Carter Millar: resilient All-Star

Carter is working on his game to improve his All-Star status

I sat down with Carter Millar this week and talked about his All-Star season, his team this year, the tough playoff loss, and what he is working on to prepare for next season.

Tyler: Obviously congrats on being named second team All-Star, what does that mean to you especially given the context of your back injury a couple years ago?

Carter: It’s definitely feels very rewarding. It’s nice to be recognized for the work that I put in and the season I had, but at the end of the day I want to be at Nationals this weekend. So, it’s definitely nice and a confidence booster going into the offseason and into next season.

Tyler: How would you summarize your season in your words?

Carter: As a team, biggest loss was by 11 and we played against seven out of the top 10 teams in the country. So, our season was full of top 10 teams, we should have won a couple of those games, and lost a couple against teams we should have beat, but that’s just how the ball bounces sometimes. Overall the season was very positive, we have always been a middle of the pack team and our goal was to be a top four team, but if we won one more game, we would have been fifth or sixth, one game was the difference. It was unfortunate and a bit unlucky, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

Tyler: Your team plays a very egalitarian style with scoring, do you still feel pressure to lead or do you take a different approach to it?

Carter: No, I’ve never really felt like I have to score in this moment. It’s definitely a personal mindset for me and the way that I’ve played from the very beginning; I go with the flow, but my flow is a little more looking to score first and pass second. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to shoot a bad shot, it might mean I’m going to take it to the point where it could be a bad shot but that’s when I pass it. Also with my rebounding I get three or four offensive rebounds a game and when you get offensive rebounds it’s in a position to score or, if not to score, in a position to get fouled so that adds on a couple points.

Tyler: Were you feeling 100 per cent for that playoff game?

Carter: Ah no it was feeling pretty bad. I was a step behind and I felt good enough to give it a go but I was definitely held back because of it. The only reason I played was because it was playoffs.

Tyler: I was going to say I give you 100 per cent credit for playing, I knew that was the only reason you played, because it was playoffs.

Carter: I had to play and I had to give it a shot.

Tyler: What are your priorities going into the offseason?

Carter: I would say the first thing is conditioning, there were points where I felt I was getting too tired. I would say lateral quickness, because I am a bit of a liability on defense, when there is a quicker guard that I get switched on, maybe accidentally or in transition I want to be able to stick with that guy and not be a liability. And offensively just staying consistent from the free throw line and consistency from three. Lastly, just having a few go-to moves where I know that when I’m in certain positions I can consistently make that shot.

Tyler: Awesome. That’s all I got for you – thanks so much for doing this!

Carter: Thank you very much Tyler!