Film study: How do opponents defend Alabama star freshman Brandon Miller?

Brandon Miller has reached the 500-point plateau faster than any Alabama player. Shutting down the star freshman has been a tough ask, but opponents have experimented with many defensive coverages to make life difficult for the likely All-American.

In today’s film study, Hunter Cruse will explore some of those tactics and navigate Miller’s off-ball value to the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.

The discussion around Miller’s athleticism is polarizing. Yes, he can rise up for some vicious dunks in transition and generate paint touches as a second-side creator. Still, there are some fundamental athletic limitations to his functionality as a pick-and-roll ball-handler.

Miller ranks in the 19th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, his most common play type, according to Synergy Sports.

Houston, the nation’s No. 8 defensive attack, per KenPom, held Miller to a season-low eight points — his only game of the season without a field goal made. The Cougars are the epitome of physical, switchy defense. Head coach Kelvin Sampson emphasizes disrupting the flow of pick-and-roll actions — as seen in the possession above.

North Carolina also caused Miller trouble with its switching pick-and-roll schemes, given his average first step. North Carolina’s Pete Nance, a 6-foot-11 forward, switches onto Miller following the staggered screen and moves his feet perfectly to deny him any sort of finishing window.

In contrast to a switch, Houston was willing to be even more aggressive in ball screens. Here, Jarace Walker, a projected lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, hard hedges Miller, forcing him to settle for a contested 3 early into the possession.

On this possession, Miller is functioning within a screen-the-screener action and receives the dribble handoff, followed by a re-screen from Noah Clowney. Tennessee's Jamai Mashack, a premier point-of-attack defender, gets bumped on the Clowney screen but manages to recover and contest the fading Miller pull-up 3.

He is a tremendous movement shooter, but opponents would prefer these contested looks over Miller getting Mashack on his hip, forcing the drop defender to step up, and throwing an ally-oop to Clowney on the back end, a very productive finisher as a roll-man.

Overall, in ball screens, opponents with scheme-versatile front-court players are willing to switch actions and play physical defense on the skinnier 200-pound Miller. You usually don’t see Miller look sped up or force the issue often, but it’s more apparent when Alabama utilizes him as an extended on-ball operator.

There are not many players in college basketball like Miller — a true 6-foot-9 wing who is more valuable to Alabama’s offense as an off-ball mover than as a pull-up shot creator.

“Teams come out of the gate, at the beginning of the game, like ‘We got to shut Brandon Miller down,’” head coach Nate Oats told the media ahead of Saturday’s matchup against Georgia. “As the game goes on, there’s some slippage, guys get in foul trouble, he gets loose in transition a little bit.”

There are a lot of words that can be used to describe Miller as a shooter, but more than anything, the freshman is just so fluid. He has immaculate touch, fluid power transfer up and down, and he keeps his mechanics simple.

“He’s done better at being patient, making the right plays, being a great screener, moving the ball, not pressing,” Oats said. “I think it’s more having a high feel for the game… he’s getting fouled off the ball more than any other player this year.”

In last week’s film study on freshman guard Rylan Griffen, we briefly covered Miller’s value as a screener, a common action within Alabama’s offense to create defensive lapses on switches given his shooting gravity.

On this possession, UConn doesn’t switch, but Miller briefly baits the defender into looking at the ball-handler and yeah, it’s virtually impossible for 6-foot-5 Tristen Newton to contest that shot from NBA range.

Miller remains the most fascinating plug-in-play wing prospect in the 2023 NBA Draft. He ranks in the 92nd percentile on catch-and-shoot jumpers, 99th percentile on unguarded catch-and-shoot jumpers, and has a remarkable 60.8% true-shooting.

Beyond Miller’s success in his presumed lone season in Tuscaloosa, he is bound to make an immediate impact for an organization at the next level and will likely hear his name called early into the first round.