HE HAS been described as "the one that got away" from AFL clubs and now NBA champion Patty Mills says he misses playing Australian Rules.
Mills took a moment away from the San Antonio Spurs' NBA title celebrations on Friday to respond to a tweet from NBA.com that featured a link to an AFL.com.au video of highlights of his stellar 2004 national under-15 football championships for NSW/ACT.
The Spurs' back-up point guard is a well-known AFL, particularly the Adelaide Crows, and tweeted "I miss that sport".
The video of Mills showcases the future basketball star's elite football talent that earned him the best-and-fairest award – won by Joel Selwood the previous year - and All-Australian honours at the 2004 national championships.
It has been well documented that Mills had a bright future as a footballer.
But in a sliding doors moment he joined the AIS via a basketball scholarship in 2005 after Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury pulled out and decided to instead play TAC Cup for the Gippsland Power.
The video of Mills' schoolboy football prowess has had more than 100,000 views across AFL.com.au’s digital platforms and is set for many more after basketball blogger Lang Whitaker embedded the video on his page on the NBA website.
“@NBAcom: Watch highlights of teenage@Patty_Mills playing Australian Rules Football: http://t.co/mJMrxXXKSP #NBA #AllBall” I miss that sport
— Patrick Mills (@Patty_Mills) June 20, 2014
