A good book spoiled: Reggie Miller
This is the spoiler alert. If you would like to enjoy Gene Wojciechowski and Reggie Miller's fine work in full, the book is very enjoyable and very affordable!
There are many, crackling, moments I left out of this email. The book is a must-read for any Pacer fan, a should-read for Knicks fans, and a soon-read for NBA fans.
There's the alert, here are the spoilers:
DOES REG CALL EVERYONE 'KID'
Yes, he does. It is a term of endearment, it is a derisive dig, it used in the plural and also to identify a particular person. It is only used for men.
But it is not the only term Reggie uses for other men, or difficult efforts.
DOES HE SAY 'BITCH' ON EVERY PAGE
No, though at page 118 I decided to see if he was on a bitch-per-page rate. Which was fun, because every time he used the word "bitch" I let loose with a Costanza-like squealgrunt, saying "bitch" out loud in a funny-to-me George voice until I remembered I live with my mother-in-law in small cottage and should probably keep these games to myself. This was in the early 130s.
So, the count stopped, but Reggie kept on with all those bitches.
This book is very funny. I grew up thinking Reggie Miller was some combination of a C-tier All-Star and a term another generation would later codify as "basic." Mostly made famous because nobody on the Knicks was interesting. When TNT hired him, I thought his work would be corny, annoying, and Reggie would not be as strong as other potential analysts.
Now he's one of my favorites, and this book is hilarious. There was a good chance Reggie Miller coulda gone far too over the top, discussed subjects that wouldn't hold up as particularly interesting or appropriate in 2025. Nope! Gene Wojciechowski did a terrific job with Miller, and the idea of a season-long diary kept the book somewhat grounded.
Kinda have to be, 41 road games and all. Damon Bailey's stanky knee brace right there the whole time.
DAMON BAILEY WAS ON THE PACERS?
Bailey was Indiana's draft pick that season, a second-rounder whom the Pacers discovered immediately required surgeries on both knees. Required it years ago, possibly before Bailey became an Indiana Hoosier but sometime after Hoosier coach Bob Knight said eighth-grader Damon Bailey was better than any guard on Knight's Indiana Hoosiers team.
By senior year of high school, four years of scrutiny and a Hoosier scholarship-later, Bailey's teams stayed holding up, Damon dominating even if his knees looked a little stiff:
Miller is a fan, blames bad diagnosis and big workload for causing Bailey's knee woes and, by extension, a proper shot at the NBA.
Reggie Miller's pro career began with boos, the Pacers selecting Miller out of UCLA ahead of Indiana Hoosier guard Steve Alford in 1987. Miller doesn't drag Alford, nor Pacer fans, then or now.
But we could submit his case of deja vu. Just as Reggie was starting to earn those trips to Letterman and Charlie Rose in spring 1994, the Pacers used summer to draft Bailey, the local hero for nearly a decade by now.
And Miller doesn't bat an eye at the potential loss of his burgeoning celebrity, doesn't consider the limelight finite:
Befriends Bailey, Reg does.
Bashes Bobby Knight in the book for telling – in that weasel-y way Bobby had with declarations which can mean two stupid things at once – tellin' Inside Sports in late 1994 that he “got less out of Bailey than any kid I ever coached. I didn’t get it done, rarely have I felt that about a kid.”
Bobby Knight was walking out of a junior high basketball game with a reporter from THE WASHINGTON POST when he talked up Damon Bailey, said Bailey was better and headier at basketball than young men seven and eight years older than Damon, and then Bob Knight allowed his comments to stick to the record.
'Hoosiers' is in theatres while he's doing it: Knight knew exactly what sort of fuse he just lit, he knew exactly what he was doing to that kid, that child, that 14-year old. Knight was walking with John Feinstein at the moment John Feinstein was charged with writing down everything Bobby Knight said FOR A BOOK, and then Knight had a chance to go off-record with his summation, but declined.
Knight used a kid to drag his own team in the local papers, to burnish his own credibility as a basketball badass.
And to secure a recruit! As if Damon Bailey was going to Michigan after that.
WAIT, REGGIE MILLER WAS ON CHARLIE ROSE?
Not only that, but he closed the show behind William F. Buckley and Arthur Schlesinger. Believe me, I put book down and ran to my computer.
As for the ongoing, lefty, Buckley rehabilitation? I, too, am a lightly liberal lad who is easily charmed by the conservative columnist's wit and gravitas. He was also an asshole, he was celebrated plenty in his time and right to his face, send flowers somewhere else.
ARE THERE GOOD NBA NAMES?
Reggie fought in practice with Devin Durrant on behalf of rookie Corey Gaines, who went on to work for darn near every professional team in the world in various roles, including camp fodder guarding Michael Jordan and a celebrated turn as champion WNBA head coach.
And Devin Durrant's name sounds like "Kevin Durant."
ANY SLOP?
No, no rumors, no failed transactions. Reggie said he'd trade out of the top five of the 1995 NBA draft to pick up the "eighth or ninth pick" and a veteran, saying there was "no difference" between Joe Smith, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse. The ninth pick that year was UCLA's Ed O'Bannon, so.
The Clippers read this and decided to trade the No. 2 pick to Denver for No. 15 (Brent Barry) and veteran Rodney Rogers. Cost the Clippers the Antonio McDyess pick, or a shot at Kevin Garnett.
Miller does relay Pacers legend and scout Mel Daniels talking up Keith Van Horn, then a Utah sophomore:
It isn't brought up that KVH is white, but perhaps that undocumented acknowledgement was the impetus behind Daniels assertion that "either the motherfucker can play, or the motherfucker can't play."
Perhaps!
WHAT LANGUAGE DID REGGIE USE TO DESCRIBE LARRY BROWN
Cautious language. He let others ("Larry is only happy when he's unhappy," Marv Albert told Miller) do the work for him.
Miller did rank Brown as one of the "top two or three" head coaches in the NBA, which is not great. Miller could lie, he coulda said Brown was tops. The least he could do is lose the "or three."
No indications as to the top two. Miller rails against Pat Riley's practices and seems bored by Lenny Wilkens.
DID REGGIE ADORE PHIL JACKSON'S TRIANGLE OFFENSE?
"That motion offense of theirs, that 1932 offense they think is so mysterious."
Over it. And written before the release of Sacred Hoops!
JORDAN
Lotta Jordan talk, Miller is a fan. Big fan. Misses him. Wishes he were back in the NBA. Is a mess without Michael.
MJ does return from baseball to basketball over the course of the book, culminating in the comeback in Miller's own building late in 1994-95. What I'd forgotten about was Michael Jordan practicing with Don Nelson's Golden State Warriors in Dec. 1994:
"He just wanted a little run," Nelson told reporters who were kept away from Friday's practice.
"He looked a little rusty from what we were used to seeing, but he still was sensational," the coach said.
Point guard Tim Hardaway said Jordan, who retired from the Bulls after the 1992-1993 season, was "a little tired, but he was good as ever. I was telling him, 'You lost it! You're a step slow!' But he wasn't."
Nelson said the team changed its practice plans to accommodate Jordan, who has switched to baseball. "He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, even though I suppose everywhere he goes it's a big deal," he said.
The Warriors came away convinced Jordan has no desire to return to the NBA. "He's determined to make the White Sox team in spring training," said Hardaway. "That's what he really wants to do."
He kept saying, Darrin Jackson, fuck that motherfucker, if I'm in right field we make the World Series. Do you think they're gonna strike with Michael Jordan in right?
Miller first crossed Jordan during an exhibition game in Cincinnati in 1987, before Reggie's first regular season NBA contest:
This was a night the Bulls were seeing red. And not Cincinnati Reds.
Again, game was in Cincinnati.
”There was a lot of talking going on out there, neighborhood stuff. A lot of physical play,” [Bulls point guard Sam] Vincent noticed. ”They were trying to rattle Michael (Jordan). It became more than another exhibition game.”
Especially early in the third quarter when Indiana`s Reggie Miller seemed to forget this wasn`t a football game and landed a couple of forearm shivers to Jordan`s chest.
”We were just having some fun out there,” Miller said.
But it was Jordan who would have the fun later, a Chicago Bull seeing red.
Not like the Cincinnati Reds. Even though this is in Cincinnati.
A welt on Miller`s chest from Jordan`s fourth foul would attest to that, and Jordan would not soon forget Indiana`s physical efforts or how to administer his own form of capital punishment.
"[Bulls head coach] Doug [Collins] did a smart thing taking me out,” Jordan said. ”I had a chance to cool down and think. And it really motivated me. When I got back in there, I wanted to play.”
Jordan went through the motions in the first half, dropping 17 but tying with Bill Cartwright for team lead in scoring. Miller's third quarter jawing drew Jordan's ire, the Bulls blew out the second half.
IS THE FILMING OF 'FORGET PARIS' DISCUSSED
Yes, the Pacers let Miller out of training camp so he could shoot scenes.
Billy Crystal is one foul-mouthed director.
TAT TALK
Then-Pacer Detlef Schrempf returned from his Seattle home and flew into Pacer camp in 1992 with a badass chest tattoo of an eagle spreading his wings.
"Detlef Schrempf's chest features a small landscape, complete with mountains, eagle, forest and lake, of personal symbolism."
That's what it said, "eagle, forest and lake, of personal symbolism." Please read the piece, though, which outlines the single tattoo of everyone in the NBA in 1995.
Schrempf told Miller the tattoo gave him strength, which Reggie made fun of: Miller said it would take some strength to hold Reggie Miller down while someone probed Reggie Miller with a tattoo needle, and reiterated as much in the book.
However, within two or three years, the 1990s got to Reggie.
ANY PRANKS?
At the 1994 World Championships Reggie was hanging around with NBA staff and found a folder, paper folder, containing the pager numbers of David Stern and NBA's discipline daddy Rod Thorn. I wonder if any of the guys Rod Thorn suspended knew Rod's full name is "Rodney King Thorn."
Miller also copped the pager number of beloved head of NBA security Horace Balmer, happy to be minding a Dream Team not featuring Charles Barkley.
Not for long. Miller doesn't mention buzzing Stern or Thorn so I presume Reggie did not, but he did call Balmer early one morning pretending to be "a reporter from the Toronto Sun-Times."
Telling Balmer, "we have a problem, one of the players just into a fight in one of the clubs. There were blows thrown. I think one of the players was hurt. There were arrests."
After hearing whatever noise Horace Balmer let out, Miller then immediately attempted to calm Balmer by telling him it was only "Reginald" on the line.
The problem with this was that Horace Balmer would later own a jazz club, so he knew a lot of Reginalds.
REGARDING HENRY
When Reggie Miller and his first wife went on their first date, she fell asleep in a movie theatre while watching 'Regarding Henry.' Once awoken, she found herself with a newfound appreciation for life and love and humanity and the importance of communicating expressions of your commitment to those closest to you.
I could take this joke about the conceit behind 'Regarding Henry' further but of course I have never seen 'Regarding Henry,' why would I watch 'Regarding Henry.'
CORKBALL
Reggie's brother Darrell played five years for the California Angels. Quite the achievement, I thought, until I read Reggie explaining how his neighborhood practiced playing baseball. Then I wondered why the whole neighborhood didn't have the hand-eye acumen to make the major leagues, and why Darrell could only make it five years (and just for an American League team).
This is not the corkball of the St. Louis variety: Miller's Riverside CA neighborhood used a real wine cork (fancy neighborhood) wrapped with white athletic tape until the idea of a sphere was established. The shape of the "ball" made it impossible to toss straight, every pitch was junk, diving and arching in every conceivable direction.
What to hit this darting Dyson Sphere with? A broomstick, of course.
If Michael Jordan grew up playing corkball, Mike never woulda returned to the Bulls in 1995. He wouldn't abandon a two-year All-Star MLB career, the globe's emerging obsession with his chosen sport, America's re-devotion to the pastime in the middle and late 1990s, baseball's golden age.
Instead of hitting free throws with his eyes closed, MJ instead blindly slaps the other way in the middle innings against Rick Honeycutt, Jordan whapping out singles to right field until 2010, when Michael buys the expansion MLB Charlotte Bobcats, struggling in their seventh season.
Speaking of Rick, why does St. Louis earn its own variation of everything? Pretty full of itself, making all the radio stations switch to "K" after driving over to that side.
DID REGGIE GET IT RIGHT ABOUT ROOKIE JASON KIDD
Half-right.
"The other thing I like about Kidd is that he just plays the game and doesn't try any of this power struggle stuff with the coach."
DID REGGIE RESPECT CHARLES SMITH
No.
Buildup to the Krause/Pippen thing in this clip? Krause told Pippen's agent to leave the locker room because he didn't have the right credentials.
Come on, Jerry.
On Tuesday night, Krause summoned security guards to escort Pippen's agent out of a restricted area outside the locker room because he was not wearing the proper pass. Pippen said his relationship with Krause was beyond hate.
"At this stage in my career, I've done a lot for the team and the organization," Pippen said. "If I'm deserving of the treatment I'm getting, someone tell me why. If not, get me out of here."
ANY BURNS?
The Pacers were visiting that piece of shit heckler Robin Ficker's Washington Bullets, Larry Brown called a timeout, the Pacer huddle stands to bloom.
Robin Ficker calls Pacers assistant coach George Irvine a "hippie" and Larry turns and calls Ficker a "schmuck" and the surrounding crowd literally ooooohs.
Reggie revealed a fun time when a Washington fan provided Pacer players with newspapers prior to a contest in Washington, documenting Ficker's recent divorce court woes. The Pacers won the game (they were playing Washington) and during the blowout's quiet moments a handful of Pacers loudly read the newspaper copy back to Ficker, who was red and enraged and, according to Miller, silent.
WAS THERE HIGH-TECH SCANNING?
Yes.
The Magic beat the Bulls in the Eastern semis in 1995, the Pacers were Orlando's Eastern finals opponent. B.J. Armstrong warned Reggie Miller that, in the Magic arena, the Orlando staff housed "high-tech scanning equipment" which gave the Magic an edge in halftime adjustments.
Chicago left B.J. Armstrong unprotected in the expansion draft a few days later.
WAS REGGIE A RODMAN STAN?
For two whole pages.
WAS REGGIE THIS CLOSE TO GETTING IT?
The Pacers acquired Mark Jackson from the Clippers before 1994-95 at the behest of new coach Larry Brown, Jackson was supposed to settle down the Pacer offense but the team remained inconsistent. As 1994-95 moved along, the Pacers just could not figure out the darn turnover problem!
Reggie doesn't mention names but Basketball-Reference does: Mark Jackson, Don't Slip Or I'll Call You Out on ABC, had a 25 percent turnover ratio in 1994-95.
It was a different time, I submit. A dozen of the worst-18 turnover rates in the NBA were made up of primary ballhandlers in 1994-95: Brian Shaw turned it over 25 percent of the time, Nate McMillan 23, Scott Skiles 20, Spud Webb and Sam Cassell around 18. John Stockton turned it over 22 percent of the time and that's on record, John, not some made-up number I pulled from a Facebook caption.
The Pacers noticed Mark's slippery handle and promoted backup point guard Haywoode Workman, demoting Jackson, who was even worse as reserve (43 percent True Shooting). But Indiana went only 8-7 with Jackson off the bench (2-1 in OT) and abandoned the Workman experiment because Haywoode's jumper did not work and because the man turned it over 19 percent of his possessions.
Also, this is after they outlawed the handcheck. Don't let any Gen X point guard lecture you over turnovers, not even Lee Mayberry.
ANY INDIANA WEIRDNESS?
Nah, he loves this place.
What he does bring up is Milwaukee, and Cleveland. If anyone from Milwaukee or Cleveland is out for another reason to resent Reggie Miller, Reggie Miller brings Milwaukee and Cleveland up, repeatedly, as examples of areas Reggie Miller does not enjoy.
DO PEOPLE YELL AT REGGIE FOR NOT SHOOTING ENOUGH
All book long. Normies like us, Jordan, current stars, ex-stars, famous people, unfamous men.
The problem is that Miller was never a huge volume launcher, and the Pacers went down 20 spots in pace between ex-Pacer coach Bob Hill and Larry "Hol' Up" Brown.
Plus Reggie's minutes dimmed. Plus Mark Jackson kept turning the ball over.
DOES REGGIE TAUNT DEREK HARPER
Yes. Miller didn't enjoy the fact that Harper talked a lot more with the tough-blue Knicks than he did with the white-at-home Dallas Mavericks.
A sample?
"Little Jo Jo English whipped your ass on national television in front of the commissioner. What the fuck are you gonna do fucking around with a heavyweight."
Reggie Miller, in this instance, considers himself the "heavyweight."
"Jo Jo threw you into the stands, what do you think I'm gonna do to you?"
Best of all, Reggie yelled this in front of Macauley Culkin.
REGGIE WAS BUDDIES WITH MACAULEY CULKIN?
Talked to him on the phone before the Derek Harper game in New York and Macauley told Miller that "Mac" had a bet with a friend on the outcome of the game.
This was 1995 in New York so I'm guessing Culkin's friend was either Ben Lee or Harmony Korine or, I hope, Kate Schellenbach.
Really hoping it wasn't Larry Clark.
HEY, THANKS FOR BRINGING UP LARRY CLARK
Sorry.
ANY DEPRESSING STUFF?
Only one thing, but we already knew he was like that: Kevin Johnson called Magic Johnson a three-letter word I won't repeat, and meant it.
Lotta people "like that" back then, but Reggie only called out Kevin Johnson.
The darkest stuff turned hilarious: Mike Tyson was imprisoned in Indiana at the time and Miller went to visit Tyson after Spike Lee implored Reggie to do so.
Miller drove out to the prison and signed in and waited for an hour and a half and got to watch as Tyson rolled into the visitors area, saw Miller's name on the sign-in sheet, shook his head, turned around, and went back to his room. Mike's room in jail.
Miller was aghast when, days later, Mark Jackson and Haywoode Workman showed up to the prison and Tyson ran to the visitor's area, jumping and clapping and spending every available second with the Pacer pair.
HOW DID NEW YORK PRANK CALLERS FIND REGGIE'S HOTEL ROOM PHONE NUMBER
Reggie Miller's hotel alias, until New York prank phone callers found his hotel room in 1995, was "Sherlock Holmes."
DOES REGGIE HECKLE ALEC BALDWIN
Yes.
WITH WHICH ALEC BALDWIN MOVIE LINE
SERIOUSLY
Reggie hits jumpers in Madison Square Garden and yells "I AM GOD" at an attending Alec and Alec is upset because that's one more person who didn't buy a ticket to 'The Getaway' and stayed home instead to catch 'Malice' on TNT at 3:40 afternoon on a Saturday on TNT.
Do you think I'd make that up?
THE PACERS HELD A CELEBRATION RALLY IN 1995
I know what you're thinking, I don't remember who won the NBA title in 1995, but it wasn't the Pacers. Correct, the city of Indianapolis feted the Pacers for making it to the Eastern finals and falling to the Orlando Magic in seven games. This wasn't an airport meeting, but a celebration scheduled after the loss.
If this happened in 2025? Excoriation. Sportspodcasters wearing Jordan-brand sneakers imbuing their segment with Mamba Mentality, how dare a team even crack a smile until the Finals were fully swept in their favor?
I dunno. It was probably nice out, Indy in June. Nobody should need a reason to party.
I can't find any pictures online but the photograph from the book is wonderful for its fully, braided, belts.
ANYTHING ELSE LOST TO THE LIBRARY?
The Pacers hosted the Nuggets played a "throwback" game in 1995, featuring retro uniforms and an ABA ball and the Pacers entering the floor wearing afro wigs. The Pacers lost and by a lot and to the Nuggets, whom Larry Brown used to coach, and the defeat made Larry really angry.
Then again, Larry coached a lot of teams. The Pacers couldn't be up for all of them.
TIME WAS
UP NEXT: Larry Bird's book, written after he replaced Larry Brown as Pacers coach.
UP NEXT AFTER THAT: Anything but the Indiana Pacers.
Thank you for reading! Thank you to subscribers, I just ordered a dozen books from Thriftbooks, we can do this all summer. Corey Fry, thank you so much for that gas money! We went to a beach with it, it was great, sand everywhere.
