AUS - Mills knows importance of staying humble

CANBERRA (Olympics) - Australia national team guard Patrick Mills remembers taking his first steps in basketball.

It’s something he doesn’t ever want to ever forget.

"You need to make the time to make sure you do go back to where you started," he says.

For Mills, that means the memories of his mother and father, and “family at the Shadows Basketball Club in Canberra”.

"You just go back to the days when you were playing out the back of my house,” he says.

"I’m an only child, so I was out there most of the time by myself, weaving in and out of the bed-sheets that were on the clothesline.

"So it’s things like that, you see where you’ve come from, and where you’re at now, and how much hard work you’ve put in between them.”

Maybe he didn’t know it at the time, but Mills was preparing for a life in basketball that would take him all over the world.

He would become an integral part of the national team by his 20th birthday, when he was at the 2008 Olympics.

No Australia player caused more of a buzz in China that summer than Mills, who had some dazzling performances inside Beijing’s Wuhan Arena.

Draft night

The fact that Australia had a great player in the making was confirmed again the following summer when Mills was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Mills remembers that night in New York as one of the most exciting moments of his life.

“My whole family was there me, had friends that were with me," he said.

"We went to Madison Square Garden and we were sitting in the arena when my name was called out, that whole experience, knowing what I’ve gone through throughout this whole time, and all the people that have been involved in my career and how much sacrifice I’ve put in, to come to the day when my name was called out, it was a great feeling."

Mills went with the 25th pick in the second round.

He had been projected to go higher, but an injury that season with St Mary's in American college basketball did not help his draft stock.

"I went through a lot that year," Mills said, "breaking my hand and obviously slipping a lot in the draft, but at the end of the day, you know, I did hear my name called out at the NBA Draft in 2009, and the rest is history.”

Mills has a couple of years as a professional in America under his belt and had wanted the 2011-12 campaign to be a breakout year in the NBA but the lockout came.

While playing for the Melbourne Tigers during the labor dispute, Mills received a lucrative contract to play in China.

That likely means he won't be able to return to the United States until the conclusion of the CBA season in March.

Still only 23, Mills' best years are in front of him.

He has plenty of time to make his mark in the NBA.

Just as he was a key man for Australia at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Mills will again be crucial for Brett Brown’s team when they play at the London Games.

Mills knows that everyone Down Under will be counting on him to be a leader, to produce.

As long as he remains humble, the hard work is going to be pay off.

“I think that’s something that you need to do, because you can get caught up very easily in what’s going around you, and you can forget where you’ve come from, and how much it’s taken for you to get where you are now," he says.

FIBA