I dont think he was ever going to secure a spot.

I dont think the Blazers will offer him a contract as well... D-League or Europe?

Any chance of running the point in Adelaide?
Would be a great fit.

The Mills situation makes you wonder what sort of information these kids are basing thier decision on to leave school early.

I know he was projected as a late first rounder but surely he would have been better served to stay in school for another year and develop his game further?

I doubt it would have damaged his chances of being a first round pick any further.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though. He obviously felt he was going to go in the first round.

People say he should have stayed in school to develop his game.
The main reason he didn't go higher is because scouts doubted his court leadership ability at the point and also his shoot first mentality.
Do people really think that going back to St.M this would have changed.
He still would have been their number 1 guy and would have to shoulder the bulk of the scoring.
I say well done Patty and with his drive and willingness to learn he will be a great fit at Portland.

He is another story in the making, a Stern Marketing thing you know. figure it out, Mills was picked at 55 way far behind those unheard European guards.

I watched the draft and it seems NBA teams were going for players from established colleges such as North Carolina.

Patty Mills played at St Mary's where players rarely get drafted from. If he had gone to college somewhere with a more recognised basketball program, his draft stocks would have been higher in my opinion.

Patty Mills is still a better player than a number of players (point guards, particularly) chosen before him. He'll make it in the league.

The problem with Mills returning to Moraga was that St Marys were not going to be anywhere near as good as last season.

They have lost a few key seniors and probably wouldn't have figured in any tournament action that would have put him back in the spotlight.

You know whats funny NBA players are usually drafted on potenital after producing terrible stats at best in college and coming off the bench. Why would this change in the pros the amount of busts that have come out of college and gone high in the draft is incredible. Why not go for a proven player like Mills who has done it at international level against Paul, Williams and Kidd??? I know potenital means a lot, but sometimes clubs go to far in search of the next great player.

He should have stayed. What harmed him in draft was the broken hand. He went from a mid first round to very late first rounder. Then he went to early second round. One more year would have cemented in scouts eyes that he is still the same speedy guard who can put points on the board and create for others. Bad decision going in draft

hopefully its only a rumour!

But i have read this rumour on a few sites though...

He made the right decision - as others have said already he would not have had the chance to show imporvement in the areas that NBA teams have said he is lacking in (leadership, passing) by staying at St. Mary's. And going against Bayless every day will be awesome for him.

I always wonder what the outcome of the draft would have been if Mills had been at Syracuse or NC for example and Flynn or Lawson had been at St. Mary's?

I was in the US in the later half of the college season, and i can tell you his wrist injury got a lot of publicity, and the fact that when he came back from that injury, he never seemed to shoot as well. I believe that is the main reason for his fall down the draft from what had been mooted earlier in the season.

I think if Mills had played in Lawson's spot at UNC he would have been a lottery pick (assuming he din't get injured). Lawson probably wouldn't have been drafted if he were at St Mary's

The worst part of the Mills story is the way he is over-rated by Aussie fans. We all want to see him do well but if the obvious flaws in his game are apparent to all scouts then why would he be considered to be a first rounder?
Then we've got people saying "oh, he's better than such and such". Well, how do you know? It's tough to comprehensively follow college basketball in Australia so these comparisons are nothing but wishful thinking. You guys must think the scouts get the same coverage we do, and that's one St Marys game a week.
It's great that he had an oustanding game against the Yanks at the Olympics but that clearly doesn't translate in to consistent performances when it counts.

TC2 - Mills was a consistent performer for Australia at the Olympics! He led the Boomers in scoring coming off the bench! He was also consistent when playing for Saint Mary's before he got injured.
He made the right decision in leaving Saint
Mary's, but his broken hand does appear to have impacted on where he got drafted. He can play a big role in the NBA somewhere, but when it happens nobody knows. I hope he recovers from his broken foot quickly - this has only made it tougher for him.

I realise what he achieved at the Olympics, and I am aware of his college career too. What I am saying is that people saying that he is better than player X, or as you said "play a big role in the NBA" is based on nothing but wishful thinking and over-rating an Aussie.
I'm not bagging Mills - I am just saying that his value slipped for a reason. Injury was part of it, but his draft camp scouting report says a lot too.