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Already a popular addition to the Portland community – approaching cult hero status, if you will – Mills has also been a welcome addition to the Blazer locker room. He is the first guy up slapping butts during timeouts, rooting his teammates on. And there seems to be nothing phony about it.
“He’s a character guy,” veteran point guard Andre Miller says of his understudy. “He brings a lot of energy on the court, and he keeps the bench involved when he’s not in the game. Sometimes you have to tell guys to do that, but it’s just his personality. He’s doing it on and off the court. He has brought some character to this team.”
Mills, 22, played two seasons at Saint Mary’s and with the Australian national and Olympic teams, but he feels the team spirit even more in Portland.
“For whatever reason, the guys on the team just came together like you wouldn’t believe,” he says. “Even the veterans like Dre and (Marcus) Camby, hanging out with us – I haven’t felt like this with a team before. It’s a great thing to be a part of.
“There are a million examples of what we’re doing through the season. Everyone does well in bringing the team together, whether it’s making jokes or paying for dinner for everyone or organizing a bowling night. Everyone enjoys each other’s company. When we had that tough stretch at the beginning of the season and lost a few on the road, everyone had kind of ruled us out, We knew as long as we had that camaraderie, it was going to help us down the end of the track. And it has.”
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=129970868413944900
A nice article from the Tribune that is worth reading.


