Why Do People Treat Reggie Miller Like He's a Legend?

[Dro]

Even if you are just looking at statistics and not taking into account actually watching the guy and all of his big moments, he was a pretty rare kind of player.

A 6-foot-7 shooting guard who averaged 20+ points on 50+% shooting from the field. Putting up that kind of FG% as primarily a jumpshooter is insane. If you just look at his 3PT%, you're not going to be totally blown away. But, his jumper was silky smooth from anywhere on the floor.

His TS% was above 60% in 13 of his 18 seasons.



That's insane consistency. Steve Nash is the only guy in the league who can come close to matching that, and even he hasn't done it 13 times.

Additionally, as you probably could have guessed, no guards in today's NBA are even close to Reggie's efficiency in that respect. Scoring 23 points per game on .650 TS%? No one even close to that. The closest is James Harden at .617.

Never dipping below 50% on his eFG% is also obviously a sign of the kind of consistent, efficient shooter he was.

He was a special player. Anyone who watched him in his prime knows that. The numbers aren't necessary to validate what we saw with our own two eyes, but they're there if you look hard enough.

Whether he's a "legend"? Now we're just getting into semantics. He had numerous legendary performances, I can tell you that.

Honestly though, this should end the discussion.....I saw his entire career and it always felt like he just never shot enough...

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

He isnt even better than Manu Ginobli
The SGs in the 90s sucked after MJ and Glide

Look at the 2000s way more stacked

[mentallooser]

Because his contemporaries feel he's a legend?

[RedBlackAttack]

He still doesn't have many all-nba picks or all stars comparatively either, so it's hard to say people who saw his prime think he's a legend either. I caught the tail end and I never did anyway.

"Legend" is such an arbitrary title. Like I said, he was the catalyst in more than one legendary NBA moment. Doesn't that alone make him a "legend" of sorts?

He also had a successful career, despite not winning a championship. The guy was the best player on a team who went to the playoffs pretty much every year (15 times), went to the ECF 6 times and the Finals once... And that included giving Jordan's Bulls everything they could handle in a seven game series in '98.

Throw in the fact that he chose to stay in Indiana for his entire 18-year career, and yeah... I think he's remembered just about right.

All-Star and All-NBA appearances aren't the end-all, be-all, especially when a guy is at his statistical peak during the same era as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Clyde Drexler and Kevin Johnson.

That left guys like Reggie, Mark Price and Joe Dumars fighting it out for the last spot on the All-NBA Team.

Later, Magic and Dumars were replaced by guys like Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway, Penny Hardaway, Mitch Richmond...

Getting a guard spot on the All-NBA Team in those days meant having to be basically a HOF worthy player (which Reggie turned out to be). There are only so many spots to go around.

Isiah Thomas had the same problem Reggie did... he only had a handful of All-NBA appearances too, because he played in a stacked era for both points and SGs.

[bizil]

When u think great shooters who are also great scorers, u think guys like Reggie, Bird, Durant, Dirk, West, Ray Allen, and Nash. I actually think over time Reggie played too much of sniper role instead of mixing it up like the other guys I named. Earlier in his career, Miller mixed it up more and was putting up 25 a night. I think many look at his season scoring numbers and hold that against him. But he's still scored more career points than any guards except MJ, Kobe, and Big O. And he has some of the most iconic playoff moments ever. Plus if u needed a three pointer to win a game, Reggie might be the guy HISTORICALLY u would have take that shot. Reggie is EASILY legend material!!

[Trentknicks]

Reggie is arguably the clutchest player not named Jordan or Bird. He had ice in his veins. He gave Spike Lee 90% of the gray hairs he currently has.

Agreed, losing to the Knicks in 94 with a 3-2 lead with the next game in Indiana or losing as a 2 seed to an 8 seed Knicks really showed how clutch he was. He was a pretty clutch player, but let's not put him up in the ridiculously elite tier just because you got a hard on watching his highlights vs the Knicks in 95.

[oh the horror]

The responses in this thread are cringe worthy.

This has to be the dumbest basketball forum on the internet. Hands down.

[Just2McFly]

Reggie is arguably the clutchest player not named Jordan or Bird. He had ice in his veins. He gave Spike Lee 90% of the gray hairs he currently has.

oh man i cant take some of this stuff seriously

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

The responses in this thread are cringe worthy.

This has to be the dumbest basketball forum on the internet. Hands down.

What DONT you agree with?

[D.J.]

oh man i cant take some of this stuff seriously

Name some players other than Jordan or Bird that were more clutch than Reggie, especially in the postseason. I'll wait...

[kurple]

He's also shot the 2nd most in NBA history lol, there are more than a handful of players who would have made more than Reggie given the attempts

why werent they given more attempts?

[D.J.]

Agreed, losing to the Knicks in 94 with a 3-2 lead with the next game in Indiana or losing as a 2 seed to an 8 seed Knicks really showed how clutch he was. He was a pretty clutch player, but let's not put him up in the ridiculously elite tier just because you got a hard on watching his highlights vs the Knicks in 95.

Says the Knicks fan. Jordan was subpar against the Magic in '95 to say the least. He played piss poor against Seattle in '96 with Payton. Wasn't all that great against Indy in '98 either. Game 5 in '89(biggest game of his career at that point), we won't discuss. And this is the GOAT. Even the GOAT is human.

[AnaheimLakers24]

get him off tnt

[Clyde]

The guy is about a 19/3/3 player. Not that special. Sure he's really clutch but so is Joe Johnson and Johnson put up similar numbers. Theoretically he should be a slightly better Joe Johnson.

You are ****ing Stupid.

[Trentknicks]

Says the Knicks fan. Jordan was subpar against the Magic in '95 to say the least. He played piss poor against Seattle in '96 with Payton. Wasn't all that great against Indy in '98 either. Game 5 in '89(biggest game of his career at that point), we won't discuss. And this is the GOAT. Even the GOAT is human.

If you re-watch the 1999 Knicks Pacers series, then you'd see there were several games were Miller could have won the game but missed the shot or had it blocked. But continue to talk about other players.