Whether it speaks more about the franchise he just left or the one he just joined, something seemed peculiar when Mike Miller lifted a Timberwolves jersey for the first time and called himself thrilled to be somewhere he can win.

At 28, Miller suddenly is the savvy veteran on a Wolves team built around young players who entered the league before their 20th birthdays.

"I've been in the league going on nine years now and I've been through winning seasons and losing seasons," said Miller, acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies late on draft night in an eight-player trade that swapped O.J. Mayo's draft rights for Kevin Love's. "You learn from both of them. The last two years took a toll on me. Winning is something that's going to be very important for me."

Miller, a 6-8 swingman who had been with Memphis since February 2003, went from one 22-victory team last season to another with Thursday's deal. He was the trade's tipping point, a career 40 percent three-point shooter without whom Wolves vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale said he never would have made the trade. Miller is an alternate for this summer's U.S. Olympic team and could be summoned if a player on the current 12-player roster gets injured.

"He's 28," McHale said at a Target Center news conference that introduced Miller five days after the trade. "He's in the prime of his career."

Miller gives the Wolves what McHale calls a "knockdown" shooter who -- along with Love, a 6-9 forward who is expected to play both inside and outside, Randy Foye, Rashad McCants and possibly restricted free agent Ryan Gomes -- now gives the Wolves a collection of players whose shooting spreads the floor and theoretically gives low-post scorer Al Jefferson more room to operate near the basket.

"I'm excited to be part of a young nucleus that has a chance to be special," said Miller, the 2000-01 NBA Rookie of the Year with Orlando after the Magic drafted him with the No. 5 overall pick out of Florida. "If we can continue to keep this nucleus around and commit to it, it has a chance to be a playoff contender, if not tomorrow or this year, then in a few years. I actually think we can make a push, as tough as the West is."

Miller called it the opportunity to play with a post scorer such as Jefferson, who last season commanded double- and triple-teams from opposing defenses when he touched the ball, "a shooter's dream."

"I just always want to keep him healthy and keep feeding him the ball," Miller said. "It makes my job a lot easier." Miller's presence, in turn, is designed to make other players' jobs easier.

"He helps everybody," McHale said. "He's a proven NBA three-point shooter. He rebounds. He can make plays. He's certainly not a specialist. It's going to give Randy Foye more room. It's going to give Al more room. It's going to give everybody who we have on the floor more room."

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.