Mighty Mite Mills Helping Nets Fill Void Left By Harris Injury
Despite Brooklyn’s Eastern Conference leading 14-6 record at the season’s approximate quarter pole mark, a dark cloud has seemed to be hanging over this club since training camp. For some fans, a loss tonight in the opening round of the Battle of the Boroughs against the Knicks to start of a three-game home stand will equate to the end of civilization.
It all started with The Kyrie Irving Experience, where the superstar guard got himself effectively banned from the team because he has refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The loss of one-third of the Nets’ Big 3 has exacerbated every subsequent negative occurrence, from multiple injuries to the desertion of starting center Blake Griffin’s three-point shooting touch.
The left ankle injury to sweet-shooting wing Joe Harris, who underwent surgery on Monday to remove a bone particle, was thought to be yet another crushing blow. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who spoke to Harris’ agent, the league’s reigning three-point percentage leader in two of the last three seasons will need four-to-eight weeks to recover on top of the six games he’s already missed.
However, the Nets haven’t missed much of a beat in Harris’ absence, going 4-2 while losing only to elite Golden State and Phoenix. Thank Patty Mills, Harris’ replacement in Brooklyn’s starting five, for that. He has been a godsend since signing for a bargain $5.9 million mid-level exception (with a player option for 2022-23) this summer.
The captain of Australia’s bronze-medalists at the Tokyo Olympics last summer has been all positive vibes in Brooklyn, a bundle of energy every time he steps on the court. In addition, the small sample size stats have shown that Mills has more than replicated Harris’ elite skill, with Mills (16.7ppg, 56/53/100 shooting split in 6 games) exceeding Harris’ production and efficiency (11.3ppg, 45/47/83 shooting split in 14 games) as a starter. As a team, the Nets have a plus-9.6 net rating with Mills on the floor as a starter versus plus-1.2 with Harris, according to NBA.com. In first quarters, where the Nets often have issues coming out with the proper mentality, the team has flipped Harris’ minus-1.5 net rating into Mills’ plus-3.4.
There hasn’t been any loss of gravity either--since Griffin was replaced by LaMarcus Aldridge in the middle, all five Nets starters are shooting well above the league average of 34.4% from deep (though DeAndre’ Bembry has been regressing to his mean with seven consecutive three-point misses over his last eight games), with Mills leading the league at a whopping 50%.
Mills has been more deadly from above-the-break (51.1) than the corners (47.45), on pull-ups (56.3%) versus catch-and-shoots (48.4%), and he’s even knocked down nearly 50% of his 3s when tightly-guarded, as measured by NBA.com. Some of his buckets, especially those where he’s drifting into the corners, break the degree of difficulty curve.
Defensively, Harris has six inches and 40 pounds on the diminutive Mills, who has made up for the size differential by taking four charges (second on the team behind Griffin, thereby earning acceptance into Brooklyn’s “Blue Collar Boys Club”) and generally acting like a pest. It might have been different if Irving were around as another undersized defender, but so far the Nets haven’t been hurt on the defensive end with Mills on the floor (104.8 defensive rating in 20 total games).
Ironically, only once (2017-18 in San Antonio) in Mills’ 12 previous NBA seasons has he started more than eight games. His nearly 28 minutes per game average this season at age 33 would also be a career high.
Of course, Mills’ promotion has created a lead guard void to spell James Harden off the bench, though that role really wasn’t Mills’ forte either. He’s more of a recipient than a facilitator, as are the players forced to step up in Head Coach Steve Nash’s rotation—the maddeningly inconsistent Jevon Carter and rookie Cam Thomas.
The Nets have plenty of time to finesse their roster by adding a reserve shot creator, either via the trade or free agent buyout market. In the meantime, no worries--the mighty mite Mills has the Harris slot covered.