Andrew Bogut tweeted today that there's a huge NBL announcement coming. Can only guess that this is it. Can say I was the last guy to shake his hand before he walked out of the Adelaide Arena, and out of the NBL.

Yep saw it on his twitter feed. At least we got to see him play once. Wonder who the tigers will go after now.

Disappointing!

Good to have seen him play this weekend. Tigers should still be pretty balanced without him, just down some firepower.

It will be a good chance for Dillon, Lewis, Rush to get more minutes and opportunities.

Coreltto can be elevated into the 10 now.....oh thats right. My bad

Can't be too harsh on him here. He came to this country to play for a huge amount less than he could have gotten elsewhere in the idea he would be back in the NBA before too long.
He's not like Bogut in that he's set up for life after a long career with some big contracts, he's still starting out.
Now that It's reasonably apparent that the Lockout will last all season, he's decided to chase some more money. He doesn't really owe anyone anything, the fact he came here at all was a big boost to our country.
I'm happy I got to see him play live and play well at that (and we won).
He wasn't really improving his brand here anyway, and copped a fair bit of criticism, so he didn't have a huge incentive to stay.

Well said Hendo

+1

I don't want to disrespect pat but I think it's the best thing for the tigers. Now people can be played in there positions (cam tragardh as a 4) and Dillion can get the minutes he deserves. Would be good to see the tigers go with a big line up.

"How can weexpect fans to be passionate and loyal if the players who preach it dont"

Firstly I have never heard him preach it, secondly the rules for him probably changed with the lockout situation and thirdly what loyalty and passionate fans are you talking about.

The ones who hate everything their club does regardless or those who think they deserve a $300 refund if their team loses or those that talk about being loyal and passionate and are not members and dont go to games.

Thanks for your time Patty, all the best !

Melbourne Tigers release Patty Mills after massive offer from Chinese club Xinjiang Flying Tigers

HE was bound to leave sooner or later with a return to NBA but i never expected him to take up another offer outside NBL ,Good Luck to him everywhere he played the crowd numbers were up,which was good for australian NBL .

im spewing i didnt get down to the arena to see patty play. Oh well ill have to wait and see him suit up for the boomers when they play here next...

I can completely understand Patty's decision. Basketball these days is BIG BUSINESS & with the NBA Lockout gettting worse by the day Patty had to look after himself financially with what seems like a massive pay day. I was there at Adelaide Arena last night & it was a privilege to watch Patty show everyone his considerable talent. I also saw Patty after the game taking the time to sign countless autographs & pose for many photo opportunities with anyone who asked (even the security guards!). He struck me as a humble & very grounded individual, he'll certainly be missed in the NBL as I believe he is a once in a generation talent who brings people to the game to watch this excitement machine. All the best in China Patty!

Glad Patty had the googles on last night and the Sixers still won. I thought it was great that on one play he jacked up an air ball, gets jeered, and on the next offense nails nothing but net from almost the same spot as his previous shot.

That little show of self belief impressed me, the sign of a winner.

I don't think he ever promised a full season. These players are employees working jobs, not crusaders or martyrs for a cause.

Hendo8888,

Can't be too harsh on him here. He came to this country to play for a huge amount less than he could have gotten elsewhere

$1m deal and precludes him from playing NBA this season if the lockout ends. No brainer for him.

Bogut to play for tigers?? One management also tweeting about huge announcement. Nba players heading over? There seems too much buzz for the announcement that patty is leaving

EC,

Patty has well & truly earnt everyone's respect for all he has done in his short but exciting basketball career! If you honestly believe that Patty didnt have any options than to play in the NBL than you must be living on Mars! As the wise & voice of reason 'Isaac' stated this was a 'no brainer' decision!

Already on the nbl website that tigers have released patty so doubt that us their big news.

Just friggin glad to see a game of his brilliance

The tigers don't need to sign a centre as they wouldn't play with gleeson coaching. The "small line up" seems to be the his tact. After reading some previous threads, it seems gleeson is the only one that can't see the big picture.

Bogut was at the tigers v perth game on friday night, maybe something in the bogut tigers deal!

I have the upmost respect for the man. Met him last night after two intense back to back games, a few hours of addressing excited fans and the constant nagging of team management trying to get him to leave. Still had the time to have a chat, sign an autograph and take a picture.

As previously stated, leaving the NBL was a no brainer. Again, if he wanted another NBA contract he had to play somewhere other than the NBL. We can kid ourselves all we want but the League just does not attract the respect that most other national leagues do.

We should count ourselves lucky that we even had the chance to have him in our humble league. There is not one of us that would take a job that paid the sort of money it did over a job that will pay atleast double AND provide the best opportunity for future contracts/jobs (NBA gigs).

Good luck to you Patty, you brought interest back into our league, it is us who owes you.

Disappointing for his development to go to China. Bad decision for the Boomers and disrepsepctful to his fans here.

Had he said when he signed he wasnt here for a whole season if the NBA season ended OR a big offer came up fair enough, but he has just shown disrespect for the NBL to leave for what is supposedly a training contract in a vastly inferior league.

Great he gave up money to play here, but pointless if he is going to treat the league like this.

Before you have a go at him for leaving for money, think to yourself, if the competition of whomever it is that you work for offered you an $80,000 pay rise, would you stay?? Of course not. This is the profession of these guys. They need to make the money while they can. The fact he gave what he did while he was there was enough for me.

My point is if you want the money fair enough, take it. If you want to play in Australia, it wont be for the money. Mills would have known there would be big money offers out there, yet decided to sign here. Either he wanted to help basketball in Australia or not, and leaving to go to a poor Chinese league doesnt help basketball in Australia.

Axxee - probably a small oversight, but I think you meant an $800,000 pay rise?

In answer to your question, I would definitely be switching to another company or the opposition with that pay rise! =)

Has anyone thought that there might be other reasons that Patty Mills is going to China instead of staying here? Maybe as its become more apparent that the 'current' NBA season won't happen his club, the Portland Trailblazers, wanted him playing in a more competitive league than the NBL? I don't know, I'm just guessing but isn't Mills still under contract with the Blazers or is he a free agent?

Either way, and although I sadly missed the chance to see him live last night, I think it was great for the NBL just to have him here playing for the past 7 weeks. We've had umpteen amounts of former NBA players play here over the years and some have been stars (Mee, Brooks, Rose etc) but until now we've never had a current player. Sure he has copped a lot of flack for his flop but other than that the guy has not really put a foot wrong and overall crowds have been up where he and the Tigers have been playing. Last night's 6,175 was the largest crowd to see Patty in the NBL so those who went can be proud of that and they got to see him in full flight on offense playing almost a lone role in keeping Melbourne in the game.

So whether he has been told to go play in a more competitive league or he has done this personally in the pursuit of more money I say good luck to the guy and I hope his career continues to get better. I think it was great to have the guy here, I just hope that now he's gone the crowds don't drop off for the Tigers, after all they are 2nd on the ladder right now.

I know its just my opinion but really I'm just thankful he came to the NBL at all. He did have big $$ offers in Europe IIRC (may be wrong) so to come here at all was a win for the league and showed that he's prepared to give back to basketball in this country, even if it did only end up being for 7 weeks.

Glad we got to see him play and on one of his best nights in the NBL as well.

Im surprised he actually went for this, he has really seemed to enbrace the NBL and looked to be really enjoying it. Obviously its understandable money wise but life is about a lot more than money.

Stoked, I don't have to watch some guy either flop or throw up brick after brick and then make some goggles with his fingers when he hits one and then hear about how awesome he was on Monday.

FFS Mystro, was you even at the game on Saturday night? Patty played a most impressive game, Patty Vs Warren battle in the last Qtr was worth the price of admission alone!. Patty was certainly not throwing up brick after brick on the night! Some people are born Haters & cant appreciate a special talent when it's on display!

I live in New Zealand so that is why I wasn't at the game and why I don't have my tongue up his ass. I will fully admit that his play has improved since the start of the season especially his decision making but he still isn't all that nor even close to it. Haters gonna hate Jiggy but what is his special talent? Throwing up more shots than everyone on the court combined? Turnovers?

Mystro, as with most things the truth tends to lie between the two extremes. Mills is a young talent who is brilliant when on but also very inconsistent.

I understand your feeling about people talking about how good he is each week, but at the same time he hasnt been the worst in the league in terms of shooting or turnovers, and has improved his game as the season went on as you noted.

A big thing for me was that he was mature enough to not try and take over last Friday against Perth when he was having an off night. Earlier in the year he probably would have shot the Tigers out of that game.

Three weeks ago I wouldnt have had him in the top 10 players in the league based on performance, now I think he was probably up to 5th or 6th.

It is a real shame that he is now going to a league where his game probably wont progress, because it desperately needs to keep immproving like it was in the NBL if the Boomers are to have success in London, and if he is to ever be more than a bit player in the NBA.

Short term gain for long term pain, perhaps?

http://espn.go.com/nba/conversations/_/id/7261301/patty-mills-portland-trail-blazers-heads-china-lockout

Interesting to note the new flood of established stars looking O/S. Patty has probably had some solid advice that it's 'now or never' for him. My guess is in a month, this opportunity at these dollars would no longer exist.

In terms of comparing other internationals looking O/S, it doesn't look like many have chosen their own country to go home to. Some have, but these players have been offered big money (as in more than usual for the relevant league) to do so. I assume the 'come home' factor is a marketing plus for the team and the league, and this has been reflected in the value of the deal.

My view on Patty is that he is currently a fringe NBA player, who may be significantly impacted by any new labour deal. He needs to secure his financial future as best he can, whilst he can.

He's managed to give the NBL a huge boost during his time here. Happy to see him here during his stay, happy to see him succeed and get paid well in China.

I cannot believe anyone is bagging him for leaving for dollars. Are you friggin' serious?
There may not be an NBA, so Mills should stay here for pennies instead of earning a high wage somewhere else?

That anyone can be bagging him for earning a wage.....wow.

Good luck Patty, thanks for bringing some interest to the league whilst you were here.

Any idea on who the Tigers will look at for the spare roster spot??

Also who will be their backup PG?
Now that Ubaka moves to PG and Dillion starts at SG, I assume.

To me this seems it has been planned all along that Bogut would replace Mills.

Mills- Needed to play somewhere where he would look good to stay in shape and improve his chances of a contract when the lockout was over. Plus some pocket money.

Bogut- Just needed to rest and wait until he could go back to his $60M 3-year deal remaining. Despite wanting badly to play- wasn't worth the risk or the peanuts they could pay him.

It was agreed that once it became clear the lockout is going to be long term- Patty would skip for a paycheck and Bogut would then play as it may be 18 months between games for him if he waits the lockout out.

The timing seems right as the Chinese league season has just started and Bogut's insurance will drop considerably now we are 3 months into the season.

NBL= Now Bogut's League

So hope you're right Suspicious!

Yeah also, got to agree that NBL is night and day better than Chinese league.

They have no salary cap, so can attract NBA outcasts, but NBL teams would whoop an average Chinese team.

Night and day.

I agree Paul, easily top 10 player and has the potential to be #1 all day, he just isn't there yet despite a lot of people thinking he is

Anon, you clearly didn't watch the game on Saturday. 32 points at 55% is plenty efficient in anyone's books, and he was burning the defence and finishing at the rim over big bodies at will with several NBA finishes.

The only negative in his game was that he didn't look to his team in the last quarter, but rather got into an ego match with Chris Warren, which Warren ended up winning comfortably. Mills needs to learn yet when to dish off to his wide open team mates more.

I wonder if Seamus will ask Patty to give his polo shirts back?

So how many PGs has Patty lost the ego match to?

Eddie Gill
Chris Warren
Kevin Lisch

Who else?

Jamar Wilson.

I would say Martin or Robbins from Perth (who both outplayed him) rather than Lisch.

In fairness to Mills, I think he was trying to do the Bruton thing of getting teammates involved and then hitting the big shots down the stretch. He is a different player to Bruton though, quicker but not as smart. If Mills can find a way to create for teammates in the second half like he did in the first half of recent games he will be very good.

Sad to see him leave just as he was making some good progress, but with so much work to do to be a top level PG as well as a dangerous scorer.

Do have to agree that he got better as the season went along, but whether it proved that the NBL is underrated or he is overrated - there are some quality PGs in this league compared to him.

Tigers to chase bogut! They have asked a sponsor to pay the premium for his insurance so he can play!

The sponsor is OAMPS an insurance broker!

Gee Mystro, you're all class with your tongue in the ass reference! So you live in NZ you say...Enough Said!

Interesting update on the Contract Situation, with Sportando.net reporting that:

"Patty Mills' contract in CBA with Xinjiang is non-guaranteed. He can be replaced anytime if the NBA is cancelled and they find someone better. Patty Mills will stay in China as long as the Chinese team want him."

They are actually a league sponsor as well as a tigers sponsor, so you would think if they were going to insure him they would have surely done it prior to the oceania qualifying series to assist suiting him for that series as well as whichever nbl team could pick him up.

Although I'm not buying the Bogut to NBL rumour, wouldn't it would be better value and more affordable to wait to recruit Bogut sometime mid to late-season when his playing period is more definite and easier to budget?

If the lockout leads to the cancellation of the NBA season, I'd love to see the carnage (and the opposition fan outrage) if the Tigers did a Timmons by recruiting Bogut with several rounds remaining.

Yes I got the mail on Mills before it happened and have the mail re the approach to the insurance brokers re boguts insurance Premuim, doesn't mean he will sign. But once I know hoopsters will know.

My argument was not about chasing bigger dollars, it was justifying the respect that many said we should give him when the respect on his part was lacking. Also, I am not familiar with the Chinese league but if it is inferior to the NBL, won't it drag his game down playing at their level? There may be big dollars there at this present time but at what cost to his future?

If a company is willing to fully guarantee the remainder of the contract there is no risk financially. It seems that lack of guarantee was the issue before.

pretty soon Bogut isn't gonna have any contract with any NBA team.

I think he'll still be able to get a gig, whatever might happen to his current deal, but I do think his contract might get cut back a bit.

Look at the types of Americans that head to the Chinese league and youll get an idea of what is like.

Jackers, hogs, egomaniacs, locker rooms cancers, not a lick of defense.

Q: Who is insuring Kevin Durant et al when they ball in all those pickup games?

Someone. The difference is that the Thunder would want to keep Durant's contract no matter what. I think with Bogut's slight decline after his injury, he is a bit more protective of his contract than the Bucks would be. That's my read of the situation anyway.

soon with the lockout and subsequent no confidence court action being bought by the players, players will be de-registered and all contracts will be null and void.