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Patty Mills is ‘excited’ for his new role in Brooklyn

By Matthew Brooks

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Men’s Basketball Medal Ceremony: Day 15 Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

It doesn’t take a data scientist to realize that Patty Mills should fit in pretty seamlessly with the Nets. After all, he’s shot 38.8% from deep over his career and 41.3 percent on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers as a San Antonio Spur last year. Now, he’s joining an illustrious title contender in which both of its 3-point specialists — Joe Harris and Landry Shamet — shot career-high marks on catch-and-shoot looks just a season ago while playing alongside the “Big Three.”

The point is, Patty Mills is gonna get buckets as a Net. Lots of them, in fact, spacing the floor as Brooklyn’s fresh-faced newcomer recently minted with a Bronze Medal at the Olympics — which, speaking of, was a fair comparison in Patty’s eyes for how he’ll fit in with Brooklyn.

“It was exciting for me to know that there’s an opportunity there for me to try to be who I am with the National Team,” said Mills about joining the Nets. “I’m being able to ride the wave of that momentum and take it into Brooklyn is something that I’m looking forward to as well.”

Much like Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge before him, Patty Mills showered the Nets with warm remarks about the “freedom” the organization provides. (As a reminder, Aldridge specifically sang the Nets praises for allowing him to play his game by posting up and making plays out of the midrange.)

“That style and freedom, you know, of what Steve (Nash) does such a great job with and, obviously, now being amongst the best players in the world is just a really exciting opportunity that I think I’ll be able to thrive off,” explained Mills. “I’m really eager to continue to learn about the game and continue to get better myself and find new ways that I can do that.”

Mills isn’t new to this whole winning-a-championship-at-all costs thing. After all, he was a member of the champion 2014 San Antonio Spurs, an anguished, hungry squad that rebounded after being knocked off in the 2013 NBA Finals by the Miami Heat “Big Three.”

Mills has taken some lessons from that experience of winning it all, and for a team that’s slowly infusing younger talent onto the roster, imparting that wisdom to inexperienced players could be instrumental to the franchise's long-term success.

“Knowing that you’re all in for a championship and you have that mindset and feel throughout the group that, you know, every day it’s working towards something. That’s an exciting feeling to know every time you walk in the gym or in the weight room, it’s for a championship and it’s for the betterment of the team,” said Mills about his main takeaway. “I think it would start there. What can you do individually to be able to make the group better? And then you can go from there.”

After 10 years with the same team, the San Antonio Spurs, ushering in new faces year after year on the ever-turning wheel of the NBA calendar, Mills is suddenly facing a new phenomenon in Brooklyn, one he hasn’t experienced since the year 2011. He is that new face on the roster, soon to enter his first day of work as a member of the lauded Brooklyn Nets.

“Being that the new guy, it’s like trying to find ways to be able to not make an impression but make an impact for the greater of the team and all of that. I’ve always found that it starts obviously, off the court and making those connections and friendships and camaraderie. It’s almost like, you know, back to the drawing board,“ Mills said. “Being able to start over as the new guy, it’s fun... I’m really looking forward to all of it.”

And with that, Mills took one last sip of his morning coffee, an Australian brew he was very excited to gush about.

“I’ve got my good Australian coffee,” said Mills. “I’m also very excited about Brooklyn, knowing how many good local Mom and Pop coffee cafes there are. That’s something I’m super excited for.”

Trust us, Patty. You’re in for a treat.

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