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Catching up with Brad Miller

Brad Miller had some of his best seasons of his NBA career with the Sacramento Kings.

Wearing No. 52, Brad helped the purple and black make three-straight trips to the playoffs from 2003 to 2006. Known for his excellent scoring and passing abilities, Miller posted career-highs during his time in the City of Trees.

Kings.com caught up with Miller during his recent visit at the ESC XC to get his take on the new arena, the 30th season, Peja’s jersey retirement and more.

You spent a significant portion of your career with the Kings. What made your Sacramento stint special?

“This was the place where I got to play the longest. I mean, I was here for five and a half years - longer than my time at college - and I haven’t been anywhere that long since I was a junior in high school. It really felt like a home to me and I was able to understand the people of Sacramento a lot more. If you only come in for a year or two, you don’t fully understand them. When you’re playing, you don’t always appreciate where you’re at. As a player, I only went to Tahoe once, but living here I’ve been there roughly 10 times and thought ‘why didn’t we ever come here?’ There’s a lot of fun stuff to do around this area that now, because I’m living here, I get to understand it more.”

The organization announced last month that Peja Stojakovic − a teammate of yours − will have his jersey retired in December. What does it mean to you to have been able to play with him?

“It was a lot of fun. I didn’t realize how good of a shooter/player he was until I got here and I actually got to play with him, but he got me at least 100 assists in one year. I probably had about 4 or 500 hundred just because of his ability to catch and shoot really well. I set my fair share of picks and backdoor cuts, so we’re even.”

Do you have a specific game that you remember vividly or a special moment?

“My first game out here was LeBron’s first game. Everyone talks about LeBron - he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but I also got a four-page spread. That was special. It was my first game in Sacramento, with the fans, and ESPN - that was the first crazy game that I witnessed. It was sold out and of course we won, so it made it that much more fun.”

The 2014-15 season marks the 30th-season in Sacramento for the Kings. What does it mean to you to see the organization celebrate the milestone?

“It’s great! You have to remember, the arena talks started before I got here and it’s just now gone through - so it’s been a hard process. But being here, and knowing the area, and the fact that this city needs an arena − it’s important, whether it’s for the team or for concerts, just to recharge the city’s batteries.”

Have you seen the arena’s designs or experiments with Oculus Rift?

“I have and it’s amazing. I was laughing last year when I saw the team wearing Google Glass. I want to implement that into my hunting show. Live person action when you’re hunting thanks to Google Glass. In terms of the arena though, the designs are incredible. When the talks first started, I always liked the idea of the rail yard. I thought they should just get it downtown somewhere. No matter the sport, if the arena is downtown the surrounding businesses with thrive.”