London might be Mills’ launching pad














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By Jeff McDonald

The high-scoring point guard enjoyed a breakthrough summer running his national team, using it as a springboard toward the best year of his NBA life.

That, in a nutshell, described Tony Parker last season.

The Spurs are hoping it might also describe Patty Mills this season.

The engine behind Australia’s surprising run to the Olympic quarterfinals in August, Mills is hoping the show-running skills he displayed in London will carry over to his first full campaign with the Spurs.

“The leadership I took upon myself, and was given from (Aussie coach) Brett Brown, is something I’ve been working on over the years,” Mills said. “It’s natural for a point guard to have those characteristics.”

Mills’ bid to become Parker’s primary backup hit a snag when a sprained right ankle landed him on the shelf for nearly two weeks.

He returned Sunday in Orlando after missing four exhibition games and scored six points on 3-of-9 shooting and missed all four of his 3-point tries.

Once Mills regains his footing, and recaptures the scoring panache he showed at the end of last season and later in the ? Olympics, he could emerge as a serious threat for playing time.

Mills, a 6-foot guard, emerged as something of a Spurs cult hero upon his March arrival as a free agent, pouring in 61 points in the team’s final two regular-season games. His performance for the Australian national team at the London Olympics, where he led all scorers in the tournament at 21.1 points per game, did little to dampen expectations.

Mills likely will begin the season as the Spurs’ third point guard behind Parker and Gary Neal. That won’t immediately lead to much playing time, but Mills could see an expanded role as the schedule moves along.

“Patty’s always been a fiery kind of player,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the former Portland guard. “He plays on juice and adrenaline. I expect him to have a really good year for us.”

It’s easy to look at Mills’ prodigious bursts of point-production and pigeonhole him as simply a scoring guard.

Including games of 27 and 34 points against Phoenix and Golden State at the end of the season, Mills averaged 10.3 points and shot 42.9 percent from 3-point range in 16 appearances with the Spurs last season.

Per 36 minutes, he averaged a healthy 22.8 points.

With a career still looking for traction entering his fourth NBA season, Mills — who possesses elite with-the-ball speed — hopes to showcase himself as more than just a scoring fiend.

London, he believes, was an important stepping stone in that pursuit.

“Attacking has always got to be your mind frame,” Mills said. “But understanding the game — when to hit the open guy, when to set up and run a play — that’s what I learned most with the national team.”

In many ways, they were the same lessons Parker honed the offseason before in leading his French team to an Olympic invitation.

Parker’s summer abroad paved the way for an All-NBA campaign in 2011-12. He can envision a similar experience for Mills in the season to come.

“He played great for Australia in the summer, and he can be great for us,” Parker said. “He’s a great shooter. You can’t leave him open.”

In order to be the same lethal weapon for the Spurs that he was for Australia, Mills first must get on the floor.

That could be easier said than done.

Heading into the season, Mills seems to be behind Neal, whose experience Popovich values, in the pecking order for time behind Parker.

All Mills can do is keep working, and hope eventually the lessons of London begin to pay dividends.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Spurs notebook: Popovich keeps playbook abridged

Faced with the prospect of little practice time during last season’s NBA lockout-condensed schedule, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich approached the installation of his offensive and defensive playbooks with one acronym in mind.

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Though blessed with ample time to tinker this preseason — the Spurs are in the midst of a stretch of five consecutive days without a game — Popovich’s theme for this year’s camp might well be KISS II.

“No, it’s not even a goal,” Popovich said Wednesday, when asked if he’s had time to open up the playbook in practice. “We’re trying to be real basic and simple all the way through camp and make sure whatever we’re doing is done well.”

Offensively, at least, it is a question of not fixing what wasn’t broken.

The Spurs were a well-oiled juggernaut in 2011-12, ranking first in the NBA in offensive efficiency and second in points per game.

Defensively, the Spurs were “a middle-of-the-road team,” according to Popovich and the numbers, and their personnel hasn’t changed much since June.

Instead of using new gimmicks to improve on that end of the floor this season, Popovich prefers his team be more disciplined with the same philosophies that were in place last season.

For players such as center Boris Diaw, forward Stephen Jackson and guard Patty Mills — who all arrived after the trade deadline last season — the decision to keep the playbook uncomplicated had led to an increased comfort level.

For now.

“So far, we’re sticking with simple, what we were doing last year,” Diaw said. “But I’m sure as the days go by, we’re going to put more things in.”

Pasteurized, posterized: Power forward Tim Duncan returned to the practice court after missing Monday’s workout with an undisclosed illness.

Reserve guard Gary Neal was not as lucky, calling in sick for the team’s two-hour practice session.

Asked if perhaps there was a bug going around the locker room, Popovich reminded that he is only a basketball coach.

“What am I, Louis Pasteur?” he said.

Mills, who is recovering from a right ankle sprain, was limited to non-contact work.

But he’s no De Niro: Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili worked overtime, filming another installment of their celebrated H-E-B commercials after practice.

Diaw was quick with the quip when asked to critique the acting chops of Parker, his friend and fellow Frenchman.

“Best French actor since — who do you guys know? — since Gérard Depardieu,” Diaw said. “And the guy who got the Oscar for ‘The Artist.’ Dujardin. Jean Dujardin.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Spurs’ Mills happily back to work

By Mike Monroe

Back on the Spurs’ practice court Monday after missing a week with a sprained right ankle, backup point guard Patrick Mills worked on catching up with his teammates.

“You never want to be out too long with injuries,” said Mills, the Australian who will vie this season with Gary Neal, Cory Joseph and Nando De Colo for playing time behind Tony Parker.

“Mine was a little ankle sprain that recovered really well. I’ve been rehabbing the last week. I got a little itchy watching the last three games.

“You never want to be off the court, but I felt the stuff I did off the court — watching film, talking to the coaches, talking to the players — I still felt I was in the mix. All the new stuff that got put in, I made sure I understood all that.”

Watching three preseason games from a vantage point behind the Spurs’ bench gave Mills a good perspective on newcomer De Colo and much-improved second-year player Joseph.

“What Nando’s brought to our team is exactly what he’s good at and what he’s been great at playing internationally,” Mills said. “He’s got great vision. He sets up the team really well. His passing is unbelievable, which he’s shown the past few games. And he can shoot, as well.

“Cory’s come a long way from last year. He had a big summer. I think of all the stuff he did individually in the weight room and individually with the coaches. He got after it a lot, and you can see the stuff he put in (out on) the court. He’s becoming a real point guard.”

With Neal, the team’s top scorer (13.5 points per game) in the preseason, also off to a great start, Mills joked that he might have to shut up about how good De Colo and Joseph look.

“I don’t want to backtrack on all those compliments,” he said. “But the great thing about this environment is we’ve got a number of point guards that are really good, really solid. If nothing else, it’s going to make every one of us even better, the more we push ourselves.”

Early practice, early departure: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich changed his training camp practice schedule Monday to accommodate Matt Bonner’s annual golf tournament that benefits the Kids Sports Network.

He pushed up the start of practice by one hour, and when it ended, he and Bonner headed to TPC at San Antonio for the event.

No Duncan: Spurs captain Tim Duncan did not practice because of an undisclosed illness.

mikemonroe@express-news.net
Twitter: @Monroe_SA