According to this article in Melbourne’s Herald Sun, the Melbourne Tigers are set to announce at 11am today that they have signed Patty Mills to play with the NBL club, until such time as the NBA lockout ends (and he can return to the Portland Trail Blazers).
With an off-season free-agent feeding frenzy that had already netted Cairns Taipans trio Ayinde Ubaka, Ron Dorsey and Daniel Dillon, the addition of Mills would likely make for some changes to the existing Tigers roster. The previously penned roster included:
Likely starters: Ayinde Ubaka (10) / Daniel Dillon (5) / Liam Rush (7) / Ron Dorsey (10) / Cam Tragardh (9)
Likely bench: Darryl Corletto (6) / Bennie Lewis (5) / Lucas Walker (4) / Tommy Greer (6) / Matt Burston (9)
That roster (with player points totals along side player names) comes to a total of 71 points, which already exceeds the NBL’s maximum of 70 total player points. Assuming a loyalty discount for the likes of Corletto, that total will reduce, but it still keeps the Tigers close to the points cap. Notwithstanding the NBL Salary Cap of $1,000,000, some changes would need to be made to the roster to accomodate Mills. Would that mean the departure of an import, or the newly acquired Rush?
The press conference at 11am hopefully will provide answers. The Tigers have never been short on methods of roster-building in the past though.
