Charlotte Hornet Brandon Miller is a rising star who’s set some unusual goals for Year 2
The Charlotte Hornets have lots of questions entering this season, but they also have one undeniable answer: Brandon Miller.
While fans fret about whether LaMelo Ball’s ankles will hold up and if Mark Williams’ latest injury really is minor, Miller seems like the team’s surest thing. He was an NBA All-Rookie first-team selection last season and was the Eastern Conference rookie of the month three times. The 6-foot-7 Miller is a natural scorer, one who averaged 17.3 points a game in his first NBA season.
So what’s next for a player who’s still only 21? On a team with the flashy point guard LaMelo Ball and high-flying Miles Bridges, it’s not like Miller is going to get an unlimited number of shots. But he still has the sort of potential that people love to talk about.
“Brandon is going to be as good as he wants to be,” Hornets general manager Jeff Peterson said.
“Now we just have to be able to go from a guy on the scouting report to the guy on the scouting report,” Hornets coach Charles Lee said of Miller.
“He’s more poised than he was last year,” Bridges said of Miller. “He could facilitate better. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s an all-star in Charlotte.”
Miller, though, has a somewhat surprising goal for a player known mostly as a smooth scorer at all three levels.
“I want to lead the team in charges taken,” Miller said.
In fact, Miller already did this as a rookie. But he wants to do so again, this time with a much higher number.
Fans know Miller for his smooth mid-range jumpers and the occasional ferocious dunk, but one overlooked part of his game is what is commonly known as “hustle stats.”
Miller had a team-high 11 charges taken last season. Grant Williams was second with 10. By way of contrast, in 184 career NBA games over four seasons, Ball has never drawn a single charge.
In 2023-24, Miller also led the Hornets in deflections (126) and loose balls recovered (49).
He would like to improve on all those numbers in Year Two, but the “charges taken” one holds particular allure. “I’d like to draw about one charge every game,” Miller said.
That won’t happen. In the 82-game NBA season, the leader in charges taken last year was Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski, and he had 38.
But the stat is emblematic of what Miller wants to be. He kept using the words “elite two-way player” when asked about his overall goal for this season, following in the steps of his basketball idol, Paul George.
To do that, Miller has worked on his body for much of the offseason. He’s a lean 200 pounds, and that led to him getting pushed around a little as a rookie.
“The biggest area is physical for him,” said Peterson, the Hornets’ new GM.
In what way?
“Functionally, he is stronger,” Peterson said, “and you have to have a level of strength in this league. He’s so freaking skilled, obviously, with the ball in his hands. He can do anything that he wants, in terms of making shots or making plays for others. He plays the game the right way. But physical (improvement) is a huge area for him. That will help him, of course, offensively and defensively.”
“My goal is definitely both weight gain and muscle mass,” Miller said. “Just to be able to take bumps from guys.”
The Hornets also would like Miller to take even more 3-pointers this season. Miller said he’s fine with that. Who’s the best shooter on the team?
“Me,” he proclaimed, laughing.
Picked second overall out of Alabama by the Hornets in the 2023 NBA Draft, Miller got a chance to see many of the world’s best players this summer when he played with the USA Basketball men’s select team. That team — generally made up of young rising stars who could be future Olympians — acts as a sparring partner for the actual USA Basketball Olympic team, which featured Steph Curry and LeBron James and won the gold medal in Paris.
“It was fun playing against the greatest players in the world and learning from them every day,” Miller said.
“From a physicality standpoint, he got tested,” Lee said of Miller’s summertime experience. “It was good for him to see what that looks like on both ends of the court. ... That exposure and experience is going to be huge for him.”
The Hornets look like they could have a pretty good team this season, but that’s generally the case everywhere during NBA training camp. Then the injuries and losses mount. Charlotte is currently in the midst of the NBA’s longest active postseason drought, having not made the playoffs since the 2016 season.
Miller was 13 years old the last time Charlotte made the playoffs.
If the Hornets are going to get there again anytime soon, I bet he will be the primary reason why.
This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 5:15 AM.
