With all the press our non-US players are getting this Summer, we seem to be forgetting poor old Patty Mills. Is there any recent info on him? What exactly was his injury? Has he had surgery? Is he expected back for training camp? Is he even likely to be considered for training camp? Is there any possibility he'll get a roster spot or is the expectation that, if he plays this year, it'll be abroad (and if so would it be Europe or Australia)? Please just answer the questions. If you feel the need to say something sneering about him then say it to yourself please. Yes, this means a certain Average Gent.
Unless Blake, Bayless or Miller go down with serious injuries I just don't see Mills making the roster. He'll should go to Europe. That's the best place for him to improve.
Does anyone here think that signing him to a 3yr minimum deal and having him play 2 years in the D-League as our 14th man is worth it?
Perhaps I am mistaken, but my impression was that Mills' knee injury was pretty bad, and that there was a good chance he would be unable to play in 09-10. I was actually pretty happy about that pick. I figured there was about a 10% chance he would be a huge sleeper. (pretty good, for that late in the draft) OTOH, a serious knee injury for a guy whose game is built on being the fastest player on the court? Not good.
Getting playing time, I can see. Making the roster - why not? Do we even have 12 players under contract right now? And weren't we complaining that we didn't have an Aaron Brooks type player in the playoffs? Mills is that player! I don't know that you can know that. Didn't do much for Pooh Jeter...
andre blake bayless roy rudy batum webster aldridge outlaw cunningham oden pryzbilla plus a probable pendergraph
From my understanding, forever unless he sits out of all organized basketball for a full calendar yea (in which case he would re-enter the draft). I know that's the case with the T'wolves and Rubio, but it could be different since Mills is a 2nd rounder. If I am wrong, I trust one of the resident CBA gurus can/will correct me.
I didn't know if retaining draft rights for second rounders was similar to first rounders err what. I thought it was a shorter period of time.
That's what I'm kind of fuzzy on as well. I'm currently searching for some type of clarification though. Edit: Found the confirmation I was looking for. The rights never expire. http://www.realgm.com/src_unsignedpicks.php
I believe we still had the rights to Federico Kammerichs until this summer, but they may have been cleared out (along with Chris Dudley's!) to sign Miller. He's on the Argentine National team... And he's proof that once we did have the guts to "draft the 'stache" [video=youtube;ZKOdRrBirxE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKOdRrBirxE[/video]
I feel sorry for Mills. I was pumped to get him, because his game reminded me of a smaller Tony Parker's. However, his game was predicated on speed. Breaking a foot generally robs you of a bit of speed, which means his size now becomes a bigger issue. I remember Khryapa was said to have lost more than a step after he broke his foot, and for him that made the difference between being a valuable bench player and playing in Moscow. It's clearly too early to come to a conclusion about him, but my guess is Mills is now spending his career outside of the US.
Isn't this the second time he's broken a foot? I don't know if it's the same foot... [edit: no - it was a hand before.]
From what I recall Mills' injury is similar to Martell's, so who knows what his timeline for being ready to play will be. In any case I think he's better off taking a two year contract somewhere in Europe and actually getting to play between now and whenever he might be called upon to suit up for the Blazers.