Gregg Popovich Says Patty Mills 'Was a Little Fat Ass' Last Season

Jim Cavan

Mar 26, 2014

If and when San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich ever retires, we recommend he not only be immediately inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but that he be given his own wing of the building—a space where all his best quotes can be scrawled across the dimly lit walls.

And we expect this one to be on the ceiling.

That’s…that’s the greatest thing I’ve ever read.

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ESPN.com lists the Australian point guard at 6’0” (generous), 185 pounds.

To the untrained, non-medical eye, that would seem, well, pretty normal.

According to this HealthCheckSystems.com chart, however, Mills is actually right on the upper edge for what’s called a “large frame” for the cited height.

And that’s assuming Mills is actually 6’0”, which, no, he is not.

What’s really weird about this whole thing is that, last we checked, Mills was the starting point guard for the Australian Men’s National Team at the 2012 London Olympics.

Typically, when a guy puts that kind of mileage on his treads in a calendar year, the next thing that happens is arriving at training camp bragging about being “in the best shape of my life” (See: Carmelo Anthony).

Did Mills hammer a Sunday paper full of fish and chips for every meal in England? Were the interceding weeks between the end of the Olympics and the start of Spurs training camp spent living in the basement of a Carl’s Jr.?

Or is Pop just being mean?

According to this dispatch from the San Antonio Express-News’ Dan McCarney, maybe not:

"
Mills told the Express-News he hasn’t lost much weight, but dropped his body fat under seven percent to win a bet that teammate Boris Diaw wasn’t willing to participate in outside of the actual wager. Whether or not it results in playing time remains to be seen. But as you can see, Mills did his part by getting into — cue an old training camp faithful — The Best Shape of His Life.
"

Case closed, I guess. Although, if Pop wants to say a few words about Boris Diaw, that would be fine by us.

Go ahead, Pop. It’s totally off the record.

Anyway, Mills has played better this year—like, a lot better, according to Basketball-Reference.com—so whatever he did to shed those extra pounds certainly worked.