Andre Carrying a Giant Burden

He has exceeded everybody’s expectations. Apparently, that’s not enough.

Andre Miller led his college team to the Final Four, got his degree at Utah, was a lottery pick and now he’s the top assist man in the NBA. There was a time when you would have bet against any or all of those things. And maybe you can get still get good odds on the next challenge.

“Andre has the chance to be one of the top 15 players in the league,” Cleveland Cavalier Coach John Lucas said. “I’m trying to wake that elephant up every night.

“In saying that, we obviously don’t have the best personnel in the league. So for us to be competitive, he’s got to have big numbers every night until I can get us help. He has done that. I’m very hard on Andre. But look what’s happened. This is his best year ever.”

He’s averaging a double-double, with 16.7 points and 10.7 assists per game. That includes five 30-point games, 22 assists against the Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 15 and an off-the-backboard pass to Ricky Davis for a fastbreak dunk Tuesday night at Staples Center. He finished with 21 points and nine assists in the Lakers’ 121-116 victory.

Miller’s a modest guy when he talks about his accomplishments.

“The guys around us are having pretty good years shooting the ball well,” Miller said. “It makes it a lot easier to pass the ball in a good situation. They’ll be able to knock down the shot.”

Let’s get real. The guys around him are the Cleveland Cavaliers. More often than not in this injury-plagued season, they’re the substitute Cleveland Cavaliers. The list of out-of-action players Tuesday included Lamond Murray, Tyrone Hill, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jeff Trepagnier and first-round pick DeSagana Diop.

Miller’s big number on Tuesday was 50. That’s the number of family and friends the L.A. native (and Verbum Dei graduate) had at Staples Center. That’s about $4,000 worth of tickets. At least his people got in legally.

In the old days, he wasn’t so legit when he went to Laker games at the Forum.

“We used to sneak up in there when I was younger,” Miller said. “Where I went to junior high school [Inglewood Christian] was right around the corner. I played at the YMCA right around the corner.

“We would just run [down the tunnel], break down there while they weren’t looking. We got caught one time, though. They called the police.”

Fortunately for him, his mother never found out. Andrea Robinson always tried to keep as close an eye on him as possible. That meant taking buses all the way to Texas to watch him play in NCAA tournament games, and calling in to voice her displeasure when she saw him on TV wearing his hair in braids in a game earlier this season.

She didn’t have to go very far to see Miller’s best college game. It was at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, for the 1998 NCAA West Regional final. It was one of the most thorough college performances I’ve ever seen, Miller single-handedly beating Arizona with 18 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, two steals and a blocked shot. He ran the offense and was everywhere on defense and he clearly outplayed Arizona point guard Mike Bibby, whom some people were touting as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

Bibby wound up going to Vancouver with the No. 2 pick that year, after the Clippers selected Michael Olowokandi.

Miller went back to school. After entering school as a non-qualifier under Proposition 48 regulations, Miller had earned another year of eligibility by getting his degree in four years. He went to Cleveland with the No. 8 pick in the 1999 draft, and quickly made incumbent point guard Brevin Knight expendable.

Even on the day of that 1998 regional final performance, Utah Coach Rick Majerus said that he thought Bibby would be a better pro than Miller. We all thought he would. But is he?

Miller averages more points and twice as many assists, despite playing for a much worse team than Bibby’s Sacramento Kings.

Miller would be perfect for the Clippers if they can’t work things out with Jeff McInnis, who will be a free agent this summer. The Cavaliers have an option for Miller’s contract next year, then it’s up to them if they want to extend his contract. They’d be foolish not to. But they might also be willing to think of a trade if the Clippers were offering Lamar Odom or Corey Maggette and Keyon Dooling.

Miller, Olowokandi, Quentin Richardson, Elton Brand, Darius Miles. Nothing wrong with that five.

But for now, Miller wears a Cleveland uniform. He just became the franchise’s all-time assists leader. And he’s just about all Lucas has to enjoy.

“He’s getting so much better,” Lucas said. “But I see continued growth in him.

“When I talk about him, let’s establish one thing: I love him. I think he’s great. But I think there’s so much more that I’ve got to get from my team to be good. We don’t have a Shaq and a Kobe.

“For him, he’s got to make the best of what he has. He’s got the ball 80% of the time, so he’s going to have big numbers.”

By now, we should have learned not to underestimate Miller. Top 15 in the league? He’s already one of only 15 players to rank among the league’s top 40 in scoring and assists. He averages more points and more assists than Jason Kidd, whom some consider this season’s most valuable player.

You might have slept on Miller before. Don’t do it again.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com.