Reggie Miller won't be a member of the Celtics next season. The Indianapolis Star reports:
Reggie Miller is not coming back.
After two weeks of pushing his body to see how it might react to the punishment of an NBA season, Miller told The Star late Thursday night he has decided he will not make a comeback with the Boston Celtics or anybody else.
"That's it,'' he said by telephone from his home in Malibu, Calif. "Physically, I know I could have done it. But mentally, when you do something like this, you've either got to be all in or all out. And I've decided I'm all out."Earlier today (Thursday), I was ready to come back. I was going to do it. But then I flew back here, I thought about it, I talked to a lot of people, and honestly, most people told me I should come back. Charles (Barkley), Mark (Jackson), Doug (Collins), they all said I should do it. And when I was back in Indy this week for the Peyton (Manning charity bowling event), people on the streets, they'd tell me to do it.
"But as the day went on, I just realized I wasn't ready mentally to put myself through the grind again.''
Miller called Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge earlier Thursday evening to tell him the news.
So much for that idea. The nostalgic and sentimental part of me really wanted Reggie on this team, if only because he's a future Hall of Famer and one of the most clutch players of his generation. The realistic part of me kept telling me that we had bigger needs that a 42 year old shooting guard who doesn't play defense. Danny will have to take this in stride and continue to fill the holes on this roster, most notably at point guard and small forward. While Reggie would have been nice, the big picture is to win games, and Danny needs to continue to add to the roster to accomplish that goal.