C.J. Miles settles in

It’s taken him some time.

It’s taken 64 days or so, since camp commenced on Sept. 30 to Dec. 2, for veteran C.J. Miles to feel like himself again. Sure, the Pacers’ (7-15) free-agent pickup started the year with three straight double-figure games, but he wasn’t all that efficient (33 percent) in doing so. It took him 42 shots to make 14. He then posted a big ol’ donut (zero points) in a loss to Milwaukee. He missed all eight shots, including five tries from deep.

Miles wasn’t feeling right, and then the migraine happened — followed by side effects (body issues he understandably didn’t want to elaborate on). Miles sat out seven of eight games from Nov. 7 to the 22. Suffice to say, it was not an ideal start for the 10th-year wing who was onto his third NBA team.

Prior to his first training camp with the Pacers, he suffered “a little [calf] strain,” an injury he wasn’t too concerned with but it did limit what he could do during camp — a time to focus on practices, learning the system, and jelling with teammates.

“I’ve never been off my feet this much, ever, in ten years,” Miles said this week. “I’ve never had days where I had to sit out. Because even if you go back to training camp, I couldn’t even do all of training camp as I was coming back from injury. I was missing one practice, then practicing one day, and then the next, depending on how much I got to do the day before I couldn’t do that much this day. And then we started playing, and trying to find a rhythm only playing in games and not being able to do the extra work I’m used to being able to do on days that we don’t have games.”

Miles back to smiling after his early-season battles.

Through the first 17 games, he was not at all where he wanted to be. In the season’s first full month, he averaged just 4.9 points per game and shot a dreadful 18 percent from the field.  Conversely, during the first five games in December, Miles has scored 15 or more points three times, averaged 14.6 per game and has made almost 45 percent of his shots.

Miles felt normal for the first time last week in Phoenix. (The warm weather had to help, right!) He finished with a team-high 17 points, his best output of the season at the time.

His second field goal of the game, a left-handed slam after slash into the paint, reinforced his growing confidence.

“I don’t remember the last time I tried to dunk on somebody,” he said with a big grin. “And it wasn’t even like a thought. I was just able to react to it. It wasn’t, ‘Ah, I got to dunk it.’

“I’m getting more and more back to game shape, which allows me to play that way. When you know certain things aren’t right, you think ‘Ah, man, I don’t think I can get there so I have to try to do this,’ and you settle for certain things. I’m finding a rhythm, finding pace, but then also getting into regular game shape after so much time I’ve had to be off my feet.”

Miles has since been let loose, with no restrictions and the green light to fire away from head coach Frank Vogel. He’s back to firing away frequently on his own time, sometimes coming back in during the evening hours, and that’s where Miles has regained his confidence — seeing the ball go through the hoop.

Again and again.

“The more makes you see, the more your confidence grows,” he said. “I’ve been able to see some go in and you start to feel better and better, and then you start to see the game the right away. You stop thinking, and you stop concentrating so hard like, ‘Man, I got to figure it out.’ It’s the same game that I’ve been playing [in this league] for 10 years now.”

Miles has been tagged as “the scorer off the bench” after comfortably handling that role the past two seasons in Cleveland. He dropped the willing-to-do-whatever-the-team-needs line, but wants to be viewed as more of a bench scorer.

“I don’t mind [the label],” he said. “There are advantages both ways. Coming off the bench, you see the game before you check in. You know what they’re doing, you’re kind of getting a read of how they’re playing and what you should do immediately when you step on the floor.

“Starting the game, you have to find that feeling a little bit. It takes a few plays or a couple of minutes sometimes. That’s the difference. I really don’t mind it, but right now it seems like that coming off the bench may be what we’re doing right now. Just based off the chemistry.”

And on the topic of chemistry, it’s an item that is noticeably absent with the current starting five: Rodney Stuckey, Solomon Hill, Chris Copeland, David West, and Roy Hibbert. The group has been mightily outscored. Take Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers for instance.

The Clippers’ starters, a very fine group, outscored the Pacers’, 73-30. Miles alone contributed 30 points off the bench and was a team-best +23. Not one of the Pacers’ starting five was better then -20.

“I don’t think they are in any kind of rhythm,” Vogel acknowledged afterwards, and then suggested that he may look to tweak the lineups. The only thing, though, is that in altering the starting five, he’d also be breaking up a cohesive bench unit. That group is clicking, and they complement one another so well.

“Me and the other C.J. have been able to get a little bit [of chemistry] and me and those guys in that group just kind of mesh with [Luis] Scola and Ian [Mahinmi], when he’s healthy,” Miles added. “That’s the pace in which we like to play with. I think he suits all of our games because [Scola] being able to shoot the basketball, C.J. and me shoot he basketball, Damo [Rudež] and then Ian runs.”

Vogel recognizes the second unit’s continuity, but like any coach, he wants more from them. Specifically on the defense end, which is typically the calling card of the Pacers under Vogel.

“It’s still early in the season, the new guys — Cope at the wing, Damo, Rodney, C.J. — are still not where I want them to be with their defensive coverages,” he said. “They are battling, they are playing extremely hard, but these things take time. The habits that go into being a tied together unit take time.”

Miles’ streaky offense has been restored finally, thanks to good health, hard work, and by maintaining a shooter’s mentality.

“Can’t make it unless you shoot it,” he said while sporting his contagious smile, “and that’s the reason why every single day I’m in here just trying to work on my craft. The only thing you can do to get out of it is shoot it. Not taking bad shots, but you can’t go out there and be hesitant about what you do, knowing that’s something I’ve been able to do well and one of the reasons why I’m on the floor. And I think the biggest thing is to just keep working at it on the off days.”

Poor starts to games and the starting five are still atop the Pacers’ list of riddles to be solved. It doesn’t help that Stuckey, S. Hill, and Copeland all are playing out of position. And thus, the Pacers are 0-5 in December, and will try to avoid their seventh straight loss Friday night up in Toronto.