Mike Miller has hope of staying with the Miami Heat – NBA Update
Miami Heat star Mike Miller is clinging onto hope amid strong speculation that the player is on his way out of the franchise.
Miller is one of the players, apart from the Big Three of Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, on a big contract at Miami and is the most probable candidate for a release via the amnesty clause.
According to the rules in the yet to be agreed new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Heat can waive off Miller by paying out his contract and not having it count against the salary cap space. This way, they could stand to free
up funds for other targets, and it appears the Heat might be nudging towards the move.
"They're going to handle it the way they have to," Miller said, wearing a Heat warm-up shirt. He had talked earlier to Miami Heat President Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra with regards to his future. "And right now, it
seems like I'm pretty secure, but I'm just going to prepare myself to be ready to play where it is."
However, the veteran forward perhaps unintentionally revealed later in the interview that he is indeed on his way out.
"Listen, I've been in this league now 12 years. I have been traded 675 times -- well, first time that I've been amnesty-ed -- but you get used to it," he said.
Miller has been traded quite often in his career and could find himself without a team if the Heat go ahead with using the amnesty clause. Miami though are not believed to have made a formal decision in this regard and cannot send
Miller packing right now anyway because the new CBA hasn’t yet been signed.
Miller is therefore trying to avoid the speculation and concentrate on himself. The player suffered some pretty bad injuries last season that sidelined him for a considerable amount of time. He made a return late in the NBA post
season but wasn’t able to make the sort of impact that would be expected of him.
Therefore, he intends to get back to his best first and worry about transfer speculation later.
"To be honest with you, I can't really worry about (the amnesty provision talk)," Miller said. "I have to worry about getting healthy, being 100 percent and be able to do the things I know I'm capable of doing.”
Miami have already decided not to extend the contract of forward James Jones, while centre Zydrunas Ilgauskas retired during the summer. The team is headed for a revamp with or without Miller as they look to surround their Big
Three with handy role players next season.
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