UCLA Men's Basketball: All-Star Reveals All-American Bruin Was His Favorite Hooper
One-time All-American and two-time All-Pac-10 UCLA Bruins shooting guard Reggie Miller graduated from a decorated career at Pauley Pavilion to an 18-year Hall of Fame NBA career, as a five-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection with the Indiana Pacers.
Four-time All-Star Phoenix Suns small forward Shawn Marion revealed Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson in his YouTube series Scoop B Selects that Miller was his all-time personal favorite baller.
During his run with UCLA, the 6'7" Pac-10 Tourney MVP played 122 games for the Bruins (93 starts), posting averages of 17.2 points on .547/.439/.836 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 steals a night.
"So my favorite player was Reggie Miller coming up even though you had Jordan and I loved the Bulls of course but Reggie Miller WAS the reason why I wore No. 31," Marion revealed. "We had this talk during USA Basketball and we were talking about it and he knows that and I’ve said it admittedly and even though I didn’t pattern my game after him or anything, but I just loved the way he played and the way that he approached the game and it’s not saying that I didn’t love anyone else’s game; I mean, I never said that he was my GOAT but he’s one of my favorite players of all time. So like, it just depends on what your mindset is and what your focus is and what you navigate to."
The Bruins retired Miller's No. 31 jersey in 2013.
Across 1389 regular season bouts with Indiana, Miller posted averages of 18.2 points on .471/.395/.888 shooting splits, 3.0 boards, 3.0 dimes and 1.1 steals a night, while leading the club to one NBA Finals appearance in 2000 and several deep NBA postseason runs. He was the league's all-time leader in made three-pointers when he finally hung up his sneakers for good in 2005 at age 39. Had he come into the league today, he would have arguably been a far higher-volume long-range sniper and an even more valuable star in an NBA that's all about efficiency.
