>Vince Carter hate is always about what he could have been or
>should have been, which is dumb because Carter still had a
>fabulous...super fabulous in fact...pro career. Hating on
>Miller is dumb because nobody expected anything. He's
>done nothing but overachieve his entire career and refuses
>to not be relevant. Its commendable.

after a while I came to find his totally self-selected moments of effort pretty amusing. it became like a game trying to predict those games when he would decide to actually try (and when he tries, he really is an amazingly smart player that's really fun to watch).

the quintessential Andre Miller moment for me in Portland was when he had his iron man streak broken due to a suspension. there was a really, really chippy game against the Clippers where Andre spent a quarter crying to the refs every time Blake Griffin got near him for a rebound cuz he was getting bodied like hell (and he'd made some comments beforehand about how people don't respect the vets enough or something which was pretty thinly veiled shade at Blake, who you could totally tell Andre resented for being famous just for dunking and not much else) so eventually Andre just TEES OFF on Blake under the basket. a ball was coming off for a rebound and Andre covers the most ground the fastest he's EVER done in a Blazers jersey to just nail Blake in the back as Blake is eyeing a rebound, and of course with the veteran guile he got away with it, didn't even get a foul in the game.

but the NBA reviews it after the game, calls it a flagrant (it was so obvious -- possibly the fastest Andre has run in his life to nail this guy he's been whining about for the past 10 minutes), and suspends Andre, which breaks his iron man streak (highest in the league at that time).

so you know what I immediately thought? gotta make sure I watch the next Portland v. Clippers game cuz we're gonna see mad, motivated Andre. sure enough, next time they play Andre does his Rondo 0.9 impression, gets like 24 and 12 and like 7 rebounds, just DOMINATES the game, without even jumping or getting past a jog, it always seems unbelievable every time you see it, sends people like you running to the internet to talk about how underrated he is, then of course Andre promptly proceeds to take the next 2-3 weeks of the schedule off.

so yeah, I came to appreciate that little show he puts on. but if you're rooting for your team to win a high playoff seed or get past the 1st round, that's the moment where you're suddenly less than amused with Andre Miller as your starting PG.