the post 769 wall o' text (reimagined, with apologies)
Yeah, if Miller was 6'5, he would probably be in the draft despite a mediocre year this year in terms of shooting based on his shooting stroke, small glimpses of getting to mid range, and defense for a freshman. However, if he was 6'5 he could be a late lottery pick by showing more hesi dribbles, better at finishing, etc...
The issue is he is 6'3 with not a great dribble/drive game (he has shown some flashes) in a league that really does not allow for 6'3 guards unless they are point guards, elite in either shooting or creating and he has handlers/whatever support in his ears most likely saying he was underutilized last year. He has a tough choice to make in that unless he drastically either improves his handles and shows he can be a lead guard, it is going to take more than 2 years to get to the league. He is honestly not going to be able to do that at most power 5 schools unless it is a team that is struggling such as a Northwestern type program or some DePaul like team.
He most likely has to decide does he go somewhere where he has the ball more and learning on the fly or staying at Illinois and honing craft while knowing Curbelo is a beast and will be one of the best players in the Big10 (maybe even country). I think Adam could benefit at Illinois by excelling at his defense, showing improvement from 3, and showing more flashes with his dribble drive while also having more opportunities this year. However, to me it does not make sense to go to another school such as Kentucky where he would actually have the ball less.
I just hope he realizes that Brad did start him this year, he got around 25 mpg, improved his defense that Brad held him too, and did get many wide and I mean wide open shots to where he did okay at for something he is known for. With Ayo being gone (and that is not a knock but a praise to how good Ayo was), Adam has a chance to get the ball more and show what he can do. If he improves his shot making and ball handling, I'm sure Illinois will continue to let him have the ball more, just like any team would have let him.
I will say that I feel that if he went to programs such as Kansas, Gonzaga, Baylor, Duke, North Carolina, etc... and shot the same %, he probably would have played less minutes than he did for the #2 team heading into the tournament.