This is Patty Mills 9th season with the Spurs. For reference, the other players he played with that season who are still in the league are Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and Cory Joseph. The Spurs still had their big three at that point. But one by one, all those dudes went to different teams, or dropped out of the league altogether, and now all that remains of even some part of the Spurs’ glory years is Mills. Marco Belinelli was on the team last time they won a championship, but he doesn’t count because his tenure was broken up by stints with other teams.
What I’m saying is, when you’re seeing Mills play, you’re basically seeing a combo of the spirits of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker running around and dropping a 30-burger like it’s nothing. I’d put the ratio at 70 percent Parker, 25 percent Ginobili, and 5 percent Duncan. Duncan doesn’t just give out chunks of his spirit for free, you know. And when he does, it’s to Jakob Poeltl. It is in this fashion that the greats of the NBA never really go away. For another example, Wilt Chamberlain is totally dead now, but he lives on in Otto Porter through some unknown lineage. Same with Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook, and Brian Scalabrine and Donte DiVincenzo.
As much fun as Mills has provided to the Spurs and their fans, I think I still prefer his towel-waving, three-point-goggling days with the Trailblazers. He wasn’t nearly as good back then, in fact I thought there was a good chance he’d wash out of the league never to return, but he had the kind of energy that only an end-of-bench megascrub can provide. It’s just not as exciting to see him be consistently good for one of the NBA’s premier franchises for almost a decade, you know?