Reggie Miller on All-Star Weekend, the Pacers, and his belief in Tyrese Haliburton
BY TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — You can’t have an All-Star experience in Indianapolis without Pacers legend Reggie Miller. On Friday afternoon, the former Indiana star met with the media to discuss his All-Star Weekend, and his recent extension with TNT.
“It’s always fun to come home, especially for an event like this,” Miller said. “I felt like I was raised here in Indiana. I know how the Hoosier faithful is when it comes to big events. Whether it be the Final Four, or huge Colts or Pacer games, we know how to do big events. To have the All-Star game here, where I feel we have the best fan base in all of professional sports.. I’m really enjoying this. You think about basketball, you think of Hoosiers and you think of Indiana.”
Indianapolis has been a fantastic city for major sporting events for many years, and despite the snowy weather, the city is set up to impress the sports world again this weekend.
“Everything is close in proximity,” said Miller. “You can pretty much walk to everything. All the restaurants are close. The traffic is minor. There won’t be long lines and cars everywhere. Circle city makes everything flow.”
The Hall of Famer was also asked to reminisce about his time as a Pacer, including when he got drafted, and what it all meant to him.
“When I was drafted, I didn’t know much about the Pacers or Indiana,” he said. “I knew they loved basketball, but didn’t know much else. I knew I wasn’t their top choice, because we all know who that was. But I had the ‘I’ll show em’ attitude. And you had the Indianapolis Star saying, ‘why did they pick this skinny kid from LA’? And I thought, ‘I gotta show them.'”
Finally, Reggie was asked several questions about the Tyrese Haliburton, and the Indiana Pacers. At one point, Reggie used the word “we” when describing his former team, and corrected himself by saying, “I shouldn’t say we, but you know what I mean.” His comments and current assessment of the Pacers should be quite encouraging for Pacer fans everywhere.
“It’s an upward trajectory,” Miller said. “Once you start to win, that’s when you get your free agents. They play a fun brand of basketball. When you lead the league in scoring and have a dynamic point guard, you know you’re gonna get your looks. I think they’re on their way up. You look at the Eastern Conference, obviously Boston has kind of separated themselves, but after that? If I’m Indiana, why not? You get locked into a series, and anything is possible.”
Miller continued: “I think we’ll find that out come playoff time, knock on wood. Tyrese has balled out and really put the franchise on his back. There are demands and pressures that come with that. Can he deliver in the playoffs? I think it’s what we’re all hoping and wishing for him to take the next step. I really do believe Tyrese can lead them to a championship.”
On the addition of Pascal Siakam, Miller said: The best thing about picking up Pascal, he’s going to take the ball out of Haliburton’s hands some so he’s not ball dominate all the time. I can see the Pacers playing a lot like Golden State does. As great as a ball handler and passer that Steph is, he’s so much more valuable off ball at times. It also adds another closer for them as well. Plus, he has championship pedigree. You pick up that type of player, I think it adds that depth to the roster. To me, Myles Turner has to be healthy. If he’s healthy and being an anchor on defense, this team goes to a different level. Aaron Nesmith is unbelievable, I would have loved to play with a guy like him. They have the pieces. The question is going to be match-up come playoff time, and whether or not they believe. I want to see it. I can’t wait.”
