"Andre Miller was never much of a reader as a kid. "Read my schoolbooks," says the Trail Blazers' point guard, "and that was about it."

Later, Miller says, he got into magazines and newspapers and the occasional book for recreational purposes. And somewhere along the line, he got the message that reading is knowledge, and knowledge can help a person get ahead in life.

"Education is No. 1 before anything," Miller says. "That's what I teach my son."

Miller's son, Duane, is 10, so he would have fit right into the scene last Friday at Gilbert Park Elementary in the David Douglas district.

"Read to Achieve," a national "NBA Cares" initiative promoting reaching by schoolchildren, visited Gilbert Park in the form of Miller and teammate Jeff Pendergraph.

Bill Evans, the Blazers' director of corporate communications, implored the 600 kids at the assembly to be as loud as 20,000 fans in the Rose Garden, and darned if they weren't.

Blaze, the Blazer mascot, warmed up the room with some antics that delighted the kids. Then Miller and Pendergraph were greeted with a thunderous ovation."