UPDATE: Ali Kay, Alex von Furstenberg's fiancee allegedly sent revealing photos of her to Miller from her phone. Von Furstenberg also supposedly filled out the paperwork for a restraining order against Miller, but never filed it.
It would be hard, I imagine, to have spent this weekend on a beach in Southern California and have a bad time. Pacers legend and current TNT analyst Reggie Miller, however, probably meets the challenge.
According to various reports, a plane toting a banner which read "Reggie Miller Stop Pursuing Married Women" flew over several SoCal beaches near Miller's hometown of Malibu over the weekend, including over Hermosa during a major beach volleyball event.
Reggie Miller was a guest on the Dan Patrick Show today, and Patrick opened the interview by asking Miller if he had any interest in joining the Lakers this season, passing along an invitation Kobe Bryant jokingly extended as he was being interviewed a few minutes earlier.
Miller declined, but in the course of doing so let slip out the the Celtics and Cavaliers have already tried to coax him out of retirement earlier this season. You can listen to the whole interview here, but a transcription of the pertinent parts appears below the jump.
Earlier today, Nate Jones broke down the ways in which Ron Artest is already paying dividends for his new team. But there's another role Ron-Ron can play on the club besides being an all around contributor, and that's the one of enforcer. Check out Artest running in to make sure no one messes with his big man, Yao Ming.
Reggie Miller goes on and on about how Artest wasn't doing anything but trying to pull Yao away from the confrontation, but I'm not so sure. Initially he goes straight to the middle of the huddle, and makes contact with Josh Howard, who was chippy with Yao all night long.
There's definitely a reputation issue when you talk about Ron Artest. But any player that aggressively comes running into the frame to interject himself into a situation -- and makes contact with an opposing player while doing so -- is going to get T'd up, every single time.
Here's original footage from TBS Sports covering the 1987 draft. Just how long ago was 1987? Well, I was about to enter the third grade, the NBA had only 23 teams, David Stern still had more pepper than salt in his hair and the draft lasted seven rounds.
At 9:25 minutes, the video is long, but once you get past the ridiculously cheesy intro, it's worth it, from the unintentional humor of Patrick Ewing's blatant goal-tending "highlight" (1:05) to the shots of Reggie and sister Cheryl shooting hoops in his backyard (6:50).
Kudos to YouTube user 1987Hawkeyes, who also posted the entire first round. Seriously, it's like cracking open a time capsule, going back to a time when drafting Dennis Hopson (3rd overall) over Scottie Pippen (5th) and Reggie Miller (11th) actually made sense.
On today's edition of Dan Patrick's radio show, Reggie Miller was on as a guest to discuss (mainly) tonight's Game 7 between the Spurs and the Hornets. But Patrick and Miller have a very friendly relationship, so of course Patrick had no problem whatsoever busting Reggie's chops a bit by bringing up those pictures that appeared last week featuring Reggie, a bottle of Goose, and a very willing young lady.
Reggie didn't really say much, but I believe what he did say was the right answer. We all like to party sometimes, and as long as everyone in the photo was of legal drinking age, there's nothing wrong with what Reggie was pictured doing. It's refreshing that someone caught in some mildly embarrassing photos didn't immediately call a press conference and issue some half-hearted apology.
America only questions the partying lifestyle of celebrities when they stink at their job. Fortunately for Reggie Miller, these photos of him getting down at a club probably won't hurt him too much, since we already give him a pass in the booth based on his play on the court. At least I do. But that doesn't make his behavior (which is not obscene or really even crazy) any less interesting. Or his face any less funny as he's dumping Grey Goose into this girl's mouth.
Don Chavez dug up some more photos that involve Reggie hanging out with a slew of ladies, some of which are pulling a Paul Pierce making weird motions with their hands. But to me -- as a huge fan of Reginald -- this is the classic case of what Leitch talks about. I could care less that Miller is getting wasted and hanging out with a bunch of girls. He's over 21, obviously, and as long as they're over 18, good for him. He's famous. Enjoy it. It's not going to diminish the way I remember him as a player. As an announcer, however, is a different story.
Ryne at Odenized grabbed the video of this play from the Cavs' loss to the Wizards, a play that looks to stretch the boundaries of the basketball rule book. It's LeBron James picking up his dribble, then doing a "hop" into a defender, resulting in a blocking call on the Wizards. Reggie Miller claims this is a new rule put in just for LeBron, but I'm not so sure.
While at first glance this appears to be a questionable play by LeBron, the reality is it's been going on for years. It's commonly referred to as a "jump stop," though the NBA rule book does not use this specific terminology. It's a legal play alright, and an excerpt from NBA.com's Misunderstood Rules section on traveling sums it up like this:
When ending his dribble a player may use a two count rhythm in coming to a stop, passing or shooting ... If a player jumps off one foot on the count of one he may land with both feet simultaneously for count two. In this situation, the player may not pivot with either foot and if one or both feet leave the floor the ball must be released before either return to the floor.
Translation: LeBron's "hop" is a perfectly legal move, as long as after he jumps he lands with both feet simultaneously (as in the above clip), and then releases the ball (in a shot or a pass) before he comes down from his next jump. The move I'd like to see called a foul is the LeBron James charge, where he simply lowers his head and drives directly into a defender. Now that should be called the LeBron Rule, because he seemingly gets away with it on a nightly basis.
I don't know that I'd call Reggie Miller's job -- filling in for sister Cheryl who was out sick -- of interviewing Rick Adelman "superb" or anything, but frankly, he asks the important questions, he kept it brief and he didn't reference himself in any form of a question (like "Dirk Nowitzki is a tremendous outside shooter, but you've coached against me before and ...") so I think it has to be considered a win all the way around.
