Andre Miller was never a typical sports star — he was never a fitness freak and did not succeed for his athleticism and fitness. He was an anti-thesis of a modern day image conscious sportsperson whom you never find gorging on pizzas and burgers even during off-season.
Andre Miller still had a career stretching 17 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA), during which he missed only three games due to health issues.
“I was never a fitness freak, never bothered about diets or calories, I just had a healthy lifestyle – ate well and had sufficient rest. But that didn’t affect my basketball — on the court I worked hard, gave my 100% in every game. I was always very committed, played hard, trained hard and played to the best of my abilities,” Miller told HT in an interview on Friday.
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“I was also not much affected by what others did for fitness, so there was no pressure on me. Nowadays players are more aware of such issues. If I get a chance again, I would not do anything differently,” he added. And that’s what he wants to tell upcoming players.
{{/usCountry}}“I was also not much affected by what others did for fitness, so there was no pressure on me. Nowadays players are more aware of such issues. If I get a chance again, I would not do anything differently,” he added. And that’s what he wants to tell upcoming players.
{{/usCountry}}Early in his career, Miller also decided to concentrate only on things that were in his control. “Initially, I got affected when I was traded to another team. I used to think that maybe they don’t like me.
“But later I realised that the trade meant that there were teams that wanted me. So I stopped bothering about such issues,” said Miller, who played for Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs before retiring in 2016.
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He is currently a global ambassador for NBA and is in India to promote its activities in the country. He will be visiting the NBA Academy in Greater Noida and also attend its schools programme.
“I see basketball has a great scope globally and have therefore taken this role with NBA. I want to promote the game, help kids play the game, teach them what I learned during my nearly two decade career as a professional player,” he said.