spree2kawhi wrote:Chanel Bomber wrote:spree2kawhi wrote:Bridges will be the role player we’ve been looking for soon enough. I cannot understand everybody’s impatience with this roster. Bridges has a long history of being an absolute two-way force. Her, his role and usage are diminished. Let things fall into place. He isn’t even as bad as you all claim after looking at the boxscores. There s still aren’t many players in the league I’d rather put on Steph Curry, maybe nobody.
I don't think Mikal has any history of being a "two-way force".
He was a 3&D role player in Phoenix, their 4th option in their run to the Finals behind Book, CP3 and Ayton.
His role expanded in Brooklyn and he had a few good months when he got there but his game regressed to the mean and fell back down to Earth last season, his ppg even falling below 20.0 despite the Nets' overall lack of talent.
Worse, his 3-point shot and his defense declined significantly.
I don't think he's bad at all. He's an above-average role player who does nothing remarkably well. His best asset now is his switchability but I don't think it's even translating into
meaningful defensive impact.
There's nothing forceful about his game or his impact on the court imo.
Like Cohen said on KFS, he's fine but you don't trade your entire draft capital for "fine".
He was on the NBA All Defensive
First team in 2022. I guess they were all wrong. And he is still a very good defender, just go and re-watch the game against the Warriors, for example. It’s easy to discard that and point towards erratic shooting. But it’s not a consistent argument. The picks are likely to be very underwhelming and picks in general have lost value and have also become much easier to acquire, this is not 2010 anymore. Times have changed and switchable defenders that you can also trust with the ball in high-pressure situations are very rare. He is automatic from mid-range, and a great slasher. Decent shooter. I’ve expected more, but I’m glad we have him.
We live in 2025, not 2022.
His defense has declined considerably since. The way things were 3 years ago is irrelevant today. He hasn't made an All-NBA defensive team since.
He's no longer a great defender today. And his 3-point shot has fallen off. He doesn't provide much in terms of playmaking. His best shot is the most inefficient in basketball. He's a "great slasher"? How? He barely attacks the basket and he never gets to the FT line.
You assuming the picks will not amount to much and dismissing the risk completely ignores the fact that the NBA is a hugely volatile environment. You can't take anything for granted, just look at the Suns. It only takes a locker room fracture, a bad trade or an injury to Brunson to send the Knicks into a tailspin.
Mikal has good games and bad games. Some great plays every now and then. On the whole, he has been nothing more than above-average or as Cohen put it, "fine".
This is not worth all the draft capital we sent out.
I think you like the idea of him moreso than him as a player.
RIP mags
