He's OFFICIALLY back! PATTY MILLS RECALLED FROM IDAHO STAMPEDE PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Trail Blazers recalled guard Patty Mills from the NBA Development League’s Idaho Stampede, it was announced today by General Manager Kevin Pritchard. In two games since being assigned to the Stampede on Dec. 29, Mills posted averages of 30.0 points (21-37 FG, 11-15 3-PT) and 7.5 assists in 34.0 minutes off the bench. In his first professional game, Mills led all players with 38 points and 12 assists on Jan. 1. The 6-0 guard’s put-back with 1.2 seconds remaining gave the Stampede a one-point win on Jan. 3. Mills, selected by the Trail Blazers with the 55th overall pick in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft, will join the Trail Blazers for Monday’s game at the L.A. Clippers.
In his last game his average per game tumbled by 7 points per game. That's atrocious. They only recalled him before his avg per game tumbled further and he was exposed for the bust that he is. He is no Manu, I tell you. Also, our GM can't trade and our Coach can't coach, the fans are bandwagon fans and it will be raining outside. Just keeping it real.
Meh. What happened with Damon was pretty simple. In Toronto, he was one of the fastest players in the league. He came to Portland, lost half a step, and became a liability. Before the injury, and its' implications for his speed, I thought Mills had a chance (albeit a slim one) to be an NBA player. Now....no way.
wasn't Mills' injury a broken bone that's now healed? Not sure how that would impact his speed to the point that he went from beating up on RedeemTeamers to "No Way" of being an NBA player.
Simple prediction: the pain in the foot will cause him to change the way he runs/moves. In favoring that foot, he will injury a joint.
How did he lose a half step? He was 24 years old. He started the year with Toronto in '97-98 and was averaging 19/8 and shooting .425% after 22 games. Then he was traded to Portland and never came close to those numbers again. What injury are you talking about?
I don't recall the details, but the year after he was traded to Portland, he missed 30+ games to injury.
He rolled an ankle the year he was traded and was out 13 days...hardly seems the kind of thing you'd blame for him losing a step. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/damon_stoudamire/bio.html
Constraint #1, caused by McMillan: McMillan's system goes for 2nd chance shots off the rebound of jump shots. Usually reaching the end of the 24 seconds, an inside player passes in desperation to the open man, the PG. In McMillan's system, the PG must be a good shooter, a good defender, and a good ballhandler who gets no turnovers. Constraint #2, caused by Roy: Roy needs to handle the ball. He is a point-SG, whatever that is. He doesn't need a PG who gets a lot of assists, since then, the PG will desire to handle the ball a lot. New development, caused by Mills: Mills appears to be a great shooter, especially from the 3. His college reputation is that he is much more of a shooter than a playmaker, but at his 5-11 height, he must play PG despite his mediocre assist average. In his post above, Duckhook says that Mills played good defense in the D-League. Summary: This is the PG we've been waiting for !!!!
I don't want to talk him up (because I know how you guys are prone to overreaction both in the positive, and the negative) but I told you before the draft that Patty would be a good PG next to B-Roy. Patty is a one man fast break, so let him push it, and if nothing's on he can hand the ball to Roy, and play SG to Roy's PG. Run him off screens, leave him in the corner for the kick, etc. I reckon his game style is well suited to Roy, the only question is if he is (or will be) up to the level we require. I guess we'll begin to find out soon.
I would be great if Mills played and hit 3s left and right. Be a better Blake at hitting the 3 and be a even quicker Bayless on breaking down the defense. Ok, I'm dreaming.
Tonight may be the only chance Mills gets to prove himself before Blake is back. We don't need 4 PGs.
I know it's Bleacher Report, but still........ http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-d-league-by-storm-makes-case-for-nba-call-up
we will need scoring from him instead of bayless and his endless "clanks" of the rim. if mills plays well.. trade bayless before its too late.
Damon played in 70 out of 82 Rookie Season 81 out of 82 2nd season 71 out of 82 3rd season (49 games with Toronto, 22 with Portland) 50 out of 50 4th season (lockout year) He never missed 30+ games from an injury until after he left Portland for Memphis. So, he rolled his ankle in Toronto (or when he 1st came to Portland) and lost half a step for the rest of his career? That is why he never played at the same level as a Blazer that he did in Toronto? Hmmm. I always thought that he couldn't take the pressure of getting traded back to his hometown to be "the guy" on winning team. Then, when it was clear he wasn't going to be "the guy", he lost his confidence. I also always assumed that in Toronto (21-61 Damon's rookie year and 30-52 his 2nd year) just let Damon go helter skelter out there and didn't try to turn him into a disciplined PG.
Damon's problem here was he was asked to play a different way then he was truly capable of. If Portland had made Damon their offensive center piece he would have kept going the way he did in Toronto. However, Portland as a team wouldn't have had as much success as they did forcing Damon to play within a team system. Had Damon ever truly bought in to the whole idea of making other guys better he would have been damn good. But he never did. As a result he was a disappointment. Yet another example of a team's system not matching a players skill set. Happens all the time (See Miller, Andre).
I agree. At least Miller isn't making $84 million over 7 years. I'd say that Miller still has a better chance of adjusting than Damon ever did.
