It’s not written in stone yet, but the word on the street from various sources is that Patrick Mills will indeed be called up by the Portland Trail Blazers to dress for his first NBA game on Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Before that happens however, we still have one more opportunity to watch Mills shine in extended minutes, tonight as his Idaho Stampede again take on the Reno Bighorns. It was against the Bighorns that Patty debuted this week, putting up the 38/12 performance that got so many tongues wagging. Ridiculous Upside has a screen-cap of what Mills looks like in a D-League uniform here.
Somehow though, I don’t think it will be the last time we see Mills in a D-League uniform this season. No doubt when and if he does get called up to the Blazers’ line-up for Monday’s game, he’ll only be around until Steve Blake returns from the unfortunate bout of pneumonia that has seen him hospitalised.
Minutes? Those will likely be sparse for Mills as well. Pending a blow-out or some other unfortunate set of circumstances that sees more troops immobilised, Andre Miller and Jerryd Bayless will likely continue to eat the lion’s share of court time. So Mills enters the roster purely as an additional warm body on what has been a very bare bench of late. It would be great to see him get some burn though and a chance to show that after-burners of pure speed that have made him so exciting to watch in the past. An open look at a three wouldn’t go astray either!
You can watch Mills’ game with the Stampede tonight on the D-League’s Futurecast here.
So, what are these sources on the street, you ask? One is a very-clued in source privately via twitter that I won’t mention. Another is a mention of the same thing on the Blazers’ television broadcast last night against the Warriors. The papers have also said the same thing:
Brian T. Smith at the Columbian:
“He looked fantastic last night. And that’s nice to see,” Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said. “He’s not shy. He’ll put it up.”
The Blazers reassigned Mills to Idaho on Tuesday. But Pritchard said Portland is heavily considering bringing Mills back to the team, now that guard Steve Blake has been hospitalized with pneumonia and is out indefinitely.
Mills could rejoin the Blazers as early as the middle of next week, and possibly suit up for next Tuesday’s road game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
If Portland does decide to bring Mills back, the process could happen within one day, Pritchard said.
“It’s probably the right thing to look at him coming up here the next couple days,” Pritchard said.
Joe Freeman at the Oregonian:
Jerryd Bayless, Dante Cunningham and Shavlik Randolph are the Blazers’ only reserves.
There’s a chance at least one reinforcement could be heading the Blazers’ way, however. General manager Kevin Pritchard said the Blazers were leaning toward bring rookie point guard Patty Mills back for next week’s games, which include a back-to-back against the Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies and a Friday night matchup against the rival Los Angeles Lakers at the Rose Garden.
Mills, who fractured his right foot in Summer League practices last July and only recently was medically cleared to play, made a dazzling professional debut Friday night for the Idaho Stampede of the NBDL.
Mills scored 38 points and had 12 assists, while draining 7 of 10 three-pointers in his first game action since college.
“Those are great numbers,” McMillan said. “To be off for almost a year and, he didn’t really practice live for us … so that was his first real live game. With us, he was going five-on-zero, so those were great numbers. We want to look to get him back (laughs).”
As for the immediate future, McMillan said the Blazers — who have surprisingly won seven of their last night game — will continue to make due with what they have.
Let’s see what happens…
