If you have paid attention to the fans of this season's Nets games, I believe that most people and the author's evaluation of Mills is the same, the veteran's strength is too strong. After joining the Nets this season, he played the best performance of his career. He was able to hit shots from all positions in the game while taking over the team's offense at key moments, and he was the team's trusted key ball man and the Nets' backcourt thigh this season.
So far in the new season, Mills has played 28 games for the team, including 14 starts, averaging 13.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 29.6 minutes per game, shooting 44.9% from the field and 44.7% from three-point range, ranking 8th in the league, while he can shoot 3.2 three-pointers per game, which is 5th in the league.
It is worth mentioning that Mills has performed by more than 20 points in 8 games this season, and his entire career, the highest 20+ performances in a single season are only 9 times, and this season, with only 28 games played, Mills has already scored at least 20 points in 8 games. In that respect, it's enough to see how well Mills has been this season, and in many games mills have been the team's trusted player on the offensive end.
How strong Mills' performance this season cannot be summed up by a few simple statistics, let's take the game example to describe. In the home game against the Raptors, when Harden, Aldridge and Bembry and other main rotations could not play, Mills became the team's main offensive strength besides Durant.
Mills had 30 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in the game and shot seven three-pointers on the perimeter. In the final quarter, when the Nets were behind, Mills scored 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the final quarter, and in overtime, he also scored 3 points personally, and throughout the final quarter and overtime, Mills personally scored 19 points to help the team finally reverse the victory.
There are many such examples, although Mills has also had a crotch pull performance this season, but most of the time, Mills is a trustworthy offensive strong point of the team. Mills' excellent performance on the offensive end in Irving's absence largely compensated for the impact Irving had on the team in his absence.
At this stage, Mills has become the third offensive strength of the team besides Durant and Harden, and in many cases, the Nets want to win, they need Mills to usher in an outbreak on the offensive end.
I believe many fans know that Mills has played for the Spurs for most of his career, and his reputation and fame are also in the Spurs, and many fans believe that Mills will decline after leaving Popovich, and his role on the court is not obvious.
However, from the data and performance, it is undeniable that outside of Popovich, Mills still shines, he still has the ability to play a very influential performance in the game, and he has averaged a career high of 13.3 points per game this season, which is also a good illustration of this.
Personally, I feel that after leaving Popovich, Mills can better show his scoring talent in the game, and he has indeed done this this season, becoming an indispensable player in the current Nets tactical system. In my opinion, if the Nets want to win the championship this season, Mills will play a very important role, and in the playoffs, Mills' performance is expected to give a lot of help, and his presence can make the Nets better.