Winner With Andre

Andre Miller is not shy; he’s guarded. He is not aloof; he’s polite. He’s not fiery; he’s cool. He’s not a talker; he’s a doer. He’s not a shooter; he’s a passer. He owns an expensive SUV; he drives his mother’s late-model Honda.

Now that’s old school.

Or as Marko Jaric, a Yugoslav who played the last four seasons in Italy, said of his new Clipper teammate, “Andre is an unselfish player. He is unusual for an American point guard. He’s a very smart guy. Very unselfish. Very clever. He doesn’t care if he scores 30 points or two points.”

Miller, 26, made his Clipper debut Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, his former team, scoring 15 points and adding 14 assists. It was a homecoming eight years in the waiting. Tonight, he faces the Lakers, the three-time NBA champions, the team he admired most while growing up in Los Angeles.

“I’m home,” he said. “For the first time in eight years, I’m on the home team at home. I’m looking forward to it.”

His task is not simple.

Miller is used to facing difficult (impossible?) challenges. Turning the Clippers into a cohesive unit capable of winning, say, 50 games is only the latest one.

He grew up in Watts, a 10-minute drive from the Clippers’ practice facility at Los Angeles Southwest College. He graduated from Verbum Dei High after leading the school to a 29-3 record and a Southern Section championship as a senior in 1993-94. He went to Utah, but had to sit out one season because he did not qualify under NCAA academic guidelines.

Like a lot of Southern Californians, Miller grew up watching Magic Johnson and the “Showtime” Lakers. He had other sports idols too. He also played football in high school, earning league most valuable player honors as a quarterback.

Basketball was Miller’s ticket to college, although few could have predicted greatness for him.

“He was overweight when he came to the University of Utah,” said Ute Coach Rick Majerus, who knows a thing or two about overweight. “He was pudgy bordering on fat.”

It didn’t take long, though, for Miller to win over Majerus.

“He’s an old-time player,” Majerus said. “He’s the kind of guy who likes to play on the playground. He goes looking for a game. Usually, Southern California kids have to have an open gym. They won’t play unless they have multicolored uniforms and referees. He just likes to play.

“He defines himself as a basketball player. He loves ball. He would go find games. On off days, I had to tell him, ‘Andre, if I wanted you to work out, I would work you out myself.’ He has a special quality. He played cards. He played golf. I took the guys horseback riding, bowling. He tried all that stuff.”

Between Majerus and Andrea Robinson, Miller’s mother, the young man had a support system that ensured his success at Utah. Robinson was Miller’s biggest fan, rarely missing a game -- home or away. She once traveled to Dallas by bus from Los Angeles to see the Utes play in two NCAA tournament games.

“I asked a buddy of mine who had a private plane to take her back to L.A.,” Majerus said. “We asked the NCAA if we could do it if she paid a fare. The NCAA said no. I remember she walked right off the bus and went right to work Monday morning.”

Miller graduated with a degree in sociology in 1998. The Cavaliers selected him eighth overall in the 1999 draft. Robinson made the L.A.-to-Cleveland trip by bus at least once.

During an interview last week, Miller was uncomfortable speaking about his relationships with Majerus and his mother. He twisted in his chair, intently watching while teammates lingered after practice to work on their jump shots. He asked that a reporter not contact his mother.

“She’s got some issues right now,” Miller said. “Maybe give it two weeks, OK?”

You see, Albert Robinson, Miller’s stepfather, has cancer and the prognosis isn’t good. Miller, who lost an older brother to an illness several years ago, doesn’t wish to speak about his stepfather’s condition.

“He can be guarded,” Majerus said. “He can be tough to get to know. I love the guy. I love him for the person he is. He’s good to his mom and his stepfather. He’s more Stockton than Malone. He doesn’t find the camera. He’s never going to be on the NBA all-interview team. That coach is fortunate to have him. He’ll make [Elton] Brand and those guys better players.”

It’s already happened, according to Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry.

“They didn’t do him justice with all the things they said about him,” Gentry said of Miller. “He’s a much better leader than we thought he would be. He’s quiet off the floor. He talks on the floor. Guys like him very seldom fail. He leads by example. He’s got an SUV, but he never drives it. He says it’s too fast for him. Material things mean very little to him. Being a great, great player drives him the most, I think.”

The Clippers sought an upgrade at point guard after Jeff McInnis had helped them to a 39-43 record and the brink of a playoff spot last season with a street-wise attitude that often grated on the nerves of teammates and the coaching staff.

Clipper brass decided the team needed a different point man, one with less flash and more substance, less talk and more action. They wanted a team player like Miller to take them to the playoffs for the first time since 1996-97.

It’s why the Clippers gave up Darius Miles, 20, a frequent flier with what appears to be unlimited potential, to get an earth-bound Miller from the Cavaliers on July 30. Several hoop know-it-alls proclaimed the trade a bad one for the Clippers, wailing that Miles may soon rocket through the stratosphere as the NBA’s latest, greatest.

These Clippers, long on potential but short on results, couldn’t be happier with Miller running what still figures to be one of the league’s best rim-rattling dunk shows.

Only now, when they need a play, when they need an important basket or a well-timed assist, they can put the ball in Miller’s hands and watch him work his magic.

It isn’t magic to Miller. It’s just ball.

“I’ve watched a lot of basketball, a lot of team basketball,” Miller said. “I’m not going to say unselfish play has been forgotten, but society wants to see a person who can put the ball in the basket a lot. It’s hard to really understand basketball. It looks simple, just putting the ball in the hoop. But there’s also the Xs and O’s part of it.”

Last season, his third with the Cavaliers, Miller led the NBA with an average of 10.9 assists. He also averaged 16.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 37.3 minutes.

McInnis averaged 14.6 points for the Clippers last season, but only 6.2 assists. It was that lopsided ratio that got the Clippers thinking they could do better, particularly since McInnis would be an unrestricted free agent. There also was the matter of McInnis’ personality clash with Gentry and many of his teammates.

“Now, maybe Alvin can get in a word or two during timeouts,” one team official whispered on the day the Clippers announced they had completed the deal for Miller. McInnis then signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.

“A coach has to trust his point guard,” said Dennis Johnson, a Clipper assistant and a former guard with the Boston Celtic teams that badgered and occasionally bested the Lakers throughout the 1980s. “A team gets a lot of confidence if the coach is confident with his point guard. He runs everything. If Alvin doesn’t have to call all the plays, we’ll have more of a free-flowing offense. We’ve got guys who can really run. If he can get two more assists a game.... “

Johnson trailed off with a low whistle.

Mo McHone, another of Gentry’s assistants, quickly added of Miller, “He adds such a calmness.”

Eric Piatkowski, a shooting guard who has spent all nine of his pro seasons with the Clippers, picked up on that theme.

“Nothing bothers him,” he said of Miller. “I want the ball in his hands. I’ll do what I do. Other guys aren’t going to wonder [in crunch time] what’s going to happen. Because of the point guard situation, I’m twice as good a player as I was last year.”

Added power forward Brand, “Make sure you run the floor because he’ll find you. He’s definitely subdued. It’s definitely different from last year. I don’t want to knock Jeff because his fire got us over the hump sometimes last year. Andre is not real vocal, but he leads by example. If you’re open, the ball will find you.

“It’s great for everybody.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Point Men

How Andre Miller, acquired by the Clippers in the off-season, compared statistically in 2001-02 to Jeff McInnis, the team’s point guard last season (figures are per-game averages):

*--* Miller McInnis 37.3 Minutes 37.4 16.5 Points 14.6 10.9 Assists 6.2 4.7 Rebounds 2.6 1.56 Steals 0.78 3.02 Turnovers 1.81 454 FG% 413 817 FT% 836

*--*

*

Pass Happy

Miller progressed from 18th in the NBA in assists as a rookie to fifth in his second season and first last season. The league’s leading playmakers over the last three seasons:

*--* Player G A APG Jason Kidd 226 2,239 9.91 Gary Payton 243 2,111 8.69 John Stockton 245 2,090 8.53 Andre Miller 245 2,015 8.22 Terrell Brandon 181 1,476 8.15 Nick Van Exel 222 1,792 8.07 Stephon Marbury 223 1,794 8.04

*--*