Detroit Pistons: Is Andre Drummond the greatest ‘Andre’ of All Time?

Andre Miller

Longevity is something that can be admired by many. LeBron James is entering his 17th NBA season at the age of 34. Vince Carter‘s career will span four decades of play, beginning in 1998 and likely finishing in the coming year or two. Andre Miller sort of flew under the radar. He didn’t have the jaw-dropping dunks like Carter and the MVP-caliber seasons like James.

But he did have some flashy passing. He didn’t rise to 11th All-Time on the passing list by not passing. During his 17 years, Miller spent most of his time on the Denver Nuggets where he spent seven total seasons in two different stints.

Miller, who only missed a handful of games in his career due to injury, played the 21st-most NBA games ever with 1,304. Surrounded by players like Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Artis Gilmore, and Gary Payton. Obviously, surefire Hall of Famers. Miller, on the other hand, never even made an All-Star game. When he retired at the age of 39 in 2016, that didn’t change. He’s the only player with over 16,000 points, 8,000 assists, and 1,500 steals to never make an All-Star Game, which is kind of sad.

Named to the All-Rookie First Team in the 2000 season, Miller only had one more individual accolade when he was the NBA assists leader in 2002 with 10.9 per game. From that point on, his assist numbers fluctuated each season from 6 per game to 9 per game but never surpassing double digits again.

For his career, he averaged 12.5 points per game and 6.5 assists per game. Miller was a career 46 percent shooter, but his 3-point shot never worked out as he was a career 21 percent shooter from beyond the arc. For some perspective on how Miller is a prime example of how basketball has changed in just 17 seasons, James Harden shot more 3-pointers last season (1028) than Miller took in his entire career (888). That also shows how good Harden is at shooting them and how bad Miller was. Though, point guards in today’s NBA should be expected to shoot better than 21 percent from beyond the 3-point line.

Miller will always be one of the NBA’s best ironmen and though he might have played at a high level for his whole career, he still rightfully deserves his place on the Mt. Rushmore of Andre’s as he is awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Andre Award for being the fourth-best Andre in NBA history.