progress than the prior season, averaging 14.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. Finishing second in the conference, Miller, along with teammate and current NBA player Brian Cardinal, helped the Boilers to a third straight NCAA Second Round finish. They beat Rhode Island in overtime, where Brad scored 31 points, grabbed eight rebounds and set a school tournament record with made/attempted free throws, going 15–21 from the line. He finished his junior season with an 18–12 record. Throughout his junior year, Miller became the only center in Purdue history to lead the team in assists.

Brad Miller had his best college season during his senior year, helping with a 28–8 record. Averaging 17.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in his last season at Purdue, he led the Boilermakers to a Sweet Sixteen appearance and a 2nd overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Miller set a school tournament record with 6 steals in a win against Delaware. His last collegiate game was a loss to Stanford. Near the end of the game, Brad busted his chin multiple times and kept going out on the floor. Miller's biggest game of his senior season came against Michigan State, where he scored 30 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to force Michigan State to share their Big Ten crown.

During his career at Purdue, he became one of only four players to record 800 rebounds and the only player in school history to have 1,500 points, 800 rebounds and 250 assists.

Professional career

Charlotte Hornets (1998–2000)

After college, because of the NBA lockout, Miller started his career at the club level in Italy playing for Bini Viaggi Livorno for three months before he was signed by the Charlotte Hornets as an undrafted free agent. He played for the Hornets for two seasons. On March 24, 1999, he had his season high 25 points, going 9–9 shooting and 7–7 from the line.

Chicago Bulls (2000–2002)

After two seasons with the Hornets, he signed with the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. In January 2002, he was involved in an on-court altercation with center Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers. After he and Charles Oakley gave a hard foul on O'Neal, Miller walked away as O'Neal swung at the back of his head. Nearly doubling his playing time with the Bulls, he averaged 12.7 points a game, shooting 46 percent during the 2001–02 season.

Indiana Pacers (2002–2003)

In February 2002, he was traded by the Bulls with Ron Mercer, Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) and Kevin Ollie to the Indiana Pacers for Jalen Rose, Travis Best, Norman Richardson, and a second-round draft pick. He wrapped the 2001–02 season with a 15.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game average. During his first and only complete season with the Pacers, he made his first NBA All-Star Team during the 2002–2003 season, becoming one of the first undrafted players to be named an All-Star along with the Detroit Piston's Ben Wallace in the same year.

Sacramento Kings (2003–2009)

During the 2003 offseason, Brad was involved in a sign-and-trade with the Sacramento Kings. He was signed to a multi-year deal by Indiana and then traded to the Kings in exchange for Scot Pollard. In the same trade, the Kings sent Hedo Türkoğlu to San Antonio Spurs, San Antonio traded Danny Ferry to Indiana and Indiana traded Ron Mercer to San Antonio. While signing with the Kings, Miller stated, "I wanted to stay with Indiana but my agent said that the money I could make with Sacramento was just too good to pass up and I would never get this kind of contract again." Averaging 14.1 points and 10.3 rebounds in his first season with the Kings, he was voted to back-to-back NBA All-Star Game appearances. Also during that season, Brad scored 1,014 points.

Miller appeared in only 56 games during his second season at Sacramento, yet averaging his career high of 15.6 points a game. In middle of the 2005–06 season, he became the first center since Sam Lacey in 1981 to record back-to-back double-doubles in both points and assists. After a career best 1,182 points scored during the season, the following 2006–07 season brought lower averages and totals of the previous five years.

Brad finished his five and a half seasons with the Kings, averaging just over 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists a game.

Second Run with the Bulls (2009–2010)

On February 18, 2009, the Kings reached a tentative agreement to trade Miller and John Salmons to the Chicago Bulls for Drew Gooden, Andres Nocioni, and Cedric Simmons. As a veteran presence on a young team, Brad added depth in the paint with forward/center Joakim Noah to compete in the 2009 NBA Playoffs after a two-year absence of post-season play while with the Kings. On April 28, Miller received a busted lip by Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo, and missed game-decisive free-throws at the end of game five of the Eastern Conference First Round. During game six of the 7-overtime series and after receiving 7 stitches for his lip, he posted a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 8 for 9 from the floor. Miller averaged 10.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists during the seven-game series in the 2009 Playoffs. He made 5 of 7 three point field goals (71.4%) and shot 79.2 percent from the free throw line.

Houston Rockets (2010–2011)

On July 17, 2010, Miller signed a three-year contract with the Houston Rockets, worth $15 million. He was expected to back up Yao Ming and provide the Rockets a valuable insurance policy. On November 12, 2010, in Miller's first start after coming to the Rockets, he scored 23 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and gave out 5 assists. On December 3, 2010, Miller tied his season-high 23 points, going a perfect 7-7 from the field, including 3-3 from downtown, and 6-7 from the foul line.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2011–present)

During the 2011 NBA Draft, Miller was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Donatas Motiejunas and Jonny Flynn. Due to microfracture knee surgery on his left knee while a member of the Rockets in May 2011, he was doubtful to begin playing for the Wolves at the projected start of the 2011-12 season (which was delayed due to the owners' lockout) - or indeed at all. On January 12, 2012, Miller practiced with the team for the first time, strictly in half-court situations to protect his knee. He made his debut with the team on January 29, 2012.

Olympics

Medal record
Competitor for United States
World Championships
Bronze	1998 Greece	USA
Bronze	2006 Japan	USA

Shortly after finishing his college career, Brad joined the US national team in the 1998 FIBA World Championship. During the time of the NBA lockout, there were no players from the league on the team. With fellow former Purdue standout Jimmy Oliver, Miller led the USA team to the bronze medal. He played under NBA coach Rudy Tomjanovich.

Miller was selected as a member of the U.S. squad that competed in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, where he played along with fellow NBA players, such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard. After much hype over the improvement of the team, the tournament ended in disappointment with a loss to Greece in the semifinal game. The team finished with the bronze medal by defeating Argentina. Despite pre-tournament assertions that the U.S. needed a good-shooting big man like Miller, he rarely played in the tournament and did not log any playing time in the decisive semifinal loss. The team was coached by Duke's head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Career notes

Despite his size, Miller is not in the mold of a traditional center. He has only averaged double-digit rebounds once in his career and has never averaged more than 1.2 blocks per season. Preferring shooting midrange jump shots, he is a very efficient scorer and one of the top-shooting big men in the league. For his career, he has averaged 49.7% from the field and 79.4% from the free throw line. The main thing that sets him apart from other centers is his passing. In 2005–2006, he averaged 4.7 assists per game, good for 29th in the league but far above what other centers averaged (Ben Wallace was second among centers with 1.9 APG). The Princeton offense run by the Kings both allows and demands Miller to be a good passer and he is typically recognized as one of the best-passing big men in the league. Miller has also recently added a three-point shot to his game. In 2005–2006, he attempted an average of 1.1 three pointers per game and made 38.6% of them. One of the main negatives about Miller is his durability, as he had never completed a full season until the 2009–2010 season. On July 10, 2008, Miller was suspended by the NBA for 5 games at the beginning of the 2008–2009 season for violations of the league's substance abuse policy.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1998–99	Charlotte	38	0	12.3	.565	.500	.794	3.1	.6	.2	.5	6.3
1999–00	Charlotte	55	4	17.5	.461	.000	.785	5.3	.8	.4	.6	7.7
2000–01	Chicago	57	45	25.2	.435	.200	.743	7.4	1.9	.6	.7	8.9
2001–02	Chicago	48	47	29.0	.460	.500	.751	8.4	2.1	1.1	.6	12.7
2001–02	Indiana	28	28	31.1	.562	.333	.823	7.9	1.8	.9	.4	15.1
2002–03	Indiana	73	72	31.1	.493	.313	.818	8.3	2.6	.9	.6	13.1
2003–04	Sacramento	72	53	36.4	.510	.316	.778	10.3	4.3	.9	1.2	14.1
2004–05	Sacramento	56	56	37.3	.524	.263	.812	9.3	3.9	1.2	1.2	15.6
2005–06	Sacramento	79	79	37.0	.495	.386	.828	7.8	4.7	.8	.8	15.0
2006–07	Sacramento	63	56	28.3	.453	.152	.772	6.4	3.6	.6	.6	9.0
2007–08	Sacramento	72	72	34.9	.463	.311	.848	9.5	3.7	1.0	1.0	13.4
2008–09	Sacramento	43	43	31.5	.474	.465	.801	8.0	3.4	.7	.6	11.9
2008–09	Chicago	27	0	27.6	.478	.231	.853	7.4	3.2	.8	.4	11.8
2009–10	Chicago	82	37	23.8	.430	.280	.827	4.9	1.9	.5	.4	8.8
2010-11	Houston	60	5	16.9	.446	.374	.830	3.7	2.4	.5	.4	6.4
Career		853	597	28.6	.481	.326	.804	7.2	2.9	.7	.7	11.4
All-Star		2	0	13.5	.667	.000	.500	4.5	1.5	.0	.0	6.5

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1999–00	Charlotte	4	0	15.5	.529	.000	.800	3.3	.8	.0	.8	7.5
2001–02	Indiana	5	5	36.0	.455	.000	.800	9.8	1.4	.8	.4	11.2
2002–03	Indiana	6	6	22.5	.450	.000	.727	5.5	2.5	.8	.0	8.7
2003–04	Sacramento	12	0	30.5	.527	.143	.604	8.7	3.2	.8	.9	10.5
2004–05	Sacramento	5	4	27.8	.575	.000	.714	3.8	3.2	.2	.6	11.2
2005–06	Sacramento	6	6	27.7	.404	.143	.923	3.0	2.5	1.2	.8	9.2
2008–09	Chicago	7	0	26.6	.471	.714	.792	7.9	1.3	.3	.9	10.3
2009–10	Chicago	5	0	18.6	.370	.000	1.000	3.6	.8	.0	.0	5.4
Career		50	21	26.6	.478	.259	.742	6.2	2.1	.6	.6	9.5

External links

• Brad Miller at Basketball-Reference.com
• NBA.com Profile – Brad Miller