Blazers sign Andre Miller

  NBA.com

The Portland Trailblazers have completed their search for a point guard after signing former 76er Andre Miller. Miller met with Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard and Coach Nate McMillan last week in Las Vegas to discuss a possible deal.

Miller signed with Portland for 3 years and $21 million dollars. This signing pushes the Blazers to the limit of the salary cap, and makes Miller the last piece to their championship puzzle.

“I'm really excited for this opportunity with the Trail Blazers and look forward to working with my new team,” said Miller. “I hope to provide veteran leadership to a young talented nucleus and help Portland take the next step in the pursuit of a championship.”

The Blazers are loaded with young talent like Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, and Rudy Fernandez. Miller provides veteran leadership and consistency from the point guard position.

I was expecting the Blazers to pursue a guard with better long range accuracy as Miller is a poor 3-point shooter(21% career average). As a point guard, Miller also dominates the ball and distributes to teammates. For three seasons the Blazers have kept the ball in Brandon Roy's hands at all times. It will be interesting to see how Miller and Roy play alongside each other.

The Blazers will work out the details later, for now they're happy to get their guy. After failing to land Hedo Turkoglu and Paul Millsap, Andre Miller is a nice consolation prize.

“We are excited to add a player of the caliber and character of Andre Miller,” said Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard. “He is one of the league’s iron-men who brings a wealth of veteran leadership to our team and is a great fit for our young and improving roster.”

Miller has career averages of 14.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.38 steals during his 10 NBA seasons with Cleveland, L.A. Clippers, Denver and Philadelphia.