For the best part of two decades – give or take some generous rounding – C. J. Miles was a quality NBA player. Now, four years after his final game, the former Toronto Raptors guard has reappeared in a very different role with the same franchise – working as a team photographer and content contributor.
Miles’s NBA Career
Miles entered the NBA directly out of high school, selected 34th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, one of the final few to ever do so. At the time, he was a raw prospect, known more for his athleticism and shot making potential than any particular polish in his craft. His early seasons in Utah saw inconsistent playing time as a result, but by his fourth season, Miles had carved out a role as a bench scorer, capable of stretching the floor and providing instant offense.
By the time of his fifth season, Miles was averaging 9.9 points per game and serving as a three-and-D-centric player with some open court speed. As the league shifted more and more towards spacing and heavy volume perimeter shooting, Miles adapted, increasing both his volume and efficiency from beyond the arc – in fact, with only a couple of minor exceptions, his three-point rate (i.e. the percentage of his overall field goal attempts that came from behind the arc) increased in each one of his 16 seasons.
After seven seasons in Utah, Miles signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2012, then signed for the Indiana Pacers for four more in the summer of 2014. During the 2014-15 season in Indiana, he averaged 13.5 points per game, his career-high scoring mark, and after his third consecutive season of double-digit scoring in 2016-17, Miles declined his player option to leave the Pacers, whereupon he signed a three-year, $25 million contract with the then-competitive Raptors. In his first season in Toronto, he averaged 10.7 points per game and hit 36.1% of his threes, contributing to a deep rotation that emphasized spacing across multiple positions, and although he was later traded to the Memphis Grizzlies before the Raptors’ 2019 NBA Finals victory – as a part of the package for Marc Gasol, no less – his time in Toronto was a profitable one for both parties.
Brief stints with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics were to follow, yet the Raptors represented the twilight of Miles’s long and successful NBA career. And seemingly, he must have left on good terms, for he is now back at courtside.
From The Court To The Courtside
Miles’s passion for photography ran concurrent with his playing career, and he feels as though the latter helped inform it. In his own words for SLAM Magazine, as a photographer, Miles’s playing instincts translate into anticipating where action will develop and when key moments are about to happen – instead of reacting to plays with the lens, he can read them before they unfold.
Shooting hoops with a Fuji camera instead of a Wilson ball gave me a completely different perspective on the game I’ve lived my whole life. I enjoy being on the sideline now, not as a player but as a fan, soaking in the energy, feeling the anticipation of a play. But I also bring a different kind of vision—I know the action before it unfolds. I know the cuts, the spacing, the rotations.
In the social media era, teams now invest heavily in behind the scenes content. Having a former player behind the camera offers a different perspective. Miles understands player routines, bench reactions and the rhythm of a game in a way that few photographers can replicate. Players usually try and become broadcasters, coaches, or both after their playing days are done. Miles, though, has gone the Randy Johnson route.
Over the course of his NBA career, Miles appeared in more than 849 regular season games over 16 years and scored over 8,000 points, finishing with a career average of 9.6 points per game. He played with different types of rosters at both the top and bottom of the league, adjusted to evolving offensive systems and maintained a role as a dependable perimeter threat. Miles was never a primary option, but he became a reliable secondary scorer who could swing games with shooting bursts, who could space the floor, move without the ball and convert catch-and-shoot opportunities. He is still shooting. Just not in the same way.
Former Raptors Guard Becomes Team Photographer