This was posted in another thread about Pendy, but I thought it should have it's own thread. http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/10/25/1773811/blazers-retain-point-guard-patty-mills Welcome back Mills, i hope you never have to play real minutes.
I like it. He's really the only PG we have with legit speed and NBA three point range. If we wind up getting snakebit in traps against aggressive full court pressure when Miller sits, you have an option there with Mills. We'd pay the price on the defensive end, but oh well. It beats getting stuck trying to get the ball over the half court line. Also handy in end-of-quarter situations where we need to throw a guy out there to hit a three with a few seconds on the clock.
This is kind of a "meh" thing for me. I think Patty has some skills, but I don't see him making much of an impact on this team. I like Armon Johnson more.
Indifferent. I don't think Patty will play more than 50 minutes combined this season, but good for him.
Patty is quicker, a better shooter, better play maker. Johnson is a better defender. Nate wants defense. So, Johnson is ahead of Mills on the depth chart.
I think Patty is here for chemistry and Glue! He's the new JP, get your freak on Bala (Aussie word for brotha)
I agree he'll (hopefully) get incredibly few minutes. But they could be "panic button" minutes where his unique skills (speed, shooting) could be important. Anyway it's nice to have a guy pushing Johnson in practice, and if we need a practice dummy to defend against speedsters like Chris Paul, Mills sort of works.
What makes you think that? How many minutes did Mills even get total in preseason? I wanna say like 5? Armon was always the first rookie off the bench and had some games where he logged big minutes.
Patty did not look like a better play maker in summer league. He is more like JB than a real PG - he is a score-first guard, he sure is fast and he can create some - but he really does not run the offense anywhere as well as Armon, imho. BE's reports after summer league seem to match my impressions: "Armon Johnson was clearly the standout player of the week for the Blazers. His stock rose enormously. He played well on both ends, guarded a variety of players, kept his head in the game, and filled the boxscore on good nights and bad. His physical qualities were exciting. His production looked both solid and transferable. You never decide anything based on one week in July but Johnson has inspired hope, if not confidence, among observers and team officials both. As much as folks don't want to admit it sometimes, the Blazers point guard situation is still in flux. Johnson's performance was enough to pencil him in as a possible partial answer to that conundrum. "Possible" and "partial" aren't exactly ringing endorsements but given the lack of solid leads so far they look pretty good." "Patty Mills had a nice enough week. His play will merit a second glance from the Blazers and other teams. But he shaded too heavily towards his own offense for a second-year player auditioning for point guard and that offense suffered when his shot wasn't on. His defense wasn't to Johnson's level either. If the Blazers keep four point guards then Mills should be on that list but I'm not sure he showed enough to make them keep a fourth guy at the position." http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/7/19/1576307/summer-league-2010-review
Are you nuts. Rudy would never spend time with a guy that does not use the right kind of shampoo (or any kind, in Oberto's case).
First, like I said- I would not be surprised. Doesn't mean I expect it. Second, let's say, for the sake of discussion, that Nate sees AJ as a long term PG for the team. He's marginally NBA ready, so why not let him go to the D-league, play extended minutes and become more ready for our playoff run late in the season? I know, it's a bit far fetched, but there is some merit to the idea.
It looked to me like Mills was a willing passer, to a fault also - very erratic at times - where Armon was much more in command and never tried to pass when it did not make sense.
You're high. Patty ran some nice breaks once in a while, but had tons of ball security and turnover issues in the half-court. Armon wasn't nearly as "flashy" but he was far more on target and effective distributing the ball off of dribble penetration.
