This NBA season has not gone the way Mike Miller envisioned.
The former Florida Gator and NBA champion with the Miami Heat teamed back up with LeBron James in Cleveland this season, pursuing another title to cap off a career that has had its share of ups and downs.
With James missing the team’s last eight games before returning Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns, the Cavs have struggled to a 1-7 record in that span.
Miller, averaging 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds per game this season, has played sparingly off the bench. He missed seven games earlier in the season with a concussion.
While the Cavaliers are circling the .500 mark, several other former Gators are in prime position to provide production for potential playoff teams.
Al Horford, a two-time national champion for the Gators, has witnessed his Atlanta Hawks experience their best season so far in his tenure. Horford, who recorded his first career triple-double in a 105-87 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, remains a key component for a Hawks team that has gone a staggering 23-2 over the last 25 games.
When healthy, Horford has the makings of an NBA superstar, a center who has shored up his rim protection while also becoming a more diverse, back-to-the-basket player. The Hawks have defeated the East’s best, and the team currently sits at first place in the conference at 30-8.
The Hawks haven’t secured the Eastern Conference just yet, however, as Bradley Beal’s Washington Wizards have come on late recently.
Despite experiencing a 120-89 walloping at the hands of Horford’s Hawks last week, Beal has regained the form he displayed last season that had numerous NBA pundits declaring him the next young guard to make "the leap" to stardom, like fellow Wizard John Wall has done over the course of the last year.
Joakim Noah’s Chicago Bulls have sorely missed the play of the oft-injured Derrick Rose, but the team has been thrilled with the emergence of two-way guard Jimmy Butler as a legitimate NBA All-Star.
Noah, who underwent knee surgery over the summer, has shown glimpses of the low-post threat that won him the NBA Defensive Player of the Year title last season.
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Atlanta Hawks' Al Horford, left, goes up for a shot against Philadelphia 76ers' Furkan Aldemir, of Turkey, during the second half of Atlanta's 105-87 win on Tuesday, Jan. 13 in Philadelphia.
