Hopefully the San Antonio Spurs have a long playoff march en route to another NBA title. Currently,
the team is leading their first-round series versus the Utah Jazz 2-0 but coming around the corner this summer is the 2012 Olympics where the Spurs will be heavily represented.
Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Manu Ginobili, Tiago Splitter, and Patty Mills will be representing their respective home country in London but for Mills, he is glad Australia didn’t get grouped with Team USA, France and other powerhouse teams but knows the Aussies will have their work cut out for them.
‘We were all talking about the draw at [Spurs] practice this morning,” Mills said. ”It’s a great group. Brazil’s in there and Great Britain, China, and Spain, and the other group is tough too, but we can definitely do our research on those teams in our group and we can be very, very competitive.
”The thing for us is to set our goals and our standards high, and settle for nothing less than that.”
Indeed, the Australian national team will have a tough time in London. Aside from the US, Spain, France, Argentina, and Brazil are coming in with firepower and Australia (coached by Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown) will be without center Andrew Bogut. And not having Bogut will hurt Australia very much.
”It would have been great and he would have done really well but myself and all the boys, and coach [Brett] Brown have a lot of faith in the guys we do have,” Mills said. ”We have been together now for four years since Beijing and we have been working hard ever since then.”
Though Australia may not go deep in the Olympic tournament but for Mills, it will keep him fresh and ready for next season with San Antonio. Also, it means less risk of injury for Patty.
