Codi Miller-McIntyre – The wolf who broke The Record
Who could have guessed that after a season in Europe’s fourth-tier club competition, the FIBA Europe Cup, Codi Miller-McIntyre would transition to the EuroLeague and not only play well but shatter a tremendous record in his rookie season, a feat not expected of him.
Last season, the 29-year-old guard suited up for the Turkish club Gaziantep, who lost in the quarter-finals to the eventual winners Anwil Wloclawek (Poland). In the lowest European club competition, Miller-McIntyre averaged 14 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds with good shooting percentages but also had plenty of turnovers.
When Baskonia lost their star point guard Darius Thompson to Anadolu Efes Istanbul last summer, the Spanish club needed an offensive orchestrator to fill the American’s shoes. Nico Mannion and Miller-McIntyre were acquired to help the team in the point guard position, but it was evident from early on that Mannion lacked the quality to be a distributor; he was more of a scorer. Additionally, it became clear that the Italian wasn’t quite up to par for the EuroLeague.
Baskonia’s MVP
One of the reasons Miller-McIntyre was signed was his defensive presence. Then-head coach Joan Penarroya explained that he wanted a physically and defensively strong guard who could limit opposing offensive stars. In a backcourt with Mannion, Vanja Marinković, and Markus Howard, that role was very much needed.
Miller-McIntyre started the season slow, but his performances improved significantly when Penarroya was sacked and Baskonia’s legend Duško Ivanović was brought in to replace the Spaniard. The American with a Bulgarian passport demonstrated his versatility and quickly became one of Baskonia’s pillars.
With 26 rounds played in the EuroLeague, Miller-McIntyre has seven games with double-digit assists and averages 7.2 assists per game, leading the league with Facundo Campazzo (6.5) and Lorenzo Brown (6.2) trailing him.
Before Round 26, Miller-McIntyre flirted with triple-doubles, a feat that is common in the NBA but rarely seen on European courts. Before this season, just two players had accomplished a triple-double in the EuroLeague: Nick Calathes and Nikola Vujčić.
For Miller-McIntyre, the stars finally aligned in Round 26 against Villeurbanne ASVEL. In addition to 11 points and 11 rebounds, the guard dished out 20 assists, with the final one being an alley-oop to Chima Moneke, breaking the record of 19 held by Stefan Jović and Campazzo.
Miller-McIntyre against ASVEL:
Baskonia’s fans chanted “MVP, MVP, MVP,”, Miller-McIntyre’s teammates were over the moon, and disciplinarian head coach Ivanović subbed him out only when he made his two free throws to secure the triple-double. It was a night to remember for everyone, whether watching the game at the Fernando Buesa Arena or tuning in on the live broadcast.
A Colorful European Career
After four seasons with Wake Forest, whose alumni include NBA legends Tim Duncan, Chris Paul, and Muggsy Bogues, Miller-McIntyre wasn’t selected in the 2016 NBA draft. He set his sights on a professional career in Europe and signed for Leuven Bears in Belgium.
Miller-McIntyre at Wake Forest:
By the way, at Wake Forest, Miller-McIntyre played two years with a familiar face to many EuroLeague fans, as he shared the locker room with Konstantinos Mitoglu. The Greek power forward has shone in the EuroLeague for Panathinaikos Athens this season.
In an interview, Miller-McIntyre said that Dinos, as Konstantinos is called, is his brother. The American expanded: “He has always worked extremely hard. I think that’s one of the reasons why he and I became so close because we saw that in each other. He always had a great mentality, and we were able to stay in touch over the years.”
After seasons in Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, France, Spain, and Turkey, Miller-McIntyre finally got his EuroLeague chance, although he had the opportunity to sign for Panathinaikos and play with Mitoglu again in 2021, but for unknown reasons, the move didn’t materialize. The current season is his first in Europe’s top-flight competition and surely won’t be his last one.
So far, Miller-McIntyre’s career has been a roller-coaster, but one thing has remained constant: his work ethic.
For example, during Miller-McIntyre’s season in Belgium, he used to wake up at half-past four in the morning, drive an hour to Antwerp to work out, and then drive back to Leuven, where he usually had two workouts a day with the Bears.
Miller-McIntyre has also disclosed that there have been moments during his European career where he thought about quitting. “My consistent work ethic is what got me here: those failures are just temporary losses, and I wake up every day being consistent,” the 29-year-old expressed about ups and downs in an interview with Eurohoops.net.
An Alter Ego
Two years ago, Miller-McIntyre gave an interview to EuroCup’s website where he explained why he identifies himself a lot with wolves. “I always loved dogs growing up. I always had a strong attraction to having a dog, like many people, and then I realized that my natural personality is not good for on the basketball court because I’m not too aggressive, I’m passive, and I kind of just go with the flow sometimes.
Maybe I want to change something, but I don’t change it. I realized that to play this sport at a high level, you have to have some type of very strong aggression consistently. And I just started looking at different famous people, different artists, rappers, singers, some famous basketball or football players. And a lot of these people go by different names. A lot of these people go by a name that’s a different personality or almost an alter ego, you know? So I just looked more into that, and maybe a few years ago, I just decided that this would be my alter ego. When I’m on the court, I would try to become something different to help me, mentally, be more consistent at basketball.”
As strange as it sounds, there’s actually a lot in common with Baskonia and wolves – they’re not the strongest animals out there but are deadly when they work together. Looking at the budget or the individual talent of the players, there are many better teams than Baskonia in the EuroLeague, but the fact is that the Basque club holds the eighth spot with 14 wins and 12 losses, being just a win away from securing a spot in the quarter-finals with eight rounds left in the regular season.
