Abdul Mills wants a shot at the League
By Jeff Lenchiner | July 6, 2007
After almost carrying his team to the 2007 USBL championship, 6'4" multi-talented guard Abdul Mills has his eyes firmly set on the NBA.
After an impressive college career derailed by injuries, the Brooklyn, New York native has kept himself busy.
"I went to Providence, and then after getting hurt at Providence I had the back surgery and then went out to a division 2 college, University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Scoring 23 against Notre Dame and 21 against UConn, Mills as a healthy Providence junior averaged 14.5 points per game and hit his career high of 27 against UTEP.
Playing D2 ball, Mills was a star. "So I did one year and finished up there, and from there I went out to Lithuania. I averaged like 17, shot 60 percent from the field."
Mills enjoyed playing in Panevezys, a "fairly big, nice town." But when the team wanted to re-sign him, he had to do what was best for him and left for Greece to suit up for Union Olimpija. Then as Jimmy Oliver came to town Mills soon moved on, avoiding internal problems the team was having, on a hunt for more playing time elsewhere.
Spain was going to be next on Abdul's list. But he realized that jobs overseas would always be available. The NBA is where he wants to be. "What I want to do, probably, is stay in the States and build up my reputation here. And guys see me and hopefully my play catapults me into the NBA summer league."
To prove himself, Mills headed to the minors. "I played with the ABA for a minute, and then stopped that because I didn't want to do the ABA. So I went to the USBL."
Joining the Brooklyn Kings, Mills finally had a chance to sit back and just focus on basketball. And the results were exactly what the many supporters of Mills expected: 17.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game on 45.3% shooting, and 38.8% from three-point range, carrying the team to an 8-8 record.
In the 2007 USBL playoffs, Mills, proving what he knows he can do if given a chance, went absolutely bonkers, leading the entire league with 27.7 points per game, hitting 53.6% from the field, remarkable for a guard in today's game. Brooklyn lost in the championship game to the Kansas Cagerz 95-92, but individually the statement Mills made read loud and clear: The man can play basketball at a very high level. All he needs is a chance.
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