[marriard]

Mills got a career high 8 points in 4 garbage time minutes. He made a layup, 2 jumpers and a couple of free throws on 3-5 shooting.

He should have got almost a full quarter of minutes but Bayless and company couldn't keep a 30 point 3rd quarter lead without Andre Miller on the court so McMillan had to put him back into the game instead of going with the bench.

Mills outplayed Bayless despite it being garbage time. I'd love to say this might lead to some more minutes, but it wont just because it really was meaningless minutes. It does add to the tape on Mills though and these minutes lead to more opportunity as he moves forward whether he plays for the Blazers or someone else.

[nomisg]

Blazers expected to sign Diener

Quote

The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to sign former Indiana Pacers guard Travis Diener, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Monday.

Diener is expected to clear waivers on Wednesday, and can sign immediately with Portland. The Blazers have been looking for another guard after trading Steve Blake to the Los Angeles Clippers in the Marcus Camby deal.

After deciding to give a bulk of their minutes to rookie A.J. Price(notes), the Pacers cut Diener on Monday. Diener had toe surgery in the preseason and has played just four games. In the previous two seasons, Diener played 121 games, averaging 5.4 points and three assists.

Why the hell do Portland need more guards? this does not bode well for Mills.

[marriard]

nomisg, on 02 March 2010 - 09:36 AM, said:

Why the hell do Portland need more guards? this does not bode well for Mills.

*shrug* I am not worried about Mills and the NBA at the moment. Firstly he has a two year contract so he has some leeway and some bankroll. He will be in summer league and camp next year and hopefully healthy so that will be a big opportunity to show what he can do.

The worse scenario is that he has a great summer league and Portland keeps him and McMillan continues to not play him. That would suck.

After that the scenarios are going to be fine for Mills - he could get waived at some stage and get picked up by a NBA team that needs him. Or he could play a month or so of D-League and then be picked up by a NBA team that needs him.

The key for Mills is to be healthy for summer league. He'll get every opportunity then to show his stuff.

I understand Portland singing someone in the next day or so - they have a roster spot they can fill and it needs to be filled in the next 24-48 hours because playoff rosters are going to be set soon. Bayless clearly can't play PG (he sucked again tonight at the position) and Travis Diener is just a not-as-good Steve Blake. Same with a couple of other PG's people are talking about for Portland such as Dan Dickau.

I think McMillan just doesn't like small guards. Which is a shame since Portland routinely get smacked around by them by teams that have one.

[South01]

IS Mills injured again?
says inactive today V Raptors.

[nomisg]

Interesting article here that goes onto talk about Portland potential off-season.

http://www.blazersed...k-blazers-needs

I think he would be best server somewhere else, but its realy not up to Pattyy

[marriard]

I am surprised that Mills isn't down in the D-League considering the Blazers did sign Travis Diener (although Diener is recovering from pretty much the same injury Mills had).

Mills just need to be healthy for summer league. That is about what it boils down to at the moment

[damavs]

The best thing for mills right now is to remain positive. Eventually he will get to display his rare speed and he will find his situation improving. I can only imagine how good his stock would be if he stayed in college this year. St.marys being in the NCAA tourney with Patty mills running the show would of been awesome.