Reggie Miller gave Steph Curry the blueprint | Offensive Legends Ep. 2

How good was Reggie Miller? Was he a weaker version of Klay Thompson or Ray Allen? Or was he actually one of the best playoff scorers of the era who was never properly understood when he played in the 1990s?

This episode is part of the the second season of the "Greatest Peaks" series. Season 2 focuses on the legends of NBA offense, examining unique archetypes, controversial players and stylistic spearheads who have influenced the game over the years.

Twitter: @elgee35

Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.

Stats courtesy:
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.

Music
csus (instrumental)
Cody Martin (Epiphany)
Fairlight (Detour In Velour, Hair)

#ThinkingBasketball #OffensiveLegends

[ThinkingBasketball]

As many of you have noted, the Bird record was through 1988, not 1998. Those words sound a lot a like apparently!

[GreedyGlo]

Reggie is a pioneer and it’s even more amazing when you consider the era he played in

[ghjong]

In so many ways, I love your analysis on players like Miller even more than your series on the greatest peaks. Nobody will ever put Reggie on the GOAT list, but that does nothing to take away from just how effective a player he was, and how terrifying it was to face him late with a small lead.

[jarredhusted]

Living in Indianapolis my whole life and being born in 1990. Reggie miller is my childhood for sports. Even those retro 90’s jerseys bring back nostalgia that I can’t explain.

[WhelmedButReady]

Just like greatest peaks, part of the fun of this series is gonna be us guessing/pondering who's gonna get an episode and who won't. This should be good

[shaheedansari]

Babe wake up, new Thinking Basketball just dropped

[classthoreau]

That shot of Manu in the opening has me so excited. I hope he gets a full episode breakdown like this. His game is truly unique, and every opportunity to prevent him from becoming known as "just a 6th man" should be taken.

[ryszardsikora]

It's episode 2 and I can't wait for season 3 and defense already. This prolly gonna be a banger still

[stephen_blake]

One of the most underrated players of all time. Playoff Reggie was unreal

[FootyInsights_]

Ray Allen was a stud, but I do find it funny how arguments involving him vs Reggie almost never bring up how Reggie consistently ramped it up in the playoffs and became an elite offensive force

[catherinelynnfraser]

This is one of those moments when I really hear “Where is Larry Bird in all this ?” The role of the disruptor and a great off ball player. Yes, Reggie was ahead of his time. Thanks for this.

[Gotothelui]

I've always wanted a Reggie Miller video. From anybody really, but Thinking Basketball? My life is complete.

[GreedyGlo]

26:20 This is truly amazing I’m blown away I didn’t know he was THAT good🫡 Imagine that ten year run from 92-02 in this era😮‍💨 He was ahead of his time for sure

[Jahjaga]

Another great video from TB. It’s interesting that Miller was not only punished by the anti-three-point sentiment of his day, but also by a lack of reliable three-point shooting around him. In a world where there’s only one or two volume 40% three-point shooters in the league, teams can’t even effectively take advantage of the gravity of such an elite sniper because everyone else is packed within 18 feet. Curry creates layups for Green, but Miller couldn’t do the same for, say, Smits — not because he wasn’t a good enough shooter or even because coaches didn’t value the three appropriately, but because the ancillary shooters that you’d need to create the space for Smits to roll to the basket just didn’t exist. In 2015, even excluding Klay, Curry had enough shooting around him to mitigate this issue. It’s both impressive and unfortunate that Miller was so ahead of his time. It’s fun to imagine what you could do as a time-traveling GM if you could acquire him and surround him with good-enough shooting.

[Klontruppe]

As a Warriors fan, so many of these plays shown in the first part are to the letter what the Dubs do. I now wish I was in a position to interview Kerr because I wonder whether he took some of his playbook from those Pacers teams.

[knodeway]

Understanding the gravity that you posses to bend a defense is a massive skill that all stars should learn to be effective without the ball

[alanaizen]

Reggie was a nightmare... Watching your team play against his Pacers is a recipe for nervous breakdown, even if your team is up by 10 with 2 minutes remaining. That teammate grab play is legendary.

[GreedyGlo]

Players like Steph and Jokic not needing to dominate the ball make their teams better sense their not forced to be spot up/corner shooters

[RohitRoy-ljzx]

Amazing video. This is one of the best videos on Reggie Miller I have ever seen. Pls make one on Charles Barkley. He shortly missed out on the top 10 greatest peaks list you made. I have a feeling you already plan on making one video on him.

[michaelbarnes]

Reggie was so good, extremely underrated for what he did in his time. Him and especially Rip Hamilton were always fun to watch cause they kept moving and had great jumpers. Fun fact Reggie was the only superstar in the 90’s to push MJ’s Bulls to 7 games but in the ECF I believe