Breaking: Cavs to sign Mike Miller
2014-07-15
The indefatigable Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Cavs will sign Mike Miller with their room exception. Miller posted 3.9 wins shares, a .111 WS/48, a PER of 12.5 and a true shooting percentage of .619 last year. His RAPM was an underwhelming -2.31, due to a DRAPM of -3.39. He posted a SWaGR of only 1 win. Mile Miller is a very good spot up shooter, but he is a role player at this point in his career. Still, he’s probably going to be a solid locker room player for the Cavs.
To all the unpaid scouts “Hooray” none of the teams would make money if it weren’t for fans like us. We are the reason that the games are played on such higher stages and most of times we have a more better insight than the guys that are getting paid. Do you’re jobs :Paid Scouts” and sometimes that require listening to others who may not be too much rapped up in their own self-centeredness.
Agree about the better insight.
I listen to about a half hour a day of sports talk radio while driving. It is astounding how the hosts spend most of their time yammering. And when they have “experts” on, at least half are somewhere between clueless and “dumb as a box of rocks”. The knowledge and insight on CtB is much better.
A call out to some of our unpaid scouts here to give their thoughts about Love possibly being a high usage stat guy . . . and not a player that makes teams better. Or something in between.
Great move Cavs… he can be just as effective as a Kevin Love if called upon to do so, and at a cheaper price. Minnesota want teams to sell the farm for Love and no one is feeling Love for that price. These players they want teams are reluctant to part ways with…. given another year K.Love would be breaking out of Minnesota anyway. I don’t think he’s happy there which will give other players second thoughts for going there. It sounds like a bad organization.
The Cavs have played things smart and been ultra lucky. You can’t count on staying lucky, but you can keep playing smart. I assume they have plans for a lot of things that might happen, so they can pounce. For example, the 76’ers have way too many players, and two top draft pick centers. We might be able to get Henry Sims back. It is hard to imagine getting Zeller back, although it would be great to have him.
I agree with you cwzagger, Zeller is a nice backup C who showed some real progress last year running the floor, hitting 12-15 footers and playing solid defense. Not to mention he was on a super cheap deal, only 1.7 mil next season. It is unfortunate that he was a casualty in the cap space clearing for LeBron.
It is not unfortunate at all. We are not going to miss Tyler freaking Zeller at all while we are watching this Cavs team fly around the floor. No one is going to notice a backup center who averaged 5 points per game is missing.
Trust me, you will notice he is gone (when/if) we are hanging our C hopes on Andy and a flimsy Brendan Haywood. Zeller can space the floor and brings some toughness, pretty useful in an offense with so many perimeter players.
Cols I know that you have previously voiced your concerns about relying on Varejao as our C due to his injury-filled history. Tyler Zeller is more than just 5 ppg, he’s a great insurance policy. He can start in stretches. He’s younger and better than Haywood. All I’m saying is that following the Miller signing, we have a pretty complete team that really only lacks the things that could have been provided by Zeller (and on the cheap).
So we’ve got Miller. Awesome. Now we just gotta go get Ray Allen and we have all the shooting we need. The only thing the team is missing is a backup center… Can we all finally admit we’re going to miss Tyler Zeller a little?
Nope. Zeller was the price to get enough money to sign James. I will not miss him even a little. All we need is a backup center to play a few minutes here and there. Haywood might be that guy.
And yeah, if Allen will come on the cheap we should sign him. You cannot have enough veteran shooters come playoff time. We need vets who have played in the playoffs, Allen is one of the best.
I just feel that Zeller was maybe an unnecessary price to pay for LBJ… Zeller and Haywood each count for about the same salary cap hit around $2 mil.
Zeller > Haywood
But maybe I’m missing some details/incentives driving those trades??
You have to just ignore these guys or take their commentary with a grain of salt.
As to this article, good signing. At least we shouldn’t have the horrible locker room atmosphere we did last year. I hope Dion gets it. He can leave the Cavs for the Kings and score 27ppg on a loser after he gets a ring sometime in the next 3 years.
What Dave R said. Yes, I hope that one day Dion gets it.
This comment is irrelevant to the Miller signing, but I have a question to ask. That is, do you guys like Brian Windhorst? I certainly am not a big fan. His LBJ dick riding and Cleveland bashing disgusts me. How can we stop him from following and reporting the Cavs or anything Lebron-related sports news. I’m really getting sick of him. Any thoughts anyone?
Windy and Simmons were two of my favorites before The Interregnum, but it was hard to stay a fan sometimes with their perpetual gloom and doom the last few years.
Overall, though, I still like both of the them and I’m happy that they write about Cleveland sports at a national level fairly frequently.
I like Windhorst but it seems as though his “insider” reporting about the Cavs has been off in the last year or so. I’m guessing he lost good sources as the Cavs cleaned house. But I still think he’s a good reporter. He’s offered some pretty good perspective the last few years when other reporters were speculating about the Cavs’ moves. It seems ridiculous, but it’s hard to find reporters who think really think through scenarios and try to understand why teams make the moves they do.
I used to like Windy a lot, thought he was a good writer with some good insights. While he’s still got the writing skills, the insight is lacking. As has been noted before, his “sources” more often than not turn out to be flat out wrong. I think once he got promoted to write with the big boys, he’d just write about anything anyone told him. He was the gullible kid in the class; he has no ability to filter out truth from fiction. I think he’d probably be better as an opinion piece writer than a beat reporter; but… Read more »
Thank you Charlie, JJJJ, and grover, I forgot the fact that he’s one of the few guys that even talks and writes about the Cavs. IWe have to give him credit for that. I agree with you guys, I think he’d probably serve better as an opinion piece writer. I guess he lost his sources as he followed Bronbron to Miami, his predictions were just way off. In the end, if he sticks around. I just hope he stops thrashing Cleveland.
At least a guy like Simmons is unabashedly biased as someone who openly roots for the Celtics. He is one of the few national basketball voices who is willing to more or less admit he’s just a passionate fan like the rest of us and that kinda makes it okay for him to make ludicrous statements. It makes his writing more human and “pure”. I don’t have a problem with Windy’s reporting, he can bash the Cavs all he wants and continue to be wrong. But the only thing he’s ridden harder than LBJ’s dick are his coattails all the… Read more »
On a personal level, I love Windhorst. He is a true Ohio guy and I am happy to see people like him find success. Professionally, I am bit frustrated with Windhorst. Essentially all of the key ESPN reporters have been out to lunch on LeBron to Cleveland. Windhorts, with his Cleveland roots, should have known better. Instead, he became one of the ringleaders of the “Cleveland is in major trouble because everyone hates Dan Gilbert” narrative. He emphatically said that Kyrie would leave and emphatically said there was no way LBJ would come back. In retrospect, those statements were likely… Read more »
What Hot Sauce said. Windy – Seems to be a good guy, well spoken, knowledgeable with seemingly sound thought processes – but has been just plain wrong about stuff . . . terribly wrong. As Hot Sauce mentioned, everything he has definitively said about the most critical issues pertaining to the Cavs (Kyrie / LiBron / Gilbert / probably the coaching hire)has been flat out wrong . . . and 180 degrees from the truth and what actually happened. His “honesty” has been totally detrimental to Cleveland with respect to these things. It’s almost as if he is somebody’s stooge.… Read more »
I am getting to the point where I would simply like to see this roster for what it is. Maybe the pieces are there? I certainly don’t want to see us trade Dion, Bennett, Wiggins or TT just to get a big name and jeopardize our flexibility. That is the best thing we have going. Young players and assets. Don’t burn any of them until the deadline. Let’s see what we’ve got right now with the King and the Kiddos…
The only thing I’d be happy to see us give up one of our young assets for is a rim protector in the 8-12m range which allows us to still have cap flexibility going forward. But lets wait till the season starts and go from there.
Exactly, give those guys a year to grow under Blatt while playing with LeBron. You couldn’t ask for a better scenario to develop young talent, of which there is plenty on the Cavs roster. There is no reason to hamstring our flexibility going forward by signing another max contract player.
Good signing. A good shooter with very high basketball IQ that can really help guys like Dion learn how to play witjout the ball. The contract still allows us to go after more talent. I like Andy a lot but he has never been a team leader on the floor or in the lockerroom. Reportedly he was a leader in Miami who commanded the respect of “the big 3” by the way he practiced and high standards he set. This kind of prescience has value beyond his shooting. Id love to add ray (another class guy and vet Leader) and… Read more »
This is a great signing. Anyone who doesn’t like it is smoking crack. It gives them a great shooter who can do more than just shoot and he’s a vet who knows how hard the NBA playoffs are.
Now just get us Ray Allen and another big dude and we are all set.
I agree with this. Playoff teams need role players that have been their before. When the bullets are flying in the playoffs Lebron will be much happier to see Miller on the 3pt line with his hands ready to catch a pass when teams are sagging off to concentrate on Lebron. No problem with Miller we need some experienced dudes.
My question is – would we be better off with Miles or Miller? It’s old news but I’m leaning toward Miles – but the guy with the most juice – Lebron would obviously not agree.
Miller. It’s not even close. Veteran, better shooter, can defend a bit and knows how to play with Lebron.
Agree with Cols714.
Good signing, not much veteran presence on the team. Lebron and Andy cant be the only vets. On a side note is the media saying we r not the best in the east already. Think bout LBJs last years in cleveland, none the other players on that team were as good as kyrie. B4 the big 3 it used to b accepted that u needed 2 stars to compete for a championship, LBJ is better now than then, the surrounding cast is better, and the coach is so much better. Seriously, I am not saying champs this year, but I… Read more »
The biggest knock is new coach and new players… need time to gell. NBA teams need cohesion, and we just don’t have that right now. Also, the 2007-2010 cave teams had less star power and less offensive firepower, but they were a lot better at individual and team defense. They were tops in the league under Mr. Mike Brown. So no, we’re not the best, until these players get a season together to understand each other and everyone minus Lebron and Andy learn how to play D.
You make a good point about the needing to gel, and I agree that it’s too early declare us the unrivaled best in the east. To our benefit, the other top teams in the east are also in flux (minus Toronto and Atlanta?)…so even though we have work to do to come together as a team I don’t think it’s outlandish homerism to predict a finals berth.
greg Monroe still a possibility if dion is on trade block—–like the signing of miller —-shooting/ experience/ keeps LeBron happy ( LeBron was very upset when Miami opted not to bring him back ) also the price isn’t that bad
I like it. we will need some floor spacing at times and he will provide it, pretty cheap along with a ring to show the kids. The cavs still need a center. can’t imagine they’ll go into the season with varajo as the starter and Haywood on the bench With Thompson moving over. that’s not going to cut it when varajo missed 30 games. avail free agents include Jason Smith, Okafor (is he healthy) Jermaine ONeal, (how’s his knee after the playoffs – he played pretty well for GS), Epke Udoh and then total garbage guys like Ryan Hollins, Byron… Read more »
Definitely need a veteran-ish center. I do want us to pick up Lucas Noquiera once Toronto buys him out, though.
I would think the lineup–as currently constructed–would have some minutes for TT to play center. His inability to guard the 4 outside of 18 FT and close down three point shooters has been well documented on this blog. Is it outrageous for him to be moved to the 5 even if he isn’t the greatest “rim protector”?
He isnt here to play heavy minutes…why worry about the minutes he’ll take from youngsters? He’ll come in, get wide open.looks or open.up the lane for everyone else. His shots are actually not quite as important as the defender who has to leave the paint to guard him. That alone will be a positive, unmeasured gain.
Very pleased with this, if only for symbolic value. We can’t have LeBron being ostracized just for being in Cleveland again. Now we just need another center. Okafor looks good to me.
I don’t love it. Anthony Tolliver makes 50x more sense as he can still defend.
So basically we’re going to give minutes to older role players with no room to improve in favor of the young guys with high ceilings (Wiggins, Waiters)? I don’t get it. Especially if we sign Allen.
No thanks. Not on a 3 year deal.
Also I’m not about to pretend that a guy who takes less than three 3PT attempts per game is a great shooter. Given his injury history, I just don’t understand it. Waiters is entering his third year so it’s not as though he’s a rookie that needs to learn from a veteran.
I do like the veteran leadership he’ll bring. I just don’t like the third year player option. I don’t think we’re going to want to be paying him $2.5-$3.0M in year 3.
Win now mode – we have Lebron on the back end of his prime. Plus Miller is only getting 15mpg
“Miller was offered a three-year deal worth $12 million by the Denver Nuggets, but instead opted for a two-year deal worth $5.5 million in which the veteran shooter has a player option following next season.” -from ESPN
Unless I’m reading it wrong, the deal is for two years, not three.
You’re right. I read wrong – I thought year 3 was a player option.
Great shooter. Veteran with high basketball IQ. Knows how to space the floor when LeBron’s in the game. Comes cheap.
And it’s not like guys never get injured.
Woot! Question now: if RayRay decides to retire will he come on board as shooting coach?
That’d be awesome! but if not Ray does anyone know if Mark Price would still be available for a similar role? Could you imagine how deadly our backcourt would be if Kyrie, Dion, Wiggins, Delly all developed a sniper 3-point shot??