Grading The Professor

The Sacramento Kings brought in George Karl. George Karl brought in “The Professor” Andre Miller. Now it’s time for the progress report.

Andre “The Professor” Miller made his NBA debut as a much younger man in the year 1999. Over the past 16 years he has made a name for himself as a solid court and locker room presence. Notably, he was a key part in the George Karl Denver Nuggets who finished third in the Western Conference, winning Karl the NBA Coach of the Year award in the 2012-13 season. There was some give in take in the media between Miller and Karl, but it is clear that is behind them as Karl made the move to bring Miller to the Kings at the trade deadline.

The Professor has started to settle in for Sacramento so it is time for his first progress report.

Miller, a 38-year-old point guard, was seeing 12.4 minutes per game for the Wizards backing up All-Star guard John Wall and having his minutes cut in favor of the younger guards on the Washington roster.

In Sacramento, Miller has seen his minutes nearly double. He is averaging 22.9 minutes as Karl clearly sees Miller as the right player to help institute his system. His field goal percentage has dipped in Sacramento, but the fatigue of additional minutes and the increase of over two more shots per game, up to 5.3 from 2.8 with Washington, is likely a major factor.

Miller isn’t just shooting two more shots per game; he is also scoring two more points per game with his average up to 5.8 from 3.6 in Washington. The increased playing time has increased his offensive contribution, but the real contribution comes in form of assists not points. Miller is averaging almost three full assists above his numbers with the Wizards. He is average 5.6 assists per game for the Kings, including game-high numbers against the Grizzlies (7), Blazers (10), and Heat (8).

While the change has been a good move for The Professor and probably George Karl, it hasn’t really changed the overall performance of the Kings. The Kings are 3-7 in their last 10 games, a number that is consistent with what you would expect from them this season.

What could be called the “KG Factor” may have also figured into the move for Karl. Much like Minnesota bringing back Kevin Garnett, Karl may have intended to bring Miller in more as a mentor and mature locker room figure to help on the practice floor.

As Karl tries to get his team to buy into his system, there is no player he needs more on his side more than DeMarcus Cousins. Miller and Cousins have shared the floor in just eight games so far which provides a very small sample size. In the games they have played together the Kings are 3-5, which extrapolated would be a better Kings team than what we are actually seeing in the win-loss column this season. The results may very well be coincidental, but what do the numbers look like?

So far, a Cousins-Miller lineup averages 11 minutes per game, almost the same amount of time that Miller was averaging per game before the move to Sacramento. The team is averaging 24.0 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in those 11 minutes that Boogie and The Professor are working together. Hard to apply some of these numbers to a larger context, but the assist numbers stick out, not just between the two but any time that Miller is on the floor. The Kings need someone who can distribute, creating high percentage opportunities. In the games that Cousins has played with Miller, the frequency of his catch and shoot attempts has dropped by just over three percent from 15.3 to 12.3, but his Effective Field Goal percentage has increased on those shots from 42.2 percent to 53.6 percent. Cousins continues to be a less than ideal pull up shooter, but his shooting within 10 feet has remain nearly constant as it has decreased less than one percent in frequency with Miller, but his Effective Field Goal percentage has increased by just over one percent.

Miller also presents an upgrade over struggling Ramon Sessions who went the other way in the trade with the Wizards. While a portion of the time that Sessions spent with the Kings was under the slow-paced Mike Malone, he averaged a PACE (Possessions/48 minutes) of 94.35 with a Net Rating of -12.7 over 36 games in Sacramento. Compare those numbers with those of Miller, 10 games into his time with the Kings, at a PACE of 97.85 and Net Rating of -5.7. The pace with the Professor has to be much more pleasing to the Kings front office which has made it clear that they expect a much more up-tempo offense.

The Professor probably doesn’t have too many classes left to teach in an NBA uniform. At his age you could consider his return to play under Karl as a renaissance, or perhaps it has revitalized him and given him reason to believe that he can still hang around in the league for another year or two. Likely, the Kings could either recruit him to an assistant position under Karl or, if he continues to play beyond this season, offer him a one-year deal to continue the work of implementing Karl’s system with the benefit of a full off-season. Whichever way he turns in the future, The Professor continues to drop knowledge in the here and now.

Edit: This article has been updated to reflect Andre Miller’s first year in the NBA as 1999 instead of 2000.