Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 11:00 am  |  31 responses

Andre Miller Plans to Unseat Steve Blake

Training camp in Portland will be feisty, to say the least: “Newly acquired veteran point guard Andre Miller said Tuesday he expects to start for the Portland Trail Blazers during the team’s upcoming 2009-10 season. The battle between Miller and incumbent starter Steve Blake for the team’s starting point guard position has yet to officially begin — training camp starts Sept. 29 … ‘I’m going in there as the starting point guard — there’s nothing else to it,’ Miller said. ‘I look at it as a challenge. Nothing is handed to you. So I have to go in there with the right attitude, knowing that, this is a point guard spot that is going to have to be battled for.”‘

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  • http://www.infamousklav.blogspot.com Klav

    trouble already brewing huh? well if he’s paid that much i don’t see why he should come off the bench. doesn’t have as much range as blake, but i think blake coming off the bench ready for some offense wouldn’t bee too bad for them either.

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    Andre Miller is also known as Captain Obvious.

  • SK

    Andre Miller is a veteran, but he definitely isn’t a source of veteran leader. This guy skipped the last team meetins at Philadelphia and still considered going back on a multi-year deal? Give me a break.

    He’s a good pg, but he’s not putting Portland’s over the top (not that missing piece). Unfortunately, Portland will have a full 3 years to learn this.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    andre miller over steve blake is not even debatable. on another note, bayless might want to request a trade just about now.

  • Strotter

    “The Los Angeles native averaged 14.6 points, 7.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds during a decade-long stretch in which he has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers.” … I didn’t realize he had been that solid for 10 years. Those are not bad career numbers at all.

  • tavoris

    exactly strotter…and I thought Steve Blake was gonna request a trade…they should keep him tho.

  • nate mcmillan

    I would start Steve Blake over Andre Miller everyday of the week, and twice on Sunday.

  • Ana

    Well no $hit. I want the Blazers to go into training camp knowing they need to fight to earn the starting spot. The only player who is secure as a starter is B-Roy, all the others SHOULD feel that it’s a challenge. That’s what we want. The best player will be picked to start, but word of advice to Miller; you are talking about a player that McMillan traded then fought to get back to Portland. There is something between Blake and McMillan that I wouldn’t write off just yet.

  • tk

    Steve blakes strategy:in the locker room, autoplay dre miller gettin crossed and broken by d rose!

  • tk

    ….b4 every trainin camp practice

  • Shem

    @Ana: Broy and lamarcus are guaranteed as starters especially now that channning isnt even there to challenge him. They should keep steve blake seeing how hes taken them this far and hes a great court leader even though the numbers dont show it.. no hate on andre though

  • http://twitter.com/NotebookNick thesubwayconnection

    The big question is, what happens if/when Dre doesn’t start?

  • mdshuai

    Miller will absolutely start over Blake; he can pass the ball. That one freak record game aside, the majority of possessions Blake has the ball in his hands he dribbles away the shot clock at the top of key.

  • OG

    People are ridiculous if they view this as “trouble.” There’s no trouble. Miller expects to win the job, yes, but he also mentions that he’s looking forward to the battle. He’s not acting entitled. He’s saying what you’d want anybody to say. Sheesh.

  • http://slamonline BossTerry

    management for the Blazers (for what ever reason) are very hopeful of Steve Blake.. A few years ago he was traded out of Portland, only to be resigned the following summer.. Management called it an “important move”.. My opinion, Steve is decent, but not a starter… Hope Bayless gets more minutes and Webster comes back healthy..

  • JoNaBo

    Don’t you mean he plans to seat Steve Blake.

  • http://sevendeu2u.wordpress.com/ Seven Duece

    I’m sure management has already told Steve what the deal is. If not, McMillan is enough of a old school d*ck that he’ll yell it at him in front of the entire squad during one of those team building exercises that Bayless missed last year.

  • ab_40

    hmm that would mean an in shape miller for the blazers. he hasn’t looked ripped since his clipper days so this should be a good thing

  • http://antwonomous.blogspot.com Antwonomous

    You plan to start over Steve Blake, Andre? Ya don’t say.

  • youngmuggsy

    Steve Blake put up 11ppg and 5apg with less than 2 turnovers a game, Dre should definately start but Blake’s not exactly the scrub that you guys make him out to be.

  • http://dsfjkf.com Jukai

    I can’t see Miller losing out this battle unless his age starts drastically catching up to him. Or they want him off the bench.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Seriously, free Jeryd Bayless already. This is getting ridiculous.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    nate mcmillan Posted: Sep.3 at 12:13 pm
    I would start Steve Blake over Andre Miller everyday of the week, and twice on Sunday.
    ___
    You would probably draft Greg Oden over Kevin Durant in a do over also…
    PING!

  • Mr. Rose

    they both sux…forreal

  • http://www.associatedcontent.com/sandydover S. Dot

    Here’s the occasional problem with Nate McMillan and some of the Portland brass (and there’s little to complain about with them…)–things like signing a top-flight point guard to a high-level contract and then telling the press at the press conference that he may not start, or playing hardball with Brandon Roy on contract extensions and generally doing the opposite offensively with what your team would excel at (playing fast) are the things I think will, in a small degree, prevent current players on the roster from fully gelling to the degree that a championship is wholly viable.

    I hope not, but that Andre would even have to explain himself and convey that he is indeed the starting point guard isn’t necessarily “just being competitive” amongst the players on the team–I think that’s sort of divisive. This is not to say that Steve Blake isn’t a starting guard on half of the teams, but keeping it real, if he didn’t actually start games at the first six minutes of the opening quarter, it would just be Roy there at the 1, where he plays half of the time anyway. In reality, I think it does Andre a disservice and is a slap in the face, but it also brings some hope, because Steve, while a really good guard, shouldn’t be starting or ending games, really. Brandon was a better point than him anyway, and Andre is still a better point than him.

  • http://Www.bbaxn.com Darksaber

    Duh!!

  • Clark

    Steve Blake is a great backup point guard, and I think he will fill the position perfectly. Even if Dre can’t shoot, he’s got B-Roy and L.A. to do all the scoring for him, he’s just got to pass which he can do. And Blake works well as a backup because he can come in and knock down some three’s while Dre is tired.

    Also, I agree that competition for the starting spot is nothing but a good thing. Just means they have to work and earn it every day.

  • monkeyball

    Steve Blake played at Maryland while I was there. Even in college, he was a suspect ball-handler, shooter and passer. He’s worked on his long-rage shot, but he’s not the starting point guard for a championship team.
    I agree that Portland should keep him, as long as he resigns himself to being a backup for the rest of his career and gets the appropriate amount of money.

  • http://www.dynastyhoops.com Isaac kwapong

    hmmmmmmm. The court will tell. May the best Guard win..

  • josh

    so many closed minded people. Is it to hard to understand that blake could start and andre get the starter minutes? just because steve blake is going to start doesnt mean that he is going to play more minutes that dre… dre is clearly the better point guard of the two. However, last season batum was the starting small forward and outlaw played way more minutes than he did. also, if you need another example of better players coming off the bench instead of starting, ginobli. nuf said on that topic. The reason why they would probably start blake over dre is so that either dre or roy is on the floor at all times. that way there is always somebody on the floor that will initiate the offense, somebody that can drive to the lane and score or drive and dish.. But, this doesnt mean that dre will not play with the starters at all, but it does probably mean that blake will play very few minutes with second unit. imagine blake,rudy, webster, outlaw, and oden on the floor at the same time. where are they getting there offense from? travis going one on one, and thats about it. with dre inserted in blakes place, they now have options. dre will be able to drive and kick it and then he is surrounded by three point marksman. and if nothing else works he will drive and draw fouls or dish to oden. Doing this just maximizes everyones talent. Miller would probably do just fine starting, but it would leave the second unit pretty offensively week. thats why travis was forced to take alot of ill advised shots last season because there was no one else to initiate the offense. Nate is very good at putting together lineups that will maximize everybodys strengths, and i am sure that is why he is choosing to start blake over miller (only by name though as andre will more than likely still get more minutes reguardless of whether or not he get the starting title). Also, starting doesnt matter as much as who is in the game at the end when it matters the most.

  • James Hill

    steve blake over andre miller any day. andre miller is a sore loser and never was a great team player. steve blake is the better pg for portland. please people. don’t just look at someone’s stats and try to judge a player’s abilities or fit with a team. steve blake is the better player for portland.

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