On his way to an informal shooting session, an apologetic yet fiesty Andre Miller strolled through the halls of his old stomping grounds, the Pepsi Center, on late Saturday afternoon.

The veteran point guard is back in town with the Washington Wizards, the team he was traded to after an on-court blow-up at Nuggets coach Brian Shaw on Jan. 1 over not being played.

Shaw downplayed Miller’s return to the Pepsi Center. The two still have not talked since then nor have they even seen each other since the beginning of the year.

“We’re playing the Washington Wizards, we’re not playing Andre Miller,” Shaw said. “We both have moved on. He’s moved on. He’s in a good situation with the team he’s on. They’re going to be in the playoffs, so I’m happy for him that things worked out that he’s going to be able to contribute to a team that’s headed to the playoffs.”

Miller, meanwhile, explained his position and his relationship with his old coach.

Q: What’s it feel like being back?

A: It feels normal. I’ve been through this experience before being traded to Philly and coming back. I just look at it as coming back seeing some friends, some old teammates, and get the game over with.

Q: Have you talked to Brian Shaw since the incident?

A: No.

Q: Will you shed some light on what happened and the relationship between you and Shaw?

A: Just a miscommunication. Kind of stepped out of character for me, just what happened on the court. But things happen, I’m going to leave it at that. They’re going in a direction and trying to get some things done. And good luck to them.

Q: Could Shaw have handled it better?

A: We both stepped out of character, just a miscommunication. I think it was me just more stepping out of character on the court. I felt that I was somewhat not given a fair chance, especially when everybody else played that game, and I didn’t get an opportunity to play. Like I said, I stepped out of character, it was wrong. But it happened and just move on.

Q: Surprised at how long you sat?

A: Yeah, I sat out for a while. But I had some time to reflect on what happened and was pretty much told to keep my mouth closed. I just worked out and tried to keep myself ready for whatever happens.

Q: You said you felt you were portrayed as being the villain in this situation. Still feel that way?

A: Yeah, I was. It was pretty clear that the comments that was made by the organization was that I was complaining about minutes and disgruntled about minutes when that wasn’t the case. All I did was, we had a team meeting, and I spoke up for the team respectfully as a leader and I think that was kind of held against me. So, you know, whether they feel they did it their way, I did it my way. It didn’t work out, you just move on.

Q: If it wasn’t the minutes, what was the issue?

A: It wasn’t the minutes at all. The issue was just, actually I don’t know the issue. I didn’t get an opportunity to play. And, you know, I have to respect the coach’s decision, and I didn’t and I reacted the wrong way. It was wrong, especially being done in public. So I was held accountable for it, which, you know, that’s what happens. I have to pay the price for it. Move on, good luck to the team and the organization.

Q: You’re now in Washington. How is that going?

A: It’s been fine. The transition was not as hard as I thought it would be. I was prepared. Had time to pack all my bags from just sitting around (smiles). But I was ready to go. Once I got the call where I was going I was on the next thing out.

Q: Were you able to keep in good shape? Where did you work out?

A: I worked out at LifeTime Fitness in the morning and then at nighttime, I came up here (at the Pepsi Center). If it was a home game, then I would wait a couple hours afterwards. I probably took three or four days off where I was like ‘I’m going to chill out for a little bit.’ But for the most part I just kept coming and getting my work in.”

Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dempseypost