Getty Patty Mills
The Miami Heat continue to add more reinforcements, particularly in their backcourt. After trading for Terry Rozier and signing Delon Wright, they’ve added Patty Mills to the squad, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Free agent Patty Mills is planning to sign with the Miami Heat, sources tell ESPN.
Wojnarowski also noted Mills’ playoff experience and why bringing Mills in now is important to Miami.
“At 35, Mills has played 95 career playoff games with the Blazers, Spurs, and Nets. He played 19 games with the Hawks this season and now joins the Heat, where he’ll be eligible for the postseason roster,” Wojnarowski wrote via his X account.
Mills played 19 games for the Atlanta Hawks before they waived him on February 29. In the 19 games he played for the Hawks, Mills averaged 2.7 points while shooting 37.3% from the field and 38.2% from three.
At 35 years old, the Australian guard is not the player he was when he helped the Spurs beat the Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals. However, he brings championship experience to a team vying to return to the NBA Finals.
Patty Mills will be behind Rozier, Wright, Tyler Herro, and Josh Richardson on the Heat’s depth chart. However, the Heat will at least have another option for floor spacing if they are ever undermanned.
Bill Simmons Calls Heat ‘F****** Lucky’
During the March 3 episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” with Ryen Russilo, Simmons explained why he believes the Heat’s success for the past several seasons
“The Heat are f****** lucky. This [Jaime] Jaquez thing, it’s so upsetting,” Simmons said. “So they get [Tyler] Herro because they win a f****** coin flip with Boston. They get Bam [Adebayo] at 14 because the moron Portland Trail Blazers trade two picks to move up to 10, and they take Zach Collins instead of Bam. And then [Luke] Kennard goes to the [Detroit] Pistons, 12. Bam falls to 14.”
Simmons continued to pile on what he believes were lucky breaks on Miami’s side.
“They get [Terry] Rozier for barely anything. They get [Jimmy] Butler because Portland — again, Portland helps them twice. Portland’s f—— stupid. They’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ll take Hassan Whiteside so you can fit Butler in your cap, cool.’
Simmons called out the notion of “Heat Culture,” believing all of it is good fortune.
“It f****** makes me mad. But all of it’s luck. Ah, it’s luck. Everyone’s like, ‘Heat culture!’ You know what the Heat culture is? F****** luck.”
Whether it’s luck, the Heat have made the most of their situation. Teams have gotten lucky in the past and came away with nothing.
While expectations for Patty Mills should be minimal, the Heat may very well get lucky again if he proves to be a fruitful addition to the squad.
Heat’s Injury Report Against Pistons
The Heat may need Patty Mills to play sooner rather than later. With their game against the Pistons on March 5, the Heat have an extensive list of players on their injury report.
The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang reported via his X account that multiple rotation players remain out, including Herro, Richardson, and Kevin Love.
Heat injury report for tomorrow vs. Pistons:
Herro (foot) out
Love (heel) out
Richardson (shoulder) out
Cain (G League) out
Williams (G League) out
Smith (knee) out
Bam Adebayo and Caleb Martin are expected to be available to play.
The Heat are 34-26. They have the No. 7 seed, but they are only separated by one-and-a-half games from the Knicks, who have the No. 4 seed.