A Star In The Making🌟 : Brandon Miller Player Deep-Dive🏀
Going under the radar because of the alien in San Antonio and the stickman in Oklahoma Brandon Miller had one of the best rookie seasons in Charlotte Hornets Franchise History. But what's Next?
Proving Doubters Wrong
🎯Brandon Miller is coming off of a rookie season where he drastically over exceeded the expectations that were set on him pre-draft in his rookie season. There was heavy criticism on the Charlotte Hornets drafting Brandon Miller over the high-flying Scoot Henderson with the 2nd overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. While some of the "NBA Twitter experts" where calling the selection a "poverty move" "not a generational talent" "Not a franchise changing player" before and after the selection just one year later, not a single person would dare spout that now.
🔥Brandon Miller in his rookie campaign averaged 17/4/2 on 44/37/82 splits but really hit his stride in mid January in games that he started and played a minimum of 24 minutes Miller averaged 20.8 PPG over this stretched shot 37% from three-point range on 8 Attempts per game with 4 30+ point games with a career-high 35 points against the Indiana Pacers. Earning himself the 2nd most 30+ point games by a rookie in Charlotte Hornets History only behind the great Alonzo Mourning. Brandon Miller also in 5 games scored 146 points in that span that is the most points scored by a rookie over 5 games in Charlotte Hornets history.
He Got Game
🥶Brandon Miller already has a couple moves that I absolutely love he has a unique ability to navigate PNR sets to set himself up for open mid range pull-up shot attempts something as he gets more experience will be able to expand to the three-point line and also will elevate his threat as a three level scorer. Miller has a good set of dribble combinations to get his defender off balance to be able to get into the restricted area he loves to use floaters something I definitely see him improving on efficiency wise this season as he has added on some weight. Overall this will make things easier when finishing though bumps on his floater attempts when attacking the lane.
👀Miller's unique ability to utilize his mid-range game especially his long mid-range was his most impressive shooting split at 47% on 149 attempts which was drastically higher than all his other shooting numbers ranking in the 70th percentile ranking just below guys like Klay Thompson and Brandon Ingram who also shot 47% from this area. I believe this is going to be something that Coach Charles Lee is going to look at and want Miller to work on taking less long mid-range jump shots and making these attempts into three-point shots I expect Miller to cut these attempts in half or shoot around 80-100 of these during the season that would be a nice balance for Miller's outside repertoire.
The Areas of Offensive Improvement
☑His finishing ability from inside 15 feet is an area that could drastically change his offensive lethalness Miller shot 63% at the rim (0-4ft) and 41% in the short mid range area (4-14ft) ranking in the 48th and 49th percentile in the league a lot of these issues are due to the fact Miller lacked the physical strength to create enough separation on his attempts inside to give himself a good opportunity to finish drives and contested shots close to the basket this season. I also would love to see Miller evolve his post game a little. He has a beautiful stop, spin-fade shot that creates great elevation creating open fade shot attempts in the short mid-range area he has the length to improve this aspect of his game and could be a viable option he can go to when the team needs a bucket.
Apr 7, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller (24) takes a break against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Spectrum Center. Scott Kinser-USA TODAY Sports / Scott Kinser-USA TODAY Sports ☑Efficiency overall in terms of shooting, outside of his non corner three-point shots (38% 74th percentile) and his three-point shot percentage (38% 65th percentile) were all at league average at round the 48th-52nd percentile in the league being able to play alongside LaMelo Ball for most of a NBA season will help these numbers a lot in my opinion, a lot of his numbers especially in terms of his efficiency may be a little skewed due to the fact he was the only offensive threat for most of the season along with Miles Bridges after the Terry Rozier trade. His efficiency should be something to monitor during this season.. but once these numbers get to above league average... The NBA will be in trouble.
Brandon Miller Defensive Overview🔒
🔵Brandon Miller had a ton of responsibility defensively for a rookie even early on in the season while Gordon Hayward started to battle injuries Miller was inserted as a starter taking the responsibility to guard the best scorer on the opposing team on most nights. I felt that Brandon Miller did well considering a lot of the defensive issues with the roster in terms of roster construction and defensive players like Frank Ntilikina only playing 5 games for the Hornets last season.
🔴Brandon Miller did well at trying to force his defender to help side coverage when closing out on shooters although he did over pursue the shooter a lot which led to easy drive opportunities for shooters something I believe will be taken care of or at least highlighted on tape by Coach Charles Lee.
🟢Miller has the size to be a + defender with a seven-foot wingspan while being a 6'9 SG/SF and a player who can take the responsibility of guarding the #1-3 options on most NBA teams as he gets more experience.
Year 2 Expectations For Brandon Miller↗
✅ I expect Brandon Miller to eclipse 20 PPG this season, solidify himself as the clear cut #2 option on the Charlotte Hornets at some point during this season. Efficiency should at least stay the same if not get better but I definitely believe Miller will be a 40% three-point shooter this year continuing his shot streak at the end of last season, and during summer league. With better defensive players around him I would like to see improvement on his closeouts most importantly and improve his rebounding numbers as he has the size to be a 6+ RPG type of player.
Brandon Miller 2024-25 NBA season Stat prediction:
72 games played
20.4 PPG
5.6 RPG
2.2 APG
47.3 FG%
40.6 3PT%
85.1 FT%
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