Picking up a player this late in the season to help with the playoffs seems kind of pointless. No matter how talented, you can’t just stick a guy on the court, point him to the hoop and say “go!”
Luckily, the San Antonio Spurs know what they’re doing. When they signed Australian point guard Patrick Mills, they got someone who could fit right in. One of the Spurs’ assistant coaches, Brett Brown, is also the head coach of the Australian national basketball team. He’s familiar with Mills and his abilities, and their relationship also probably helped Mills get acquainted with the team (via woai.com).
There will be a lot of upside if Mills can get fully integrated with the system before the playoffs start in less than a month. The Spurs need the depth at point guard immediately with the sudden retirement of T.J. Ford.
We haven’t seen much from Mills yet, but once he gets to the point where he can put in solid backup minutes, he’s going to be a huge part of the any success the Spurs have in the postseason.
