Time For Quincy Miller To Get More Minutes?
By Andrew Dill
April 17, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Quincy Miller (30) before the first half against the Phoenix Suns at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
The Denver Nuggets fell to 14-14 (.500) on the season, suffering their fifth-straight defeat after a 105-89 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night. Denver is dealing with an abundant of injuries in their front-court with JaVale McGee, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, and Darrell Arthur. Denver’s limited bench only managed to score 17 points on the night, 8 points coming from Anthony Randolph and 9 points coming from Quincy Miller, which brings me to the topic of this article. It’s time for Brian Shaw to give Quincy Miller some reasonable minutes.
Quincy Miller was brought off the bench Friday night in hopes of sparking a bench that was lackluster to say the least. Nate Robinson, who averages 10.9 points per game, didn’t score a single point as the guard shot 0-for-3 from the field in 16 minutes of play. Jordan Hamilton was recently promoted to the starting lineup over Randy Foye and played alright, despite some forced shots at the end. The forward would score 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting, knocking down 2 three-pointers while hauling in 7 rebounds. Randy Foye on the other hand appears to be in Brian Shaw’s dog house, as the guard played in just 7 minutes, taking only one shot from the field. Andre Miller on the other hand isn’t the go-to guy off the bench to give you scoring, but can be effective in the post on smaller guards. Andre struggled as well on the night, going 0-for-3 from the field only tallying one assist in 15 minutes.
Miller played well in his limited role as he was brought on late. He would appear in 13 minutes of game-time, shooting 4-for-6 from the field, going a perfect 1-of-1 from downtown. The 21-year-old was drafted in the 2012 NBA Draft in the second round, 38th overall by the Denver Nuggets. Quincy rarely saw the court his rookie year last season with the 57-win Denver Nugget squad, appearing in just seven games averaging 3.7 minutes. With Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur likely to be out on Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies, I expect Brian Shaw to give the second-year pro out of Baylor some increased minutes.
College Career: Quincy Miller declared for the NBA Draft after earning 2012 Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Year honors as the forward would average 10.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, in 24.4 minutes for the Baylor Bears. Here is more on Quincy Miller from his BaylorBears.com biography.
"2012 Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Year, sharing honor with Preseason Freshman of the Year, Le’Bryan Nash of Oklahoma State … First Baylor player to earn conference freshman of the year honors since 1995, when Brian Skinner was Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year … Comprised Baylor’s consensus top-20 recruiting class of 2011 with Westchester Country Day School teammate Deuce Bello … Overall national recruiting rankings – No. 4 (Scout.com), No. 5 (247Sports.com), No. 6 (ESPN), No. 7 (Rivals.com), No. 7 (MaxPreps.com) … Named Jordan Brand Classic All-American … Suffered season-ending ACL injury as senior … Fifth consensus top-50 recruit in last five seasons at Baylor, joining LaceDarius Dunn (2007), Anthony Jones (2008), Nolan Dennis (2009) and Perry Jones III (2010)."
What’s Up Next: The Denver Nuggets (14-14) will stay on the road at they travel to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies (12-16). Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 PM ET, 6:00 PM MT.