2. Patty Mills
After the news of Josh Richardson needing season-ending shoulder surgery, veteran point guard Patty Mills was brought in as a free agent off the buyout market. Mills brings a savvy mindset and voice to the locker room. He also can be a quality assurance player barring any injuries to the guard rotation. He is a former champion as a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, ironically taking down LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in the process. He is a career 38.8% 3-point shooter and has a high IQ being a 35 year old player.
During the loss against the OKC Thunder a week ago, Mills wasted no time making an impact in his Heat debut off the bench. He dropped 13 points in 16 minutes on 5/7 shooting, including a few nice shots from deep.
He’s been serviceable in the two following games but just not enough of an impact to really crack this team’s playoff rotation. Tyler Herro’s injury has paved a way for him to get minutes as of late, but if this core is healthy come postseason it will be real tough to see Mills earn any minutes. His lack of size and defense is something that could also factor into that.
It’s still always good to have a veteran with championship experience involved, but it could be a safer bet than not that Mills won’t earn a rotation spot down the stretch.