What has surprised Patty Mills about his Heat experience? Also, playing time helping Nikola Jovic

Patty Mills didn’t know what to expect after joining the Miami Heat a few weeks ago. The veteran guard didn’t know what his role would be and he didn’t know how the mid-season transition would go.

But after not playing in his first game with the Heat, Mills entered Friday night’s matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans at Kaseya Center with double-digit minutes logged in seven straight games amid the team’s injury issues after that initial DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision). He made his first start of the season and third start in the last two seasons in Wednesday’s road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in place of the injured Duncan Robinson.

“The surprising part is how comfortable and quickly that I’ve been able to pick up on some stuff,” Mills said ahead of Friday’s game against the Pelicans. “Then after that, what can you do to impact the team in a positive way. I think that’s been probably the most surprising part, if anything.”

Mills, 35, has been a regular part of his team’s rotation for most of his NBA career. But that hasn’t always been the case in his 15th NBA season, as he received 36 DNP-CDs with the Atlanta Hawks this season before the Hawks waived him on Feb. 29 to free him up to eventually sign with the Heat.

“Any time you get a chance to be on the floor, I think I’ve always had that mindset of how you can impact the game, how can you do things to make the team better,” said Mills, who signed a minimum contract on March 6 to join the Heat for the rest of the season. “I really think that there are things that are valued here, as you can see by the way this team has played and always played. I think that’s been the best part about it.”

Three-point shooting is still Mills’ biggest strength, but not many threes have gone in through his first two weeks with the Heat. After shooting 3 of 4 from three-point range in his Heat debut, he has shot just 3 of 27 (11.1 percent) in his next six appearances ahead of Friday’s game against the Pelicans.

But the spacing Mills provides with the threat of his outside shooting, whether his threes are going in or not, has helped to keep him a net positive. Entering Friday, the Heat has scored 112.2 points per 100 possessions with Mills on the court compared to 103.7 points per 100 possessions when Mills has been on the bench since he joined the team.

“Patty is such a savvy veteran winning player that if you don’t look past whatever the shooting numbers may be, you don’t see all the nuances of how he helps,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s been a plus in basically every game that he’s played in and he definitely impacts our offense with his spacing and his movement. He’s very similar to Duncan, how he’s just constantly on the move, creates overreactions and he knows how to screen, he knows how to do things off the ball, as well.”

Mills also brings plenty of experience, appearing in 95 playoff games during his NBA career and winning a championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.

“He’s won at the highest level,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said. “He’s been a winner for a long time now and I’m glad that we get to bring his championship experience, everything that he’s learned. He’s teaching everybody a lot still of how we can be better on both sides of the ball. He’s constantly communicating. But he belongs here, man, he does. He plays basketball the right way. All he cares about is winning.”

That’s all the Heat cares about, too, and Mills appreciates that.

“At the end of the day, it’s always about winning plays and doing things that are better for the team,” Mills said. “That’s what I love about this environment here.”

GROWTH TRACK

Entering Friday’s game, Heat second-year forward Nikola Jovic has started in 13 straight appearances after opening the season out of the team’s rotation.

Spoelstra believes that consistent playing time has helped to accelerate the 20-year-old’s development.

“Since he’s been regularly in the rotation, his improvement has been exponential because the player development is still there,” Spoelstra said of Jovic. “I mean, he’s in our facility around the clock. But now it’s a lot more relevant. He can connect the dots now to why we’re doing all the drilling and the film sessions and haranguing him about all the little details that lead to winning. His head coach is seeing incremental improvements.”