Because none of the teams employing scouts to evaluate him considered him more than a borderline draftable project. The mistake you're making is in assuming that I was making my own, personal evaluation of Mills' talent. I'm not...I've never even seen him play. I'm defining prospect status by what the consensus of the paid experts is. The fact that every team passed on him, some teams multiple times (including the Blazers), until the end of the second round says that NBA scouts don't consider him a good prospect ("good" relative to the population of drafted prospects...anyone who's drafted is good at some level). I know he's not a "high-caliber prospect" because he isn't one by (my) definition. Prospect status is determined, in my opinion, by the scouting community. A player can over-perform his prospect status (like a Michael Redd or Paul Millsap), but I would say neither of them were "high-caliber prospects"...they were lower-tier prospects who surprised. I don't know that Mills won't surprise. I would never suggest that I do. But he's clearly not viewed as a good prospect by the professionals, so I think it's reasonable to say that his prospect status is "low-caliber prospect."
Why not? I don't think he was signed instead of a clearly valuable player or prospect. There was no real opportunity cost to signing him except a roster spot. As I recall, he signed prior to Batum being lost for months, so a player like Udoka wasn't seen as necessary at the time.
Excited and looking forward to see what Mills can bring to the team further down the track. I am a little concerned about what this medical staff will do with him given their track record with injuries the past few seasons.
I feel like we got a steal with Mills. I think he will be a solid offensive threat like Tony Parker. I don't think it matters we drafted him so low. Ramon Sessions was drafted late in the 2nd and the Spurs are constantly finding gems in the 2nd round.
Bayless = Miller + attempts at aggressive defense. He only fits a tiny bit better than Miller, who doesn't fit this team at all. Once Bayless settles into a 5th guard role off the bench, Miller will be traded for a real PG.
