If they need someone to spell Tony Parker or Dejounte Murray while they got some much-needed rest, Patty was there. If the Spurs needed a three, Patty was there. Even though he was never the best player on the team, his impact could be felt every time he stepped on the court. Let's start with the first bucket - his impact on the success of the team. Looking back at Patty's decade with the Spurs, it's hard to make the argument that he doesn't deserve to see his number retired. When considering a player's case for having their jersey retired by a team, I think it's fair to view their candidacy in three distinct buckets: their impact on the success of the team, their place in the team's record books, and what they meant to their organization and the community they played in. Why Patty Mills deserves to have his number retired by the San Antonio Spurs Here's the case for why he deserves to have his number hung in the rafters with the other Spurs greats. No matter how Patty's time in Brooklyn goes, there is only one thing left for him to do - have his jersey retired by the San Antonio Spurs. Losing a player who means this much to a fanbase is never easy and this one is particularly complicated because it now puts many fans in the position of having to half-heartedly root for the Nets, if only so that we can see Patty succeed. A member of the Spurs since 2011, Mills was the longest-tenured member of the roster, the only player remaining from the 2014 NBA Championship team, and the unquestioned heart and soul of the team. Mills would ultimately agree to a two-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets that will net him a cool $12 million. But the one veteran that most of us wanted to see brought back was Patty Mills. They'd given years to the franchise and the fans appreciated them for that, but there was a loud section of the fanbase who preferred to see their minutes passed along to younger players who will dictate the next few years. Many Spurs fans were happy to see DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay take their talents elsewhere. Still, knowing that the team could undergo such an overhaul didn't make it any easier to see it play out right before our eyes.
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Coming into the offseason, we all knew that a drastic transformation of the San Antonio Spurs was a possibility.