EXCLUSIVE: Jordan Miller chats G League, improvement with Clippers
The rookie second-round pick has made waves during G League stint in Ontario.
LOS ANGELES — It doesn’t get much farther from Coral Gables, Fla., where rookie forward Jordan Miller plied his trade for his last few years in college with the University of Miami, to where Miller presently spends his days in the G League with the Ontario Clippers — 2,700 miles, in fact.
So far in his 21 G League appearances, the second-round pick of the LA Clippers is averaging 20.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on 50 percent shooting. But more impressively for Miller, the left-hander is spraying in 38.5 percent of his five 3-point attempts per game.
On Wednesday afternoon, Miller got to spend time with the Ontario Clippers in the same building that the big club plays in, suiting up against the Stockton Kings inside Crypto.com Arena.
While the Clippers were soundly beaten by the Kings, 125-114, Miller played well, finishing with a game-high 36 points, as well as five rebounds, four assists, and two steals in 33 minutes. Miller made 11 of his 15 field goal attempts, including four of his six 3-point tries.
“For me, my whole career, it’s always taking me just a little bit to kind of get to, like, what it is I’m doing,” Miller told Russo Writes in an exclusive interview following the game.
When asked what area has seen the largest improvement since his Summer League stint to now in the G League, Miller replied, “I would say comfortability.”
Miller continued: “In Summer League, yeah, we had like two weeks of practice before, but it’s not enough time to really like understand the system, understand the defensive goals, offensive goals. So, I would say now I’m at a place where I don’t have to think about that stuff and I can just play. It allows me to play my game more versus making sure I’m not messing up, you know what I mean?”
Wednesday marked the 10th consecutive game for Miller where he scored at least 20 points, and it was the third time in the last six games where he topped 30.
Miller is coming off a senior season at Miami (FL) where he averaged 15.3 points while shooting 54.5 percent from the field. However, Miller wasn’t a notable 3-point threat, connecting on 35.2 percent of his long-range tries while taking 2.5 per game.
It’s that jump in shooting that has been the most noticeable thing about Miller’s development through these first few months with the franchise.
“That’s something I focused on this whole offseason,” Miller explained to Russo Writes. “I’m shooting the ball well right now. I’m just trying to stay consistent at it because I know if the day comes where I get called up, that’s going to be one of the main things that a team is going to want from me, especially early in my career.”
Miller made four 3s on Wednesday, the fourth time this season he’s made at least that many, and the 13th time this season he’s made multiple 3s in a single game. Miller made multiple 3s just seven times in his final season in college and only had three games with at least four made 3s during his entire 142-game, five-year collegiate career.
“[The Clippers front office and coaching staff] thought the G League would be very, very beneficial for me to just get my confidence up, get reps, because even if I was with the main team I wouldn’t be getting a lot of minutes, if any,” Miller said. “So, that’s just been the main goal: confidence.”
Getting minutes on a Clippers team that features high-profile talent like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and a whole host of others is not something that will be easy for Miller to achieve during his rookie season, a situation he’s more than aware of.
“We have a really, really, really good team right now, you know?” Miller voiced to Russo Writes. “Lot of veterans. Four potential Hall of Famers, if not already Hall of Famers.”
But it doesn’t mean Miller doesn’t have his share of fans who want to see the versatile 6-foot-7 wing get time whenever that opportunity should arise. It’s also something Miller is cognizant of as he spends this time in the G League.
“It’s definitely love [to fans]. I appreciate it. I’m trying to do my part,” said Miller.
“Just waiting for my turn, just trying to keep doing what I’m doing, but I definitely appreciate anybody who’s rooting for me.”
