The newest member of the Brooklyn Nets had quite a debut in the season opener, and the media thinks that’s only the beginning.
On a night when not much went right for the team, Patty Mills tied an NBA record and set a franchise record in a little over 29 minutes.
Setting a Nets record for threes made by a bench player while also tying the league record for most with a new team (7), he made a few prominent NBA media members look pretty smart in Game 1 of the campaign.
In his award picks, ESPN NBA Front Office Insider Bobby Marks selected Patty Mills as his favorite to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.
Nothing wrong about thinking out of the box:
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 19, 2021
MVP- Jimmy Butler
Rookie of the Year- Jalen Green
Defensive Player of the Year- Draymond Green
Sixth Man of the Year- Patty Mills
Most Improved Player- Lonzo Ball
Coach of the Year- Erik Spoelstra
Earlier this week, Marks shared a prediction about Kyrie Irving, who he believes will never suit up in a Brooklyn Nets uniform again.
While that remains to be seen, let’s hope his more positive prediction related to the Nets comes true. The 21-point debut from Mills was definitely a strong start.
Watch all 7 of @Patty_Mills' threes from last night 📼 pic.twitter.com/dSOwOLuoKG
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) October 20, 2021
Also predicting a Sixth Man of the Year award for Mills was former New York Times and ESPN writer Marc Stein, who shared his list to his substack. The group of impressed parties doesn’t end there. In ESPN’s staff picks for this season’s awards, the following all picked Mills as their Sixth Man of the Year:
Nick DePaula
Andrew Lopez
Dave McMenamin
Mills established himself as a reliable bench player through 10 seasons in San Antonio, but sharing the court with the likes of Kevin Durant and James Harden should free up more wide-open shots than he perhaps has ever gotten before.
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Going into the 2021-22 season, the highest Patty has ever finished in Sixth Man voting was when he tied for eighth in 2017. Something tells me that’s about to change.
All eyes on the Brooklyn Nets, right?