2) Patty Mills
Best Year in Portland: 5.5 ppg, 1.7 apg, 0.8 rpg
Best Year Away: 10.2 ppg, 1.8 apg, 2.1rpg
If you watched the 2014 NBA finals, then you know that there was no way San Antonio wins without Patty Mills. He was virtually a Blazer Dancer for two years backing up Andre Miller and getting nothing but garbage time in Portland, even sent to the D-League. Then, he gets a chance to work in Gregg Poppavich’s system and he soon becomes the fan favorite of the finals with his unlimited range and squirrel-like agility. He’s obviously learned a lot from Tony Parker, which has made him a matchup nightmare, embarrassing other team’s 2nd string point guards.
Oh, so that’s how you feel? See ya later mate!
It’s obvious that after most of the year in the D-League, Mills wanted to go somewhere else than Portland. Leave it to the Spurs to snatch up a role player nobody really wanted and turn him into a player that could’ve landed a 10-15 million dollar a year deal with the Knicks just a few years ago. Blazers simply had no idea who they had, as you could attribute this misstep to the organization’s (until recently) lack of attention to bench players.
What Could’ve Been
If Mills broke out on the same timeline he did, I don’t know if the Blazers draft Damian Lillard. I’ll be the optimist and say with the talent in that draft, we would’ve drafted Andre Drummond and Harrison Barnes. Good, but not Dame Dolla good.
Next: The Other O'Neal