What is LSU Basketball Getting in Illinois Transfer Guard Adam Miller

LSU made another big splash to its 2021 roster when Illinois guard transfer Adam Miller announced his commitment to the Tigers. For a program that lost its entire starting backcourt to the NBA Draft as well as losing freshman Jalen Cook to Tulane.

The addition of Miller comes a few weeks after the Tigers landed Missouri guard Xavier Pinson and have also added guard Seneca Knight as well. It's a guard group that Will Wade has accomplished one major goal with since the season ended, bringing a veteran presence to the roster and Miller's addition has a chance to be the most impactful of them all.

Miller started 31 games at Illinois in 2020, a team that wound up being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and averaged 8.3 points and 2.8 rebounds a contest on 39.1% shooting. In an interview with Jeff Goodman, Miller said the main reason he chose LSU was his strong relationship with Wade and that he expects to play a combo guard role with the program, spending time at the one and the two.

"He understood my game, he understood my feel and I just wanted a coach that could trust me," Miller said. "That's how I came up my whole life, I was really much more of a scorer, I feel like that's my best asset, putting the ball in the hole so I feel like I can help the team win on defense and offense."

At LSU, Miller figures to get a bit more freedom to be the scorer that he knows he can be at the college level. If the Tigers have a dynamic scorer on the roster, Wade has not been shy about letting that player have a strong role in the offense, case in point Cam Thomas.

Miller averaged 27.4 points as a senior and 29 points per game as a junior in high school so he knows how to put the ball in the basket and with LSU having to replace the core of its offense, Miller can come in and be one of the scoring threats for the program.

"There are a lot of guards in the league, Jamal Murray, Dame [Lillard], those guys are true combo guards that can do it all," Miller said. "I feel like I can really expand my game and show everybody who I am."

Of course Eric Gaines figures to take a big leap in his sophomore season and Pinson proved to be a great scorer at the SEC level. As a freshman at Illinois, Miller had great individual performances in the Big Ten but struggled with consistency on a team that was deep and had a ton of veterans on the roster.

He has a great looking stroke and has the strength to get to the rim and finish through contact at the rim. Though he is primarily a scorer, he did show the ability that once he got to the rim to kick it out to his teammates on the perimeter at times as well.

Miller talked a lot about his feel for the game and it showed when watching the film. Take a look at some of his highlights from his freshman season.

Wade's newest addition figures to be a key cog in this offense that has lost so much and coming from a winning program at Illinois should help an LSU roster that will look so different.