StaTuesday: Andre Miller's long and generous career
Welcome to the latest edition of StaTuesday, where each week we'll give you a different look at sports by examining a particular statistic or number.
The Minnesota Timberwolves signed Andre Miller to be a backup point guard and team leader. Miller certainly has been around the block. Ten days after Karl-Anthony Towns was born, Miller played in his first collegiate game for the University of Utah (a 79-68 loss to Kansas on Nov. 25, 1995, in which freshman Miller had eight points, seven rebounds and eight assists in 23 minutes).
Miller was eventually selected with the No. 8 overall selection in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Amazingly, of the 58 players selected, 17 of them played 10 or more years in the NBA.
Of those 17, four played all 16 seasons since being drafted and were active this past season. Perhaps just one will play in 2016-17: Miller. Elton Brand (No. 1 overall pick) is a free agent, Shawn Marion (No. 9) has said he's retiring and Jason Terry (No. 10) is also a free agent, although Houston made him a low-ball offer.
In case you're curious, the others who spent 10-plus years in the NBA from that 1999 draft (in order of selection) were: Baron Davis (No. 3), 13 years; Lamar Odom (No. 4), 14; Wally Szczerbiak (No. 6), 10; Richard Hamilton (No. 7), 14; Corey Magette (No. 13), 14; Metta World Peace (No. 16), 15; James Posy (No. 18), 12; Jeff Foster (No. 21), 13; Kenny Thomas (No. 22), 11; Devean George (No. 23), 11; Andrei Kirilenko (No. 24), 13; Calvin Booth (No. 35), 10; Manu Ginobili (No. 57), 13.
Miller is a case study in longevity. In his 16 seasons, he has played fewer than 80 games just twice. And one of those came in the lockout season of 2011-12, when he played in all 66 games. The lone season in which Miller has missed more than two games was in 2013-14, when he appeared in 58 games combined for Denver and Washington. He rebounded by playing in all but one game this past season for the Wizards and Sacramento.
In NBA (and ABA) history, Miller ranks ninth all-time in assists. Unless he plays beyond 2015-16, eighth is where he will end up. Here is the all-time top 10 in assists (* denotes Hall of Famer):
| Player | Assists |
| John Stockton* | 15,806 |
| Jason Kidd | 12,091 |
| Steve Nash | 10,335 |
| Mark Jackson | 10,334 |
| Magic Johnson* | 10,141 |
| Oscar Robertson* | 9,887 |
| Isiah Thomas* | 9,061 |
| Gary Payton* | 8,966 |
| Andre Miller | 8,437 |
| Rod Stickland | 7,987 |
The closest active NBA player to Miller is Chris Paul with 6,950. No one else is within 2,000 assists.
Miller also is 39th on the all-time steals list and should pass Jeff Hornacek, Nate McMillan, Doug Christie, Larry Bird and possibly Doc Rivers this season (Miler would need 34 to pass Rivers; he had 32 last season). Among players active this past season, only Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Shawn Marion, Chris Paul and LeBron James have more steals.
Of course, playing in all those games also means a lot of time on the court. Miller enters the 2015-16 season 31st all-time in minutes played. Among active players who are expected to be on an NBA roster next season, only Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowtizki, Paul Pierce and Vince Carter have seen more time on the floor. If Miller can play 1,000 minutes this season (he had 1,253 last season, an average of 15.5 minutes per game), he will end up just past Bill Russell and roughly 300 minutes behind Michael Jordan.
Not bad company to be in with. Not bad at all.
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