His revelations were surprising, to say the least.
Ever cool Willie Miller apparently had some terse moments in the PBA—and quite a lot of pent-up frustration. And he is only now expressing that frustration in unfiltered, freewheeling interviews, like those Rico Maierhofer and JayJay Helterbrand regularly conduct for the PBA Moto Club.
Lately, the two-time PBA MVP even made some startling revelations about his shortlived stint with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. The biggest revelation of all? He didn’t particularly like his time with the crowd darlings.
“Simula bata ako, gustong-gusto ko maglaro sa Ginebra,” Miller told Maierhofer and Helterband. “Pagdating ko sa Ginebra napaka-bad experience.”
Miller was traded by the Alaska Aces to Ginebra in 2010 for Cyrus Baguio. Just three years removed from winning his second MVP, Miller struggled with Ginebra, to the point where he was playing sparse minutes by 2011—until Team NSD shipped him to Barako Bull Energy.
Now, the four-time champion has spilled the beans of what appears to be a tumultuous stay with Ginebra—one evidently marked by tense moments with crowd favorite Rudy Hatfield.
“First experience ko na sumama loob ko sa teammate ko is kay Rudy Hatfield,” admitted Miller when Maierhofer asked him about the teammates he wasn’t fond of.
He then recalled two instances when the H-Bomb got him hot under the collar.
The first one, according to Miller, was when Hatfield called him out for taking his patented fadeaway in practice. What irked Miller, though, was that the Ginebra coaching staff, then headed by Jong Uichicho, actually agreed with H-Bomb, even though he himself had been taking and missing treys.
“‘Maniniwala kayo rito, nakailang three points [na mintis] tapos ako ‘yung tira ko hindi ko pwedeng itira?’” Miller recalled telling the Ginebra coaches.
Miller also opened up about an incident in-game where he took blame for a Hatfield turnover, only for the Ginebra coaching staff to dispatch Mark Caguioa to sub in for him. Miller recalled telling The Spark to return to the bench before scoring seven unanswered points to force the other team to call timeout.
“Pagdating ko ng huddle, nagmura ko,” Miller narrated. “Binato ko ‘yung Gatorade. [Sabi ko] ‘Wag niyo akong hahawakan! Mga bastos kayo. Wala kayong respeto.’”
From Miller’s recollections, it is safe to say he has some longstanding ill-will towards Uichico and the rest of the Ginebra coaching staff back then—so much that what was supposed to be a realization of a boyhood dream turned nightmarish to say the least.
Watch Miller's unfiltered interview below. His revelations about Hatfield and his stay with Ginebra start at the 14:30 mark.