Reggie Miller is so dramatic. Whether he’s posing with his shooting hand suspended in midair while he watches his 25-foot bomb drop through the net, blowing kisses as he does an imitation of his sister Cheryl accepting an award, or baiting an official by rubbing his fingers together to suggest payola, dropping everything on a walk across campus to kiss a baby, or high-fiving everyone on the court as he fouls out of a game, Reggie does it all with flash and fanfare.
There’s nothing subtle about Reggie Miller.
UCLA’s hot-shot junior forward is a living, breathing spectacle. He’s a one-man traveling show with the personality of a three-ring circus who can either shoot the basketball from midcourt or slam-dunk it. Nothing in between.
He’s a world of extremes. Just look at him. He’s not thin, he’s skinny. His 6 feet 7 inches consists mostly of bone. He didn’t get a haircut, he shaved his head. Those eyes aren’t hazel, they’re golden going on glowing.
His wardrobe? All double-take items. Only Reggie Miller can wear long Bermuda shorts, an oversized denim jacket over an ordinary white T-shirt and a jaunty little nautical cap and come out looking as if he should be modeling for a cover shot.
Reggie Miller belongs in Los Angeles. He was born to steal the show.
Incredibly, Reggie thinks that he was born after the show stopper. He tips his little cap to his older sister and declares her the all-time personality kid.
With a smile that holds back nothing of how proud he is, Miller announces: “Cheryl is in a world all her own. She’s high class, high tech. She came to this world as something special.”
He tries to paint a picture that explains where he stands in relationship to his sister:
“It’s like Cheryl is walking down this big, long red carpet, blowing kisses to the adoring crowd–’Oh, yes, thank you all. You’re all so wonderful. Thank you. Thank you.’
“She’s got them in a frenzy. She’s got them in tears, reaching out toward her. And I’m walking right behind her giving a little wave like this: ‘Uh, thanks. Yeah, how ya doin’? Good to see ya.’ And I think it’s kind of exciting to be there with her.”
Not every little brother would feel that way. Not when that famous sister has made her name at his game. And especially not when he’s one of the all-time leading scorers at UCLA, ranking with the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Gail Goodrich. And yet because of that sister at USC, he got ripped in a Sports Illustrated caption, which said he was the only Bruin in the history of the school who couldn’t beat his sister one on one.
“People across the country think I’m jealous of my dear, beloved, sweet, angel sister,” Miller said. “But there is no-o-o-o jea-ea-ea- lou-ou-ou-ou-sy-y-y-y. I love her too much. Blood is thicker than any award or honor or anything people might write or anything like that. We’re not going to let egos get in the way of all the love we’ve had for all these years.
“This town is big enough for both of us.”
Certainly Los Angeles has been big enough to accommodate two very successful collegiate careers. Cheryl Miller has been a three-time All-American, won the Naismith Award twice, led USC to two NCAA titles and led the U.S. women’s team to a gold medal in 1984.
Reggie has been a regular for the Bruins since he was a freshman. Last season, averaging 15.2 points a game, he was the first sophomore to lead the Bruins in scoring since Bill Walton did it in 1972. He led the Bruins to the title in the National Invitation Tournament and was voted the NIT’s most valuable player.
This season, Miller is averaging 25.8 points a game. That average leads the team and the Pacific 10, and ranks fourth in the NCAA.
He is shooting 55.8% from the field and 88.7% from the free-throw line. He leads the team with 31 steals, is second only to point guard Pooh Richardson with 63 assists and is third behind big forward Craig Jackson and center Jack Haley in rebounds with an average of 5.2 a game.
If Miller scores his average in the last three games of the season he will finish with 725 points, good for fourth in UCLA’s single-season scoring rankings behind Abdul-Jabbar’s 870 points in 1967, Goodrich’s 744 points in 1965 and Abdul-Jabbar’s 734 in 1968.
Miller also is on a pace to break the record of 201 free throws set by John Green in 1962.
That’s quite a list of accomplishments, but Reggie figures that his list is always going to come in second to Cheryl’s. In the UCLA basketball media guide, Reggie lists under the category of “biggest athletic thrill” two things–winning the NIT title and hearing that his sister had scored 105 points in a prep game.
“When she does something good, that might give me the incentive to get on my horse and do something good, too,” he said. “Although, some of her things are hard to top. A gold medal at the Olympics is hard to top.
“I’ve had people say to me that I’m finally coming out of her shadow. No, I’m not. She’s still casting a pretty big shadow.
“She is such a dominant player in her game. I think that’s the biggest difference between the women’s game and the men’s game. There are so many really good players in the men’s game that no one person can dominate year after year. In the women’s game there are some other very talented basketball players, but no one who also has the personality and the impact that Cheryl has.”
His sister agrees that it’s not possible to compare their games. She really didn’t like the way Sports Illustrated did it. “I was irritated by that,” Cheryl said. “That was a low blow. Reggie’s a nice guy. He never bothers anyone. He goes about his business. That was a cheap shot.
“And it wasn’t even right. I don’t even see how they can compare it. It’s basically two different sports. If I were to play Reggie now, it wouldn’t even be a contest because he is that much of a better player. If you’re going to go by statistics, yes, I’m a better player. Overall, I think that he has a better game than I do.”
There does seem to be a closeness between Reggie and Cheryl that would preclude jealousy. Cheryl said: “I’m proud of Reggie. That’s my baby. My pride and joy. . . . We are extremely close, closer than brothers and sisters. He’s my best friend.”
Reggie and Cheryl are too much alike ever to be at odds. It’s everyone else who has trouble with their act. Cheryl has become an old pro at dealing with charges that she is a hotdog. Reggie’s getting pretty good at it now, too.
“I’ll admit that I do some things purposely, at times, for effect,” he said. “When we need the crowd to react, I’ll do some antics out there. On the road, too, I’ll play to the crowd sometimes.
“And I’ll admit that I sometimes get carried away. Sometimes you wish you could turn back the hands of the clock and have a chance to do something differently. That’s usually stuff that has to do with the officials.”
His antics have left him on the receiving end of some pretty harsh criticism in the media this season but he shrugs off all of that.
He was much more concerned to learn that Marty Blake, whose business it is to evaluate college talent for the NBA draft, has been telling anyone who asked–and a couple who didn’t ask–that Reggie Miller is a very selfish player.
Miller said: “What makes me a selfish player? Because I shoot the ball? I’m supposed to shoot the ball. That’s how you score points. Those points go on the scoreboard for the whole team. . . . I have more assists than a lot players who have averaged 25 points a game.”
All true. And the more important fact is that his coach is not complaining.
“I don’t think he takes enough shots,” Walt Hazzard said. “He took 17 at USC (and made 11), and I wish he had taken more. He’s very concerned about being a team player. His assists are up.
“He wants to win first and foremost. If he gets a lot of points, that’s all the better. He’s a special player. He never stops playing.
“He has tremendous range as a shooter. He has a lot more power than you would think in that little body.
“He has been compared to Jamaal (Wilkes) because they have similar bodies, but they have different styles. Reggie dunks a lot, where Jamaal would lay it up off the glass. Reggie jumps a little higher. They both have a different flair, a different signature.
“Most college players who get 20-25 points a game take 20 shots.”
And most players who get 20-25 points a game aren’t going for distance, the way Reggie does. If he’s within 15 feet of the basket, he considers it a tip. He was moaning the other day about playing on college courts that aren’t painted for the pro game, because without the three-point line, all he can judge his distance by is the hash mark.
Miller’s stats–impressive enough for the combination of total points along with percentage–become even more impressive when combined with the average distance. He’s not playing under the basket, cleaning up on tip-ins and rebound shots. He’s averaging about 20 feet on his shots.
He has a favorite spot in the corner, and when he finds it, it’s show time. It’s as if a producer has taped an X on the floor, showing him where to stand to take his cue.
The crowd loves it.
After the game against USC at the Sports Arena on Feb. 22, USC’s Coach Stan Morrison said: “Reggie Miller put on a show. All the Clippers had to do was step out of their offices. He’s a great player. He’s gone from a one-dimensional player to a three-dimensional one. He can shoot outside, he can put it on the floor and he’s outstanding without the ball.”
Regardless of what Marty Blake might say about him, surely there will be an NBA team that likes this act.
But, first, he has a little more than another year to go at UCLA. And he does expect to get his degree.
“You can’t last forever in basketball,” he said. “Anybody in their right mind ought to know that. Not everybody is going to make it in the NBA. I could walk outside right now and break my leg. . . . The first priority when you come to school has to be to get your degree. No one can ever take that piece of paper away from you.”
Reminded that many players come in with that attitude and never seem to get that piece of paper, Miller said, “Yeah, but if didn’t, my dad would kill me.”
Miller is working toward a degree in theater arts, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever seen him play basketball.
As for how he plans to use that degree after basketball, he threw out this idea: “Maybe Cheryl and I will do a sit-com together. I’ve talked to (Bill) Cosby about it. He said it might work. I don’t know why not. I think we’re pretty good together.”
Reggie and Cheryl have been taking full advantage of their natural acting abilities for many years.
When they were kids in Riverside, they used to work the local parks, running a scam on unsuspecting playground players just out for a morning of shooting baskets.
They would scout a couple of guys who were already warmed up. Cheryl would stand back and Reggie would go up and ask if they wanted to play some two on two for a little bet. The guys would look at the skinny little kid and think, sure. But then they’d say, ‘Wait a minute, who’s your partner?’ They’d look around for a hulking Moses Malone type.
“Here would come Cheryl, a skinny little girl with pigtails sticking out all over and they’d start laughing,” Miller said. “But I would say that she really could play, and they’d agree to play for maybe $5 or $10. We knew we’d be going out for hamburgers and ice cream within the hour.
“We cleaned up for a while, but then the word got out. People started to recognize us.”
‘I’ve had people say to me that I’m finally coming out of her shadow. No, I’m not. She’s still casting a pretty big shadow. She is such a dominant player in her game.’
–REGGIE MILLER