THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
This is Andy Miller, the agent for 76ers unrestricted free agent Andre Miller, doing his j-o-b:
In a blog post by Jason Quick of the Oregonian on OregonLive.com, Andy Miller described Andre Miller as ''a good fit'' for the Portland Trail Blazers, who were rebuffed the other day by Orlando Magic free agent Hedu Turkoglu, who instead opted to agree to terms with the Toronto Raptors.
The Blazers' interest in Miller, though, remains unclear, but Andy Miller was quoted as saying ''It's a good fit, and I think Andre Miller puts them over the top. They desperately need a starting point guard to take the pressure off Brandon Roy. Andre would be able to control the floor and give that team better direction in the open court. It's their team, and they've made great progress, but at some point you have to make a leap forward.''
In the post, Miller said his conversations with the Blazers during the weekend did not include sign-and-tr4ade scenarios.
The Sixers have had discussions with Andy Miller about a new deal for Andre Miller, but all reports have indicated that they remain far apart on salary and length of term.
Phil Jasner joined the staff of the Daily News in 1972. He has covered the 76ers and the NBA on a full-time basis since 1981. He won the 2004 Curt Gowdy Media Award, presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the sport during his career; he was a finalist for the award in 2001, when he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Professional Basketball Writers Association during the NBA Finals. He is a past president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the Philadelphia College Basketball Writers Association. Along the way, he has covered high school sports, the Big 5, the Eagles and the NFL, the World Football League, the North American Soccer League and what was then the Major Indoor Soccer League. He is a proud graduate of Temple University, and spent his early professional days at the Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury, Montgomery Newspapers (Fort Washington, Pa.), the Norristown (Pa.) Times-Herald and the Trentonian.
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for almost 20 years, working in the sports department the past 12 years. This is his first season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he has been the La Salle beat writer for the past six seasons.
