Career
After graduating from the University of Arkansas, Miller, who is known as "The Big O" because of his large size (6-foot-9, over 300 pounds), was selected by the Phoenix Suns as the 22nd overall pick of the 1992 NBA Draft. He went on to play for various NBA teams over his eight-year career, including the Suns (1992–94, 1999–2000), Detroit Pistons (1994–95), Toronto Raptors (1995–96 and 1997–98), Dallas Mavericks (1996–97) and Sacramento Kings (1998–99). He was signed by the Indiana Pacers during the 2002 pre-season but was waived before the regular season began.
Miller was known as a talented center with good passing skills, averaging 12.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.4 steals per game at his peak (1995–96). However, he was also notorious for his weight problems. In the beginning of his career, he was officially listed at 280 lb, but in the later years of his NBA career he ballooned to well over 300 lb, seriously reducing his mobility and stamina.
Following his initial stint in the NBA, Miller moved overseas, joining Iraklio BC in Greece for the 1998–99 season, before signing with the Kings in February 1999 to play in 4 games. He spent the next season back with the Suns, playing in 51 games. After the season, Miller became a bit of a basketball vagabond, joining the Harlem Globetrotters for the first of two stints with the team, then Pruszkow in Poland and back to the Globetrotters.
In December 2001, after another brief term with the Globetrotters, Miller was released for showing "no appreciation for what it takes mentally and physically to be a Harlem Globetrotter". In January 2002 he signed with Roseto of Italy but did not play there, and then joined the Continental Basketball Association with the Gary Steelheads before moving to the competing American Basketball Association's Southern California Surf and the USBL's Dodge City Legend. He returned to the Steelheads in October 2002, and was traded to the Dakota Wizards in February 2003.
In the 2003–04 season, Miller made a comeback with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite being listed at 315 lb, he was still able to play an average of 10 minutes a game off the bench in his last NBA season.
After a stint in Puerto Rico, Miller returned to the Wizards in October 2004 and next played with the Texas Tycoons in the ABA until February 2005. He then played in 2005 for the Arkansas RimRockers in the ABA.
After his stint in the ABA, Miller was signed to the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry of the Premier Basketball League. He was signed March 15, 2010 and released in December.
Read more about this topic: Oliver Miller
Other articles related to "career":
... settled and happy family life that was essential to his political career ... Home Rule in 1886 as the pivotal point of his career, rather than the adoption of tariff reform, and contained the famous line "All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream ... constituents before loyalty to his party or the sake of his career ...
... Bench had 2048 hits for a.267 career batting average with 389 home runs and 1,376 RBI during his 17-year Major League career, all spent with the Reds ... He retired as the career home run leader for catchers, a record which stood until surpassed by Carlton Fisk and the current record holder, Mike Piazza ... In his career, Bench earned 10 Gold Gloves, was named to the National League All-Star team 14 times, and won two Most Valuable Player Awards ...
... "Caledonia" has played a prominent role in Morrison's life and career ... out already by 1975 that Morrison has referred to Caledonia so many times in his career that he "seems to be obsessed with the word" ... deeply interested in his paternal Scottish roots during his early career, and later in the ancient countryside of England, hence his repeated use of the ...
... Both she and the Osbourne family have been parodied in Channel 4 comedy, Bo' Selecta in which the rubber-masked Kelly, played by Leigh Francis, has her own show and is always being censored for swearing with bleeps ... In March 2009, Osbourne returned to television with the rest of the Osbourne family on Osbournes Reloaded. ...
... Ruth Padel, also a chief candidate, was elected to the post ... Within days, The Telegraph reported that she had alerted journalists to the harassment cases ...
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)
“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)