Finally… in his tenth NBA season Patty Mills has been given the keys to the Spurs offence.
With San Antonio legend Tony Parker leaving for New Orleans, up and coming Dejounte Murray sidelined for the entire 2018-19 season due to a torn ACL in his right knee, this is now Patty’s team to run.
Mills, the lone Spur remaining from the team’s 2014 championship will look to have a career year, improving on the 10 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists he averaged across all 82 games of last season.
Last season Mills averaged a career high 25 minutes per game due to injuries to the Spurs backcourt, this season he will be relied on even more by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, with Mills already playing an extra three minutes per game across the Spurs first three games of the season.
After years of being Tony Parker’s understudy and injuries last season resulting in Mills starting 36 times (he had only started 18 times in his entire career prior to 2017-18) last season, he has undergone a slow and steady transition into being the Spurs starting point guard.
Last season Mills’ averaged equalled a career high 10 points per game, this production was achieve through poorer shooting than what he has delivered in the past however, his field goal percentage of 41.1% was well down on the 48.5% he put up during the 2011-12 season. Mills 37.2% from deep, average by league standards, was the third worst of his career also.
With the retirement of Manu Ginobili, the loss of Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker via trade and free agency, the Spurs golden era of basketball which resulted in five championships in fifteen years, is officially over. Although they still possess the veteran presence of Mills, Pau Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marco Belinelli, master coach Gregg Popovich will be trying to usher in the new generation with the likes of Derrick White, Jakob Poltl, Lonnie Walker and Dejounte Murray all developing.
Many of Mills best games have come at times he is filling the gaps left from Popovich resting players, but this season he won’t have that luxury, San Antonio will need Patty to put points on the board every night. Outside of Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay, Mills will be one of the Spurs’ go to guys on the offensive end.
Mills debut in the Boomers green and gold came eleven years ago and now alongside Joe Ingles is a respected leader for our international team both on and off the court. Mills more often than not shifts to shooting guard in the current Boomers rotation but with NBA stars Dante Exum and Ben Simmons, who both have the ability to play guard being added to the team, how Patty will slot in is still to be confirmed.
The Spurs have rebuilt their roster and sit in a position rarely seen before in San Antonio… commonly referred to as “re-building”. They still possess the talent and experience to make the playoffs for an extraordinary 22nd straight season but they’ll need a career year from Mills to make it happen.
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
