From spursnation:
"One such battle will be at backup point guard, where the Spurs never settled on a No. 2 behind Parker after T.J. Ford’s career-ending neck injury in March.
Gary Neal and Ginobili, shooting guards by trade, chipped in at times, as did Australian speedster Patrick Mills after his late March arrival.
De Colo, a 25-year-old former second-round pick who spent the past three seasons in Spain, should also figure into the equation. So could former Texas standout Cory Joseph, a second-year pro who apprenticed for much of his rookie season in the Development League.
Mills might have the inside track after a starring turn in the Olympics for Australia’s national team, coached by Spurs assistant Brett Brown"
Who is your pick? I do think De colo is a better passer than Mills, Mills the better scorer.
Unless de colo absolutely wows in exhibition and practices I'd want Mills running the point. He's a much more natural point guard than Neal, and at the end of last season showed he can be a very effective shooter like Neal. With the Green-Manu shooting guard rotation Neal is sadly going to struggle to get consistent playing time. It's a shame, I loved the old George hill- Gary Neal punch off the bench
Pop might say that the rotation is open behind the big three but truth is Spurs have 2 rotation spots open: the backup PF (Blair or Bonner) and the backup PG.
For the backup PG spot, there are 4 candidates:
- Mills: He is the clear favorite for that spot.
- Neal: I want to see a recent picture of him before ruling him out. If he has lost a significant amount of weight, it could be worth to try him again at PG. Otherwise, he should be considered as a pure SG.
- De Colo: PG and/or SG? For the moment it's unclear where Spurs want to play him. My guess is that he will end at the SG spot and that the idea behind his signing is to groom him as a Manu replacement.
- Joseph: He really surprised me at the Vegas SL. He might not be ready to contribute at the NBA level this season which would be somewhat logical for a 21 years old player. The key for him is to convince enough Spurs in training camp to have his 2013-2014 option picked up.
We need someone who can play defense and pass the ball. Based on that Mills is probably the closest thing. Neal's defense was atrocious against OKC. D. Fisher outplayed him handily.
we've seen what mills has to offer first hand. much more of a parker-esque score first guy. i think he's definitely young enough to refine his pg game. i've only seen highlight videos of de colo, so only his best of's. i think he is less redundant than a parker/mills rotation, more passing skills. but in terms of an nba level, skill is a question mark... i'm excited about this season, feels like the spurs retooled a little by hopefully including mills more, developing kawhi, hopefully a more confident and able splitter, even though they haven't really added much personnel...oh yeah, and derrick brown. derrick broooooowwwwwwwn
Mills has the inside track coming into camp.
1. He carried Australia on his back, although he didn't facilitate enough (or it was Coach Brown's plan all along, what with team Australia being pretty un-stacked)
2. He's pesky on defense despite his small frame.
3. He filled in the best for Parker last season.
Mills and Ginobili
I think it's going to be Mills. We need more defense. Mills is not great on D but is better than Neal
With Mills expected to have an expanded role this season and De Colo with his passing skills, the Spurs have more options than just Neal and Manu at back up PG.
As many have said, the favorite going into camp has to be Mills. He's looked really good in limited minutes, especially offensively. He'll have to pick up the defense a bit, but honestly there aren't many small guard lock-down defenders that he'll have to compete with. Also, don't underestimate the impact that his 3-point range will have on getting him minutes, particularly if Neal is traded or crowded out.
I think De Colo and Joseph are in pretty similar situations- neither are expected to be ready for the start of the year, but the hope is that they'll be prepared to get some minutes in the latter half of the year. De Colo has some unique skills that could work really well on this team (both at the 1 and 2), and Joseph has a lot of upside, perhaps most importantly at the defensive end.
It will be extremely telling what happens if/when Parker or Mills get injured. Outside of training camp, that will be the biggest chance that De Colo or Joseph have to make their case.
Mills is the only one I'd trust to bring the ball up against pressure. He's super quick with good handles, so if you overplay him, suddenly you're in the dust, and it's a 5 on 4.
I like Mills as backup PG. Better ball handler and more experience than Neal and Joseph. He's got a lot of confidence. Neal's is a one trick pony and clearly not comfortable playing point, so let him do his tricks and quit making him wear a hat that doesn't fit well. Neal's struggle with the PG position took him out of what he does best and it got in his head. His confidence visibly faded during the PO's. Neal is a better player for the PG duties he had to take on the last two seasons, but it is pretty obvious that he is not a point guard, it just didn't grow on him. In fact, Beno was a better point guard. Neal's a better baller.
Beno's become a decent enough PG, tbh - I think he played his best ball in Sacramento. Neal however has balls of steel but shouldn't play anything but off-guard (and even then the Spurs play 5 on 4 on defense with him around)
Think Manu would be the best option with Mills at the 2. Mills is a good shooter with terrible court vision and is always looking for his shot first, so the offense would go to . He really can't have the ball in his hands in the half court. Mills would be good at providing full court pressure on the other PGs.
If Neal is on the team I hope it's him because I want him to have some trade value.
It's either Neal or Mills.
Definitely Mills, not even a question about it.
Mills does have a score-first mentality, but that's fine when he's running the second team. He'll learn how to pnr with Splitter and find the 3pt shooters in the corner and it'll work beautifully. On D he's pesky, pretty good steal gambler, plays tough. ANd unlike Neal he actually has a handle. I think Neal should go back to doing what he does best - specialist 3pt shooter/scoring spark.
I don't know why this is even a question - PATTY MILLS WILL BE IN THE TOP 3 BACKUP PGs IN THE NBA THIS SEASON.
The irony there is that Mills isn't really known for either of those things.
Although, his defensive was surprisingly stout last year despite much lower reviews on his natural prowess, hes still not a defensive PG by any stretch. Though he is clearly a better defender than Gary Neal. But Mills also isn't a natural PG and struggles with his vision at times. Gary Neal, on the other hand, has proven to be successful in that regard. Frankly, while it looked really ugly, Neal did a pretty good job running the backup unit on the offensive end.
Where Mills makes his money is with his speed and his shooting. He can get hot and hit any shot in the gym.
I definitely agree that Mills is the front-runner for the job. They just need to encourage him to consistently bring that same defensive intensity we saw at times last year.
Total minutes including a lot of garbage time = Mills
Significant minutes = Ginobili with Neal as SG.
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