Should Marks and Mills Reunite with Brooklyn Nets?
The Brooklyn Nets need more talent. They figure to add young pieces with their two selections in the upcoming NBA Draft. Free agency is where they will find their top contributors for next season, however.
About a month ago, San Antonio Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich commented to a reporter about the impending free agency of his backup point guard, Patty Mills.
“He’s going to have 94 teams after him,” predicted Popovich. “He’s just a special competitor.”
Other than those in the San Antonio zip codes, nobody knows about the value Mills brings to an NBA team more than Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks. During his final year as a player, Marks was a teammate of Mills with the 2010-11 Portland Trail Blazers. Then, from 2013-16 as a member of the Spurs coaching staff, Marks witnessed Mills blossom into arguably the top back-up point guard in the entire league. With those kinds of connections, it seems plausible Marks will give the native Australian a call come July 1, the first day of NBA free agency. But are the Nets and Mills a good fit?
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Mills can knock down the open three-point shot. He connected on 41 percent from beyond the arc this season. Although scoring is his main attribute, Mills can also facilitate for teammates with his drives to the basket. The Aussie is coming off his best season passing as well. He averaged a career high three assists per game, including twice dishing a personal best 10 assists in games this season. Defensively, Jeremy Lin and Mills on the floor together would be a liability. Their offensive potential as a pair, however, would make for an intriguing combination.
Mills was second on the Spurs this season in charges drawn with nine and recovered loose balls with 54. Translation? Mills is a player who unquestionably gives max effort. He is also, by all reports, a model teammate, who is well liked in the Spurs locker room. In short, Mills is a player who could fit in well with almost every NBA squad, the Nets included.
Still, a downside exists to signing Mills.
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Mills, who will turn 29 by the start of next season, is going to have a lot of suitors come NBA free agency. The Philadelphia 76ers have both a plethora of salary cap space and a Mills connection. Brett Brown, the Sixers head coach, is also a former Spurs assistant and Mills played for Brown as a member of the Australian National Team. It probably isn’t wise for the Nets to get into a bidding war with a player whose price tag this summer could swell to the $12-15 million dollars per season range.
Then there is the question of usage. Mills has never averaged more than 22 minutes per game. Can the six-foot guard handle an increased workload? Mills might be a better fit for a team that brings him in as fourth or fifth option as opposed to a team who expects him to be a center piece of a rebuilding project.
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Mills in the rotation means less minutes for promising youngsters Isaiah Whitehead and Spencer Dinwiddie. He is a clear upgrade over both players, but is that worth risking the development of the Nets young guards? Does having Mills in next year’s rotation make the Nets a playoff team? It’s doubtful.
Signing Mills would be like hitting a line-drive double in baseball. It helps, but with the cap room the Nets possess, Marks should be swinging for the fences, attempting to hit home runs. A better move would be prying Otto Porter away from the Washington Wizards and plugging him at small forward for the next eight seasons.