Patrick Mills

[Paul1355]

Mills opts for free agency
Tagged: free
POSTED Jun 28, 2:31 AM ET
Facebook Twitter
P. Mills | San Antonio

To no surprise, the San Antonio Express-News reports the deadline date for Patrick Mills to exercise his 2012-13 player option has passed. He will enter the market on July 1 as a restricted free agent, if the San Antonio Spurs tender him a qualifying offer by Saturday -- June 30.

Mills was set to make the minimum next season -- $885,120 --- and he will earn an additional $200,000 if he receives and signs the qualifying offer. Mills, as a Non Bird free agent, may sign sign a contract above the qualifying amount, but it won't be for much more.

Mills will provide depth at point guard next season behind Tony Parker and Gary Neal, if he is re-signed.

-- Nick Borges


Averaged 10 ppg in 16 min...shot 48% fg and 42% from 3pointland.....should we get him?

[New New York]

Very good Backup PG who would come cheap.....hand and glove fit for us!!!

[NYk_Reloaded718]

Very good Backup PG who would come cheap.....hand and glove fit for us!!!

^ What he said

[finestrg]

Very good Backup PG who would come cheap.....hand and glove fit for us!!!

No question about it. I love this guy's talent -- with regular playing time, he'll produce at a high level. Talked about him in the past and again recently:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Mills would be my 3rd option in free agency behind Nash and Lamar Odom. Outside of those 3 -- I'm really not overly impressed with the other MLE-type players out there...There are other guys I like a lot but I don't think they'd come for mid-level money: Dragic, Ilyasova, Nick Young, OJ Mayo, Ray Allen, etc. I'd pretty much narrow down my FA targets to those 3 -- Nash, Odom and Mills... And if I couldn't get those guys, no sweat --- there are TONS of good cheap alternatives out there we could pick up for minimum money that would likewise bolster and improve this roster. Said it before -- just because certain guys went undrafted and/or played in the D-League DOES NOT mean they could never cut it in the NBA...That's pure fiction. Jeremy Lin prove it.

I wouldn't play around with Nash too long here. I'd come strong with the full mid-level right away. First phone call we make. And I'd respectfully ask for an answer by the end of the day. No secrets here - Steve knows our deal -- our personel and our cap situation. Either he's gonna want in or not. If not, no hard feelings but don't string the us along here for leverage. Leave that to the Grant Hills of the world...I refuse to get played here by any player.

If we can't get Nash, onto Lamar Odom. I agree with a lot of you guys, he could help us backing up Amar'e and Melo. Would prob. be my second phone call. Same deal as Nash though -- no fooling around, I'd need an answer. Either he wants in or forget it, train is leaving the station...If we swing & miss on those two, I go hard after Mills, the most realistic target of the 3 (part of me would make Mills my first phone call to be honest). I'd come strong with a solid offer: first I'd offer him regular playing time (which, as Paul pointed out above, he's not getting in SA behind Parker, Neal and maybe even Cory Joseph -- the man was a 3rd/4th string PG once before in Portland -- I doubt he wants to go through that again). I'd guarantee around 20 mins a night as the primary backup PG behind Lin AND a contract offer in the neighborhood of 2 yrs/$4M increasing to 3 yr/$9M if that's what it took.

5-Step PG Gameplan:

(1) Re-sign Lin. A given.

(2) Contract offer for Nash - full mid-level.

(3) Contract offer for Mills - regular PT & 1/2 the mid-level.

(4) Draft Scott Machado if the following 2-guards are all off the board: Orlando Johnson, Kim English, Kevin Murphy, Hollis Thompson, Darius Johnson-Odom (and it'd be close with DJO -- if it came down to him or Machado, I might go with the pure PG here). Just talking draft for a sec -- I really want backcourt help more than anything but if all of the above are off the board, I might switch gears & go with one of these two PFs: Mitchell Watt, then Mike Scott... Nbadraft.net has us taking 7' LSU C Justin Hamilton at 48. Nice backup C that looks like he can shoot a little. Reminds me of Michael Doleac. Nothing special..Tell you what, I wouldn't burn the pick on this guy if I knew 7' Marcus Cousin was out there and I could get him cheap. He's 5-10x the player this kid Hamilton is. You can also make a case that Robert Sacre is the more advanced C prospect at the end of this draft..

(5) If all else fails, sign one or 2 of the following PGs for league minimum money: Ben Hansbrough, Curtis Jerrells, Demetri McCamey, Matt Janning, Sherron Collins, Willie Warren, Curtis Stinson..I might even be down for giving Mardy Collins another look -- dude's played here before, has always had nice intangibles -- came back from injury and played very well in the D-League playoffs. Even if we somehow landed Nash or Mills, I'd invite one or 2 of these guys to summer league for a close look. These guys are all NBA players in my book.

For the record, not interested in blowing a lot of money on this Euro. PG Pablo Prigioni who looks well past his prime. If we can get him cheap, fine. Take a shot..If not, pass..I'm aware that they think they need a vet presence at the point. I don't think they do -- Lin and any of the above younger up-and-comers would suit me just fine...Def. not interested in overpaying for any vet PG not named Steve Nash, esp. a Euro. nobody knows a thing about.

[tiger0330]

Mills is a little small for me. Probably the reason Pop doesn't give him much burn, bigger PGs will probably abuse him.

finestrg any thoughts on that Euro Prigioni the Knicks worked out. He's 6'4", nice size and a vet.

[finestrg]

Mills is a little small for me. Probably the reason Pop doesn't give him much burn, bigger PGs will probably abuse him.

finestrg any thoughts on that Euro Prigioni the Knicks worked out. He's 6'4", nice size and a vet.

Who knows man...Never followed him, never saw him live...Only the same clips I'm sure you've seen. Looks like a fancy passer. Got that down pat..I know we apparently gave him a serious look a few years ago but I dunno man -- several yrs. older now, never a great shooter..Like I said, if I could get him cheap, why not (which I can't picture btw -- these guys want lucrative offers to even consider coming stateside and leaving behind everything they know, a place they're comfortable playing, etc. In that sense I don't blame them, they gotta do what's right for them. For us however, at the type of money we're talking about, it's a real gamble...Mirza Teletovic, same deal).

Consider this: foreign player that doesn't know the NBA from Adam and then on top of that, he doesn't know the Knicks players - where Melo wants the ball, where Amar'e wants it, how to use the lob with Chandler, etc.. Looks like he's got some smarts and savvy and might be able to pick it up quick but then there's the age factor -- how much gas does he have left in the tank, coming over and playing in the much more intense NBA mind you? Sergio Rodriguez was a slick passer who's a hell of a lot younger and arguably has better skills and he didn't pan out. Is this dude more Jose Calderon or Sergio Rodriguez? That's the million dollar question. Or make that the 3 million dollar question -- can we afford to cough up somewhere around half the mid-level and possibly multiply years on this guy and then find out we were wrong about him?

Imagine, God forbid, Lin goes down for a stretch. Then we gotta turn it over to this guy -- go get 'em buddy, 40 mins a night, save our bacon...I'm a little leery with that. Think I'd rather have one of these younger domestic unproven guys like a Ben Hansbrough. We could definitely get Ben cheaper, he's younger, much better shooter, might stand up better over time, etc. To me that's a better buy. So is Patty Mills who we might be able to get for the same money as PP (maybe less). At least we know for sure Patty can play in the NBA and thrive if given the PT. We've seen it.

[finestrg]

How's this for instant backcourt help for several seasons moving ahead at good money -- Patty Mills and Chris Douglas-Roberts (so long JR Smith).

Divide up the MLE on both of these guys --- each guy gets a 3 yr/$7.5M deal. We'd upgrade backup point and SG in a big way. Two guys who have thrived in the NBA when they've actually gotten PT -- and there's potential here for much more. I think this would be real good use of the MLE. Why blow it on one guy when we could use it smartly on two solid players, both with NBA experience.