Miller returns courtside
Jazz owner back after outburst 3 weeks ago
Fans didn't seem to notice Miller walking on the floor for the first time in three weeks.
And Miller characterized his latest flare-up as "kind of milquetoast," compared to a couple of others he's had, and he also said he thought the players should be able to handle that sort of thing. He said he has earned the right, working 90-100 hours a week for 20 years, to get the Jazz to the levels they've attained, he said, to have the right to the odd complaint.
But Miller also said, "The night it happened, I planned to stay out the rest of the season just because I thought, 'I don't need this in my life.'
"But I don't think you can be involved in something part-way," Miller said, "and I don't think it's right for me to be a fair-weather friend to the team, coaches or players."
He had realized that he should show support to them.
She asked if he was ready, and he said he'd come to the conclusion after having some down time on Saturday that he had to do it sometime.
And so he showed up and answered the inevitable questions with apparent sincerity and some humor.
He was unapologetic for yelling, even swearing at the team, saying he'd apologized several years ago when a tirade got more personal. But this time, it had been directed more at the team as a whole.
He also — at least semi-facetiously — called the players "overpaid, pompous twinks."
And there were none of his famous tears during an impromptu press conference near the visiting team's locker room prior to the game.
Miller said that his absence was completely self-imposed, though he needed to resolve his emotional state and tend to his health.
While on vacation from the Jazz, he changed his perspective on the struggling and injured team. He had begun the season expecting everyone to be healthy, and he still held some high hopes that he now realizes were not attainable because of the injuries. The Jazz had more of that problem Monday with three players in street clothes and Greg Ostertag exiting at the first timeout, just before Miller made his way to his seat.
"We got spoiled by two guys for 18 or 19 years," he said in reference to iron men John Stockton and Karl Malone.
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