San Antonio Spurs: 3 goals for Patty Mills in 2020-21

Season goal for Patty Mills No. 2: Increase his assist numbers.

Mills has always been good at finding the open man. He is able to use his speed and start to break down the opposition’s defense. Then he always gives himself two options, he goes to the hoop himself or he finds an open man for a better shot.

Last season Mills had an off-year for him, only averaging 1.8 assists per game.  This is the first time since the 2014-15 season where he averaged less than two assists per game. In fact, for those four years, he averaged 2.8 assists twice, 3.0 assists, and 3.5 assists once.

While there are a number of factors that can influence the assist numbers, including whether a player makes the shot, Mills has shown the ability to make the right call. In fact, Mills has two seasons where he has averaged over10.0 points per game and more than two assists per game.

Given that the Spurs were 22nd in the league last season for field goal percentage and 28th for 3-point shots taken, these numbers make more sense. Mills is hardly going to pass the ball to a shooter unless they are wide open. Given the Spurs’ lack of spacing, that was tough. Mills needs to identify the new floor spacers and get them the ball.