Nick Mills and the dream that never died

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Mills was the guy in the trendy suit – no tie – high-fiving Gilla the Gorilla, but resisting the urge to run through the tickertape and share the moment with his beloved Wellington Saints.

He's the guy who bought the team's singlets 28 years ago and has been emptying his pockets since.

"I'm actually a very poor man because of it, so if you measure it in dollars I can't afford to do it, no," Mills said a day after the club's sixth National Basketball League championship on his watch.

"It has to be way over a million dollars over the 20 years. Most people at my age would have baches and that sort of thing. I've got a reasonably nice home with a massive mortgage. It doesn't make sense, of course it doesn't.

"But it's a passion and I'm really lucky I have a family that love it and support it. My wife doesn't have a new kitchen ... some of the things she could have had because of basketball, but never once has she moaned about it because she knows what it means to the city.

"I still believe basketball could be the greatest sport in New Zealand."

The dreamer is also an eternal optimist. And the optimist is a successful entrepreneur, bankrolling his obsession through the various pubs and night clubs that are his, and Wellington's basketball team's, life blood.

If there's a constant in the Saints' success, it's Mills.

He got involved in 1982, as a 23-year-old nightclub owner who bought singlets for his cousin's fledgling team, emblazoned with Nite Site.

When they lost nine in a row, it was like a red rag to a bull. "My winning streak wasn't going to let that happen. The rest is history. They brought Kenny McFadden out, won second division, went to first and made the final in the first year. It's an amazing story."

Nite Site became Exchequer became Century City became Exodus gym.

When Mills bowed out to help raise his family from 1991-2001 the Saints went titleless. Since he returned they've added two banners (2003 and 2010) to the wall.

"What keeps me coming back? Success. Wanting to have a team that this city can be proud of and that people can have a night out and enjoy and not cost a fortune. It's cheaper than going to the movies.

MILLS can't accept anything less. It's gained him plenty of critics in basketball circles. Imports and coaches have rolled in and out of his office at an alarming rate and this year's title has been seven long years in the making.

He's been labelled an overbearing owner by some – at training, on the team charter and in the coach's ear.

If you've come for an apology it's somewhere else. Sorry for demanding the best? Forget it.

"If you compare the Saints to any other sport in Wellington, we lick them hands down," he says.

"What other sport here has done nationally what we have? You can't compare it.

"And yet we make the playoffs every year except the year 2000 and everybody is saying, `You've only won two championships.' That's still 20 per cent. If the Hurricanes had that, or the Phoenix, or the Pulse, who win one game and it's as big a deal as us winning a championship.

"That's the one thing that would make me walk away from the sport – the pressure the city puts on you to win every year. That's a huge frustration for me personally."

This is a guy who doesn't hide from the fact that he'd rather win titles than develop local talent. He told his own son Jordan, an emerging Tall Black, that he'd have to leave town to get court time in the NBL.

Jordan's dad owns the Saints. He plays for Taranaki.

"I don't make any apologies. At the end of the day this city, this club, demands success. How much criticism do I get for changing coaches, changing imports? If the job isn't getting done, change it."

Then there's the softer side. Mills was in tears on his way to the final when he ran into a group of wheelchair-bound youngsters and their caregivers on Wellington's waterfront.

You actually cried? "When you see something like that at the moment you are stressing about a basketball game and chasing around a bit of leather you just realise how blessed you are if you have healthy kids."

In fact the highlight of the year for Mills wasn't the title, but watching Nick Jr run the team and the NBL out of his Courtenay Place office.

"We put a rookie coach in and he had to work with him. For all those years I did that, but this year I didn't go to practices, travel with the team – Nick did the whole thing, all the stuff for the league, the media releases, the stats, he was up to 3am most mornings."

Is he passing the baton? "I don't know. Nick and I have completely different A games. He's bookwork and paperwork, where I'm out there shaking hands.

"He'd be no good at bringing money in, asking someone for a dollar, whereas I have the worst knees in the world from begging. I've been through countless pairs of shoes from knocking on doors and asking for money."

So why weren't you on the court when they won? "I'm a behind-the-scenes guy. You will never see me do that, never. They deserve the moment.

"They are close-knit group, as close as I've seen. A lot of old Saints will hate this, but that was the most talented team I've seen. They say you can't compare eras, but I think that team would beat the Saints from the 1980s by 20 points.

"I don't think we saw it in the final, but we saw it in a few games, the athleticism, the depth of talent."

And Pero Cameron? "When you win a championship as a coach it's hard not to have exceeded expectations as a coach. He is what he is. A great guy, a winner, an amazing guy. He is a legend in the sport."

Cameron's locked in for three years, but Mills balks at the mention of a dynasty. He says anything can happen in an off-season.

Star import Eric Devendorf would be welcomed back with open arms but he could be NBA-bound, Lindsay Tait's a priority but everyone else will be chasing his signature.

It seems the only sure thing is that Mills will be there on game night, biting his nails and thinking about how the Saints can add another banner to the wall.