There he stood, about 20 minutes following Tuesday’s home loss. Facing his locker on the right side of the team’s locker room, he dressed completely after taking a shower.
He wanted to finish getting dressed so that he could head straight to the exits, straight to his car to then to the airport to catch the team’s charter flight to Washington D.C. The NBA season is fast pace and one must keep up.
Before taking off, he stood in front of the 10 or so reporters that shuffled over from Rodney Stuckey’s locker and discussed his poor shooting. He knew what was coming after missing all eight shots in the Pacers’ 87-81 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, which ended the Pacers’ six-game win streak over this division opponent.
On a team that needs a boost offensively, CJ Miles is still working to find his shot.
C.J. Miles, who was brought in to be a scorer, potentially off the bench, has fired up more bricks than swishes four games in.
He was asked if he simply needs to see his first shot to go down?
“It can be the second or third one,” Miles responded, playing it off well. And much respect to him for answering every question after a game he’d like to quickly put behind him.
“I just need one of ‘em to go down. It doesn’t matter which one it is at this point. … It’s to the point where it’s open shots. I’m not over-pressing, I’m not doing anything outside of what I do. My teammates have found me when I’m open and I just got to knock them down. That’s pretty much it. There’s no secret to it, no science.”
Miles connected on 43.5 percent of his field goals last season, his best mark in five years. But makes haven’t come as easy so far in his new blue and gold uniform. He’s just 14-of-50 from the field (28 percent), including a 5-for-25 mark from long distance.
It’s really laughable. He’s so wide open and the shots just aren’t dropping.
“I chuckled on the floor tonight,” even Miles admitted. And sometimes, you just have to laugh off something like this rather than get too caught up with it and then overthink things.
“I just got to figure out other ways to be creative and try to get myself some easier shots, too. Not that being wide open isn’t easy shots,” he said with a grin. “But I need to find some rhythm shots.”
It also sounds like Miles may just need a Snickers bar…
“George Hill came up to me at one of the timeouts and said, ‘You don’t even look like yourself. Like relax, shoot the basketball.’ He said, ‘I’ve been watching you shoot the basketball everyday for the last I don’t know what and it don’t even look like you.’
“That’s the biggest thing. Being confident. I don’t think I’ve been confident on my shots being open. It’s almost like, ‘Man, I’m open again. What do I do now? I got to shoot it.’ Maybe that’s the problem. I haven’t been this wide open in a long time.”
Pacers coach Frank Vogel’s message to him it to just keep shooting. That’s what great shooters do and soon enough, (hopefully) they’ll start going down.
“He’ll be all right,” Vogel said after Miles recorded a doughnut. “He’s being hard on himself. That’s probably impacting him but we all have great confidence in him and I’m sure it’s going to come around.”
Miles doesn’t believe there’s anything mechanically wrong with his shot. So much of it is mental, he says. It’s frustrating for a shooter to miss the first shot, then the next. That’s when a player begins to question himself. On the third shot or so, he has been considering whether a shot was too flat and if he should shoot the next one higher ” instead of just letting it happen like everyday in practice.”
Despite the struggles, Miles said that he must find other ways to get involved. He has more fouls (11) than any other key statistic, whether it be rebounds (6) or assists (9). Even when shots aren’t falling, players have to find other ways to impact games.
“My mindset is I just want to help my basketball team,” he said. “It’s not about accolades for me; it’s not about what I did. It’s just about trying to figure out a way to help my team win games.”
Chris Copeland, a featured shooter has gone through stretches like this himself before. And like Vogel, he’s confident Miles will come around.
“Stay confident, which is easier said than done,” Copeland answered when asked what his message would be to his teammate a couple lockers down. “Just to stay confident. He already works hard. I wouldn’t tell him to get in the gym because he’s always in the gym working on his jump shot. Just to keep shooting and stay confident. Guys a good as shooter as him, it’s going to fall. I’m not even starting to worry about a guy like CJ.”
The Pacers are currently shorthanded and in the midst of a difficult stretch of playing five games in seven days. The newness and lack of chemistry hasn’t helped Miles case — or the team’s for that matter. They’ve turned it over at least 18 times in all four games.
“It’s just figuring it out,” Miles said, shaking his head with an annoyed smile. “… Four games feels like 50 to me, but it’s going to come. It’s going to be all right.”