Good stretch 100 percent related to

[timvp]

My dislike for Mills and his awful contract go back years and have nothing to do with Parker.

Congrats on spelling Parker's last name correctly. You usually accidentally misspell it with an 'o', iirc.

Mills and his misleading on/off is just fools gold and nonsense.

K.

I appreciate you probably weren't watching the last 4 years

Fair assumption. Not accurate, but fair

but Mills has largely been a disaster. Destroyed by every scrub he faced in the playoffs, being fat and en led, making public statements about how he didn't have any pressure because he was being paid money to make up for past performances.

His great locker room leadership has seen the franchise player force his way off the team and the one big free agent signing demand a trade.

The best thing that could happen to the Spurs now is a Mills injury that would allow Walker to get minutes.

I mean, it's okay to not like a player. Who am I to judge, tbh? Finley, Elson and Cunningham come to mind, tbf.

You're one of the best posters on ST but I don't believe your searing Mills hate is 100% objective, npi. I've always thought he was overrated by Spurs fans ( @ Mills ever being better than Parker, for example) but to call him "fat and en led," saying he's been "destroyed by every scrub in the playoffs," giving him zero credit for his leadership or being a quality teammate (as his teammates, particularly young ones, have attested to), and going as far as to say he's a bad influence miiiight just cross the line from objectivity to hyperbolic hatred, imo.

I'd say Mills: 1) was overpaid, largely due to the Spurs misreading the market ... and Pop valuing his leadership and team-centric nature more than those of us outside of the team do; 2) he was bad to start the season and has been pretty damn bad recently but he had a stretch where he was playing well; 3) the Spurs would have less wins without him -- whether one believes that's a good thing or a bad thing is beside the point; 4) his leadership and his teammates loving him is probably worth something, although I don't know if that "something" is $1 million or $10-15 million; 5) he's still not better than a 36-year-old Parker; 6) the final year of his contract will most likely be ugly, as players of his size and skillset do not age well.

But, yeah, it's fine to hate Mills ... but I think even you can agree that the premise of this thread is inaccurate.

[Keepin' it real]

Too many posters think a team is just an addition of players. This society of highlights is unable to notice the value of the work behind the scenes, the dirty stuff.

Everybody recognizes Tim Duncan's greatness above his stats but they can't recognize the true value of those same virtues in other players like Parker, Ginobili, Mills, Gasol, etc. Sad they can't find basketball stuff to discuss rather than hating players or coaches.

----------------

Regarding the good stretch, IMO Aldridge's overall improvement and White's play have been the main reasons. LaMarcus started playing better during the losing streak, finding his rhythm offensively and playing better defense progressively. White has helped LaMarcus running the playbook as expected, allowing LA to have the ball in better positions which established Spurs offense and pace, and helped transition defense thanks to a better shooting selection (into the schemes). Biggest improvement has been Derrick's defensive performance as we all have seen.

During the stretch, DeRozan has decreased his offensive production, Mills and Gay's % are worse, Gasol is out and even so the offense is still very good. Poetl started getting better soon, Bertans is benefiting from team's play, Marco refocused after a few games in the dog's house and Forbes has stopped creating and just takes the shots he has to take. Running the offense through Aldridge makes all the pieces fit together but more importantly sets the tone in the game, slowing the tempo, pushing opps defense under the basket and allowing Spurs to return to their court and set the positional defense.

White's defensive versatility allows Popovich to hide Forbes and DeRozan assigning Derrick to whoever the best offensive player the other team has on the court. White has been assigned to pick&roll players, shooters, 1on1 scorers, etc. and has done a good job against all of them. He helps the team to get stops and even run the fastbreak. When LA plays solid defense, protecting the rim, Derrick becomes even more effective and opponents have to put the offensive focus over Forbes or DeRozan.

Thanks to White+Aldridge offense, DeRozan doesn't need to play hero basketball and can put some work on the defensive end. He still can score +20 and assist without forcing the issue. For this team to go to the next level, DeMarr must play better p&r/screen defense, avoiding the contact with the screener and recovering his man faster. IMO he can do it well (there was a good example yesterday when he even blocked a shot). This will only happen if DeRozan feels he doesn't need to spend 90% of his energy running the offense.

Rudy Gay is on a similar situation. The more 1on1 he's demanded to play, the less good help defense he will provide. With offense flowing, Rudy can find naturally his shots. The more fastbreak the team runs, the more easy scoring for him, so he needs to contribute to team defense.

-----------

It's hard to change something is working well so I understand Pop benching Gasol being available. Popovich might be waiting for the next thing to happen (injury, individual bad stretch of play...) to make a change in the rotation. If I had to insert Gasol now, I'd do the following:

Start Poetl instead of Gay. Make Gasol the C in the second unit. Start reducing DeRozan, Aldridge minutes, giving the second unit leadership to Gay surrounded by Pau, Bertans, Marco, and Patty. It worked well during the first month of the season.
Our starting five would be Poetl, Aldridge, DeRozan, Forbes and White. Now that Aldridge is scoring his midrange shots and White is starting to hit the threes, I'd give a chance to this unit. Maybe they struggle vs super small ball teams or maybe they dominate them inside. We're still in January, there is time enough to return to the Aldridge-Gay-DeRozan frontcourt .

[Keepin' it real]

Again, ST's need to on players is amazing and pathetic. Just last week, folks were trying to pile on me for defending Aldridge. Before that it was Beli. The need to hate at least one guy on the roster at any given time is just bonkers.

90% of the posters here are Russian trolls spreading messages of hate, trying to divide the wonderful, God-fearing, freedom-loving citizens of America.

[Pavlov]

The thing about Mills is that the emergence of Forbes into a limited but dependable guard sharpens the focus on Mills as a limited, less dependable guard at four times the cost. Mills should've gotten right around the current midlevel, so he's not criminally overpaid -- but it does kind of look like it's best to hope that Mills' play improves to the point that he can be traded without much extra outgoing cost. It could be a bad deal for a bad deal kind of thing if it plugs a roster hole as far as I'm concerned.

[TimmyBuckets]

White, Forbes, LMA, Bertans, Maserati, Poetl

[MoSpur02]

To me it's just time. More time playing together. That 6 game home stretch gave them more time to practice and work on things they obviously needed work on. We see this almost all the time. Pop uses the regular season to tinker with the lineups to see how the guys play together. What lineups work better. This season was just a lot more harder because as Pop himself stated there are a lot more new faces on the team this season than there has been before. They're still working things out and will continue to do so.

I think this season's Rodeo Road Trip will be the most important one in recent Spurs history. The RRT is usually when the team sort of gels.

[objective]

Congrats on spelling Parker's last name correctly. You usually accidentally misspell it with an 'o', iirc.

K.

Fair assumption. Not accurate, but fair

I mean, it's okay to not like a player. Who am I to judge, tbh? Finley, Elson and Cunningham come to mind, tbf.

You're one of the best posters on ST but I don't believe your searing Mills hate is 100% objective, npi. I've always thought he was overrated by Spurs fans ( @ Mills ever being better than Parker, for example) but to call him "fat and en led," saying he's been "destroyed by every scrub in the playoffs," giving him zero credit for his leadership or being a quality teammate (as his teammates, particularly young ones, have attested to), and going as far as to say he's a bad influence miiiight just cross the line from objectivity to hyperbolic hatred, imo.

I'd say Mills: 1) was overpaid, largely due to the Spurs misreading the market ... and Pop valuing his leadership and team-centric nature more than those of us outside of the team do; 2) he was bad to start the season and has been pretty damn bad recently but he had a stretch where he was playing well; 3) the Spurs would have less wins without him -- whether one believes that's a good thing or a bad thing is beside the point; 4) his leadership and his teammates loving him is probably worth something, although I don't know if that "something" is $1 million or $10-15 million; 5) he's still not better than a 36-year-old Parker; 6) the final year of his contract will most likely be ugly, as players of his size and skillset do not age well.

But, yeah, it's fine to hate Mills ... but I think even you can agree that the premise of this thread is inaccurate.

There's no unfair hyperbole with Mills, it just seems that way to people who can't be objective and appreciate a little gallows humor it.

Yes, I spelled Parker as is, though often Porker, just like Mills instead of Fatty. One thing I can't stand is players, especially little guards, getting fat. If a player underperforms his contract, well, that's disappointing. But when they both underperform and get fat, it drives me up a wall. LMA carries too much weight I suspect, and has had a disappointing year on the whole, but at least he's a big who has to bang. My love and respect for Duncan and Manu only increases when I think of how they shredded their bodies so lean as they aged to try and keep up.

Re: the market and Mills, there's no two ways around it, it was a TERRIBLE DEAL. I have every reason why back in the threads of the time. I recommend you go back and read them, then you'll have the blessed opportunities to read my luxurious and accurate posts. But most damning was locking up approx. 25% of the cap at the time with 2 players (Mills and Pau) who COULDN'T PLAY AGAINST THE WARRIORS. That's not even hyperbole. They couldn't even start or play starter's minutes off the bench against a team that would be contending for years barring catastrophe. 1/4 of the cap instantly unavailable at tipoff and honestly, not good when they did play.

I remember how refreshing it was against Golden State during whatever game it was thst by some miracle had Murray matched against Livingston. How incredible it was that Livingston couldn't just post up and score or generate points off a Spurs double and scramble. GS had to do something else because it wasn't easy points Patty on defense.

That's what it's always like with Patty. Just go at him and score or breakdown the Spurs defense to generate a good look when they have to help Mills.

The contract was awful. Supposed intellectuals like Zach Lowe and Nate Duncan liked the deal at the time but it just exposed them for fools. They might have watched, but they couldn't see.

4 year deal at 12:01 to make Mills the highest paid backup point guard was a disaster and the Spurs are still buried under it. If Murray was magically healed tomorrow Mills' minutes wouldn't be the ones that are cut, it'd be White or Forbes or both. Forbes can play the Mills role at 1/4 the cost.

If you want me to go back over the past 3 years and pull up Mills posts from my self and others and refresh your memory on how bad he is and how bad Pop's love for him is, I will.

I don't even agree that the Spurs when semi-healthy would have fewer wins. Maybe this season because of the early stretch when White was injured and DeRozan was playing out of his mind and the Spurs got some early wins, Mills probably made a difference then. But even you in game threads are praying that he doesn't replace White.

I have total confidence that if Mills missed the rest of the season and Pop played White more minutes and Walker minutes that the Spurs would be better in the long run, and if Walker isn't a mess they'd be just as good if not better short term.

And with a healthy Murray next year, the Spurs will be plain better without any Mills. It's not related to you timvp because you weren't the one doing it, but as an aside people always post weird stuff like, "Oh, you can play Patty with Dejounte!". Like why on Earth would you self sabotage and sacrifice the advantage of a big point like Dejounte guarding other ball handlers at the point of attack? Enough with the nonsense. Pair Murray with someone who can actually guard his position. Get the benefits of having a big point guard who can defend instead of justifying underserved minutes for Mills.

[Brazil]

Chin, I'm offended. I hate several of the players at any given time.

[MaNu4Tres]

There's no unfair hyperbole with Mills, it just seems that way to people who can't be objective and appreciate a little gallows humor it.

Yes, I spelled Parker as is, though often Porker, just like Mills instead of Fatty. One thing I can't stand is players, especially little guards, getting fat. If a player underperforms his contract, well, that's disappointing. But when they both underperform and get fat, it drives me up a wall. LMA carries too much weight I suspect, and has had a disappointing year on the whole, but at least he's a big who has to bang. My love and respect for Duncan and Manu only increases when I think of how they shredded their bodies so lean as they aged to try and keep up.

Re: the market and Mills, there's no two ways around it, it was a TERRIBLE DEAL. I have every reason why back in the threads of the time. I recommend you go back and read them, then you'll have the blessed opportunities to read my luxurious and accurate posts. But most damning was locking up approx. 25% of the cap at the time with 2 players (Mills and Pau) who COULDN'T PLAY AGAINST THE WARRIORS. That's not even hyperbole. They couldn't even start or play starter's minutes off the bench against a team that would be contending for years barring catastrophe. 1/4 of the cap instantly unavailable at tipoff and honestly, not good when they did play.

I remember how refreshing it was against Golden State during whatever game it was thst by some miracle had Murray matched against Livingston. How incredible it was that Livingston couldn't just post up and score or generate points off a Spurs double and scramble. GS had to do something else because it wasn't easy points Patty on defense.

That's what it's always like with Patty. Just go at him and score or breakdown the Spurs defense to generate a good look when they have to help Mills.

The contract was awful. Supposed intellectuals like Zach Lowe and Nate Duncan liked the deal at the time but it just exposed them for fools. They might have watched, but they couldn't see.

4 year deal at 12:01 to make Mills the highest paid backup point guard was a disaster and the Spurs are still buried under it. If Murray was magically healed tomorrow Mills' minutes wouldn't be the ones that are cut, it'd be White or Forbes or both. Forbes can play the Mills role at 1/4 the cost.

If you want me to go back over the past 3 years and pull up Mills posts from my self and others and refresh your memory on how bad he is and how bad Pop's love for him is, I will.

I don't even agree that the Spurs when semi-healthy would have fewer wins. Maybe this season because of the early stretch when White was injured and DeRozan was playing out of his mind and the Spurs got some early wins, Mills probably made a difference then. But even you in game threads are praying that he doesn't replace White.

I have total confidence that if Mills missed the rest of the season and Pop played White more minutes and Walker minutes that the Spurs would be better in the long run, and if Walker isn't a mess they'd be just as good if not better short term.

And with a healthy Murray next year, the Spurs will be plain better without any Mills. It's not related to you timvp because you weren't the one doing it, but as an aside people always post weird stuff like, "Oh, you can play Patty with Dejounte!". Like why on Earth would you self sabotage and sacrifice the advantage of a big point like Dejounte guarding other ball handlers at the point of attack? Enough with the nonsense. Pair Murray with someone who can actually guard his position. Get the benefits of having a big point guard who can defend instead of justifying underserved minutes for Mills.

The goods.

I need to get back to posting more here.

[MaNu4Tres]

And to the, " ST has to on players" take..

I would say the trolls do for sure, but I don't see anything wrong with objective criticism when its warranted.


Especially when its coming from quality posters who don't have an agenda to troll. Mills is a great guy & teammate as we all know, but his contract and play getting criticism the past 3 years is very fair imo.

Belinelli is another one. He was pretty disappointing up until 2-3 weeks ago after Pop benched him the 2nd half vs LA. It was fair to criticize him imo.

[John B]

To me it's just time. More time playing together. That 6 game home stretch gave them more time to practice and work on things they obviously needed work on. We see this almost all the time. Pop uses the regular season to tinker with the lineups to see how the guys play together. What lineups work better. This season was just a lot more harder because as Pop himself stated there are a lot more new faces on the team this season than there has been before. They're still working things out and will continue to do so.

I think this season's Rodeo Road Trip will be the most important one in recent Spurs history. The RRT is usually when the team sort of gels.

Spot on. Additionally White brings much needed defense against penetrating guards that broke our defenses and created open shots on help defense, plus length in rebounding and pushing transition offense and fastbreaks. I wonder what’s our fastbreaks the last few games. The roles are also becoming better defined and the guys coming with better idea what they need to bring in. Before everybody’s just shooting from the hips, playing outside their comfort zone, sometimes would work but sometimes hitting them flat in the face, i.e. Dante. I expect them to get even better, playing more with each other, creating more passing games and open looks. Lastly I mentioned before that with White, Demar, Gay, LMA they can pretty much switch on everybody without creating defensive liabilities. Even Forbes is pesky enough and not backing down as before, and if ever I’ve noticed that they communicate well to send quick helps if needed, i.e. Jokic. They just keep getting better on both sides of the court tbh

[stu scotts eye]

Again, ST's need to on players is amazing and pathetic. Just last week, folks were trying to pile on me for defending Aldridge. Before that it was Beli. The need to hate at least one guy on the roster at any given time is just bonkers.

Yep Chinook.

This is spurstalk nowadays. The need to on players impulsively using language like " got" and "sucks ."

[tbdog]

I like mills but he is overpaid for a 20min max spark plug. I just would rather have mills play three 5min rotations at a high intensity rather than dropping a gear over four quarters and 20 plus minutes. But the Spurs paid him as if he could do 2014 but on longer minutes. Just remember this is a guy who lead scoring at the Olympics. So I think the Spurs management thought he could give 30mins of it.

[r0drig0lac]

There's no unfair hyperbole with Mills, it just seems that way to people who can't be objective and appreciate a little gallows humor it.

Yes, I spelled Parker as is, though often Porker, just like Mills instead of Fatty. One thing I can't stand is players, especially little guards, getting fat. If a player underperforms his contract, well, that's disappointing. But when they both underperform and get fat, it drives me up a wall. LMA carries too much weight I suspect, and has had a disappointing year on the whole, but at least he's a big who has to bang. My love and respect for Duncan and Manu only increases when I think of how they shredded their bodies so lean as they aged to try and keep up.

Re: the market and Mills, there's no two ways around it, it was a TERRIBLE DEAL. I have every reason why back in the threads of the time. I recommend you go back and read them, then you'll have the blessed opportunities to read my luxurious and accurate posts. But most damning was locking up approx. 25% of the cap at the time with 2 players (Mills and Pau) who COULDN'T PLAY AGAINST THE WARRIORS. That's not even hyperbole. They couldn't even start or play starter's minutes off the bench against a team that would be contending for years barring catastrophe. 1/4 of the cap instantly unavailable at tipoff and honestly, not good when they did play.

I remember how refreshing it was against Golden State during whatever game it was thst by some miracle had Murray matched against Livingston. How incredible it was that Livingston couldn't just post up and score or generate points off a Spurs double and scramble. GS had to do something else because it wasn't easy points Patty on defense.

That's what it's always like with Patty. Just go at him and score or breakdown the Spurs defense to generate a good look when they have to help Mills.

The contract was awful. Supposed intellectuals like Zach Lowe and Nate Duncan liked the deal at the time but it just exposed them for fools. They might have watched, but they couldn't see.

4 year deal at 12:01 to make Mills the highest paid backup point guard was a disaster and the Spurs are still buried under it. If Murray was magically healed tomorrow Mills' minutes wouldn't be the ones that are cut, it'd be White or Forbes or both. Forbes can play the Mills role at 1/4 the cost.

If you want me to go back over the past 3 years and pull up Mills posts from my self and others and refresh your memory on how bad he is and how bad Pop's love for him is, I will.

I don't even agree that the Spurs when semi-healthy would have fewer wins. Maybe this season because of the early stretch when White was injured and DeRozan was playing out of his mind and the Spurs got some early wins, Mills probably made a difference then. But even you in game threads are praying that he doesn't replace White.

I have total confidence that if Mills missed the rest of the season and Pop played White more minutes and Walker minutes that the Spurs would be better in the long run, and if Walker isn't a mess they'd be just as good if not better short term.

And with a healthy Murray next year, the Spurs will be plain better without any Mills. It's not related to you timvp because you weren't the one doing it, but as an aside people always post weird stuff like, "Oh, you can play Patty with Dejounte!". Like why on Earth would you self sabotage and sacrifice the advantage of a big point like Dejounte guarding other ball handlers at the point of attack? Enough with the nonsense. Pair Murray with someone who can actually guard his position. Get the benefits of having a big point guard who can defend instead of justifying underserved minutes for Mills.

nice post, Dejounte and White will be a duo that the opposing teams will not be able to simply exploit defensively, I'm looking forward to that day, this is some legendary defensive potential for a backcourt

[slick'81]

There's no unfair hyperbole with Mills, it just seems that way to people who can't be objective and appreciate a little gallows humor it.

Yes, I spelled Parker as is, though often Porker, just like Mills instead of Fatty. One thing I can't stand is players, especially little guards, getting fat. If a player underperforms his contract, well, that's disappointing. But when they both underperform and get fat, it drives me up a wall. LMA carries too much weight I suspect, and has had a disappointing year on the whole, but at least he's a big who has to bang. My love and respect for Duncan and Manu only increases when I think of how they shredded their bodies so lean as they aged to try and keep up.

Re: the market and Mills, there's no two ways around it, it was a TERRIBLE DEAL. I have every reason why back in the threads of the time. I recommend you go back and read them, then you'll have the blessed opportunities to read my luxurious and accurate posts. But most damning was locking up approx. 25% of the cap at the time with 2 players (Mills and Pau) who COULDN'T PLAY AGAINST THE WARRIORS. That's not even hyperbole. They couldn't even start or play starter's minutes off the bench against a team that would be contending for years barring catastrophe. 1/4 of the cap instantly unavailable at tipoff and honestly, not good when they did play.

I remember how refreshing it was against Golden State during whatever game it was thst by some miracle had Murray matched against Livingston. How incredible it was that Livingston couldn't just post up and score or generate points off a Spurs double and scramble. GS had to do something else because it wasn't easy points Patty on defense.

That's what it's always like with Patty. Just go at him and score or breakdown the Spurs defense to generate a good look when they have to help Mills.

The contract was awful. Supposed intellectuals like Zach Lowe and Nate Duncan liked the deal at the time but it just exposed them for fools. They might have watched, but they couldn't see.

4 year deal at 12:01 to make Mills the highest paid backup point guard was a disaster and the Spurs are still buried under it. If Murray was magically healed tomorrow Mills' minutes wouldn't be the ones that are cut, it'd be White or Forbes or both. Forbes can play the Mills role at 1/4 the cost.

If you want me to go back over the past 3 years and pull up Mills posts from my self and others and refresh your memory on how bad he is and how bad Pop's love for him is, I will.

I don't even agree that the Spurs when semi-healthy would have fewer wins. Maybe this season because of the early stretch when White was injured and DeRozan was playing out of his mind and the Spurs got some early wins, Mills probably made a difference then. But even you in game threads are praying that he doesn't replace White.

I have total confidence that if Mills missed the rest of the season and Pop played White more minutes and Walker minutes that the Spurs would be better in the long run, and if Walker isn't a mess they'd be just as good if not better short term.

And with a healthy Murray next year, the Spurs will be plain better without any Mills. It's not related to you timvp because you weren't the one doing it, but as an aside people always post weird stuff like, "Oh, you can play Patty with Dejounte!". Like why on Earth would you self sabotage and sacrifice the advantage of a big point like Dejounte guarding other ball handlers at the point of attack? Enough with the nonsense. Pair Murray with someone who can actually guard his position. Get the benefits of having a big point guard who can defend instead of justifying underserved minutes for Mills.

finally a spur fan with some sense

[Chris]

[MultiTroll]

In fact, this team plays worse with Mills off the court than any other player on the team (-3.4 points per 100 possessions compared to +5.4 when he's on the court).

Is this like Matt Bonner good?

[kaji157]

The problem with Mills is that he is playing worse and worse year after year. No one who knew a bit about the Spurs was happy with the 4x12 contract, we all knew that it was at least a year too long.
So far Mills is like Forbes, but Forbes is a player that can still get better at some aspects while "no pressure" seems like a guy just happy with whatever role he is given, he already cashed in.
Clearly the worst contract the Fo gave during their long tenure.

[Coach X]

Come on now

You are a veteran here, you're supposed to appreciate a post trying to contribute with some decent content. Sure my post wasn't too visually attractive and I'll try to improve that but you killed the small chances that post had to be commented, and it worthed some reads and conversation.

PD: At least you were funny, I can't deny that.

[DMC]

Spurs are in a make/miss era right now. They shoot well they win, and when they don't they lose. There's not much else to it.

[Keepin' it real]

Come on now

You are a veteran here, you're supposed to appreciate a post trying to contribute with some decent content. Sure my post wasn't too visually attractive and I'll try to improve that but you killed the small chances that post had to be commented, and it worthed some reads and conversation.

PD: At least you were funny, I can't deny that.

That's my standard reply for any post I see and my immediate reaction is "Whoa! A whole lotta words." If memory serves, you did use paragraphs and didn't use all caps, so there's two feathers in your cap.

[Shakril]

The Good Stretch can be pinpointed to the last 18 Mins against the lakers at Home. Bertrans and Poeltl ignited the Spurs on that day. An since than everybody played better and fell into place.
Sometimes you need one game that puts the Team back on track.

[spurraider21]

You're one of the best posters on ST but I don't believe your searing Mills hate is 100% objective, npi.

100% bull

I've always thought he was overrated by Spurs fans ( @ Mills ever being better than Parker, for example) but to call him "fat and en led," saying he's been "destroyed by every scrub in the playoffs," giving him zero credit for his leadership or being a quality teammate (as his teammates, particularly young ones, have attested to), and going as far as to say he's a bad influence miiiight just cross the line from objectivity to hyperbolic hatred, imo.

I'd say Mills: 1) was overpaid, largely due to the Spurs misreading the market ... and Pop valuing his leadership and team-centric nature more than those of us outside of the team do; 2) he was bad to start the season and has been pretty damn bad recently but he had a stretch where he was playing well; 3) the Spurs would have less wins without him -- whether one believes that's a good thing or a bad thing is beside the point; 4) his leadership and his teammates loving him is probably worth something, although I don't know if that "something" is $1 million or $10-15 million; 5) he's still not better than a 36-year-old Parker; 6) the final year of his contract will most likely be ugly, as players of his size and skillset do not age well.

But, yeah, it's fine to hate Mills ... but I think even you can agree that the premise of this thread is inaccurate.

[DPG21920]

The hate for Mills, from what Ive seen, is 100% due to his contract. He represented everything wrong with SA front office lately and opportunity lost.

He represents not changing along with the league and how out of touch SA front office has been in free agency for many years now.

If Mills was a 5M a year player, even with the same flaws, I don’t think he’d be hated nearly as much. Besides that, he would be more tradeable and have some value.

How does a very limited, small PG that plays poor defense and really can’t initiate any offense, that also is WILDLY inconsistent (like Timvp said, terrible stretch, followed by good, followed by bad again) deserve a raise? He did nothing to warrant getting more money and has not improved any aspect of his game.

Worse, his energy, his main skill other than hitting 3’s, has not been consistent either.

Everyone knows he’s a great teammate, but what most question is the narrative that it’s worth that much money when he’s obviously a player that was grossly overpaid. If leadership has such a premium value, would that not mean teams would be lining up to trade for him? Even with this contract?

[spurraider21]

The hate for Mills, from what Ive seen, is 100% due to his contract. He represented everything wrong with SA front office lately and opportunity lost.

He represents not changing along with the league and how out of touch SA front office has been in free agency for many years now.

If Mills was a 5M a year player, even with the same flaws, I don’t think he’d be hated nearly as much. Besides that, he would be more tradeable and have some value.

How does a very limited, small PG that plays poor defense and really can’t initiate any offense, that also is WILDLY inconsistent (like Timvp said, terrible stretch, followed by good, followed by bad again) deserve a raise? He did nothing to warrant getting more money and has not improved any aspect of his game.

Worse, his energy, his main skill other than hitting 3’s, has not been consistent either.

Everyone knows he’s a great teammate, but what most question is the narrative that it’s worth that much money when he’s obviously a player that was grossly overpaid. If leadership has such a premium value, would that not mean teams would be lining up to trade for him? Even with this contract?

THIS