The 2000s were dominated by some of the most dominant big men in NBA history. Brad Miller, who was part of the NBA for 14 long years, had the opportunity to go up against some of these legendary players. In a conversation with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Miller gave his opinions on each one of these players. And when it was Dwight Howard‘s turn, the former All-Star’s answer was exactly what you’d expect it to be.
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During an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast, Brad Miller spoke about Dwight Howard’s superhuman-like physical abilities. However, he also called him a ‘kid’ before further elaborating on exactly what he meant.
Recollecting a story from the Team USA’s 2006 FIBA World Cup camp, Miller disclosed how he would be accompanied by Kirk Hinrich and Shane Battier when hitting the bar to drink some beers. Sitting on the other end of the spectrum, Dwight Howard would simply spend that time playing video games with Chris Bosh.
“F**king Superman, freak, funny kid. He wasn’t a problem to me. But he was a beast. Obviously, his vertical is a little bit more than mine. In ’06 I played in the USA Team, it was like him and Bosh were just literally playing video games every night. Like me, Hinrich, and Battier would go out to the bar, get beers and he’d just be there playing video games,” Miller said.
It’s hard to blame Dwight and Bosh for playing video games instead of socializing. Both big men were still relatively new to the NBA at the time and were just 21 and 22 years old respectively. It only makes sense why they would enjoy playing video games rather than drinking beer.
However, unlike what Brad claims, Howard did give him a tough time on the court. In the 13 times that the two faced off against each other, the 2004 Draft’s #1 pick recorded more wins (8-5), points (18-10), rebounds (12.8-6), steals (1.2-1), and blocks (1.6-0.6) than Miller, [per Land Of Basketball].
Perhaps Brad’s confidence is causing him to misremember how a few things went down.
Brad Miller also spoke about Yao Ming
Yao Ming is one of the more underrated players from the 2000s. During the podcast, Brad Miller decided to shed some light and give Ming the recognition that he deserved.
During a segment in the episode, Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson kept naming a few big men from Brad Miller’s era and the latter had to speak honestly about them. When asked to comment on Yao Ming, Miller had nothing but praises for the Houston Rockets legend,
His first reaction upon hearing Ming’s name was to mention the obvious – height. The former player then went on to reveal an anecdote from the time when the 7ft 6” player kept hurting him due to an elbow pad. Further, Miller also debunked the myth of the Chinese superstar not knowing how to speak in English.
F**king tall. When he had his elbow pad, scratched the sh*t out of me… But cool as sh*t, cool as f**k. ‘I don’t speak no English’, bullsh*t. That mothef**ker just wanted to get a job for a translator.
Lastly, Brad Miller also revealed that Yao Ming was a relatively silent player. But when he did speak, his trash-talk would leave everyone impressed.
“He never said nothing. Literally, he didn’t say nothing but then he would say something, you’re like ‘oh, you good’,”
As expected, Ming dominated their head-to-head encounters – more points, rebounds, and blocks. However, Miller did get the last laugh, emerging victorious on the majority of occasions against the Hall-of-Famer.
