July isn’t only about re-signing Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks will look to use their mini mid-level exception to obtain a free-agent starting point guard, and one may have emerged out of the Finals massacre of Miami in Spurs backup Patty Mills.
According to a source, Mills would be intrigued by the idea of playing in New York and increasing his role from Tony Parker’s backup to a more marquee role.
“New York is definitely a city Mills would want to play in,’’ the source said. “He has that personality.’’
Mills, 25, has always been on the Knicks’ radar for this summer, but he could have zoomed to the top after his playoff performance. The speedy 6-foot point guard with a sweet 3-point shot delivered the knockout blow to the Heat in Sunday’s Game 5 clincher.
Mills scored 14 third-quarter points, hitting four straight 3-pointers. He finished the playoffs shooting a sensational 40.5 percent from 3-point range after barely seeing action in last season’s Finals vs. Miami. In the triangle offense, as Derek Fisher showed, a point guard with a deft 3-point shot is as important as penetration.
The question is how high Mills’ market value has climbed and whether the Spurs are ready to pay a significant amount for a backup point guard. That’s usually not their style, with small-market owner Peter Holt one of the leaders of the 2011 lockout.
Mills opted into his contract last offseason and was paid just $1.3 million. Now he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The Knicks are looking to appropriate their $3.2 million mini mid-level on a starting point guard to supplant the ineffective Raymond Felton.
Certainly the Spurs should do everything they can to keep Mills, but in the Knicks’ favor is that they are one of the few teams looking for a starting point guard.
A source said Mills not only handled backup duties deftly all season, but he was one of the glue guys in the locker room. Mills led the entire London Olympics in 2012 in scoring average (21.2) for the Australian national team, but hadn’t made an impact in the NBA.
The overriding factor in Mills’ emergence this season was dropping his body fat under 5 percent after a rigorous offseason regimen. Spurs coach Gregg Popovic used to call him “little fat ass.’’
“He’s a special guy,” Popovich said after Sunday’s clincher. “His energy has been important to us all year long. He’s a real significant reason why we got to the Finals. That energy, that team sense that he has really has become infectious for everybody.”
Knicks president Phil Jackson denied he has told Felton he is looking to trade him, but his woes last season on and off the court have the club looking for a change. His faulty perimeter defense often caused chaos, with the Knicks forced to always be in rotation.
Despite his size, Mills is a sturdy, active defender. In fact, the high-tech SportVu rating, which tracks by cameras how far a player travels in a game, ranks Mills No. 1 in the NBA per minute.
Meanwhile, Felton’s arrest in March on a gun-possession charge didn’t help his status with the Knicks. But legal sources told The Post that Felton’s attorneys have been in negotiations for a plea bargain that will keep the case from going to trial and keep Felton from serving any prison time. A source close to Felton said he wants to return to New York, feeling he has unfinished business.
However, with Pablo Prigioni as the backup, the Knicks will attempt to deal Felton this summer.