Patty Mills played 51 games for the Spurs last season, but it wasn’t really him.
The manic enthusiasm was there, and probably will be until he takes his last breath. At times, so was his combustible shooting stroke. Mills was one of the few Spurs who played well during their first-round loss to the L.A. Clippers, averaging 10.1 points and shooting 57.1 percent on 3-pointers.
The total package, however, the sparkplug whose scoring outbursts off the bench were such an integral part of their 2014 championship run, never consistently materialized thanks to offseason surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.