Mikal Bridges discussion, news and highlights

[Slim Charless]

Still untouchable? Just checking with the consensus on this. Defensively he's fallen off and his albeitly better offense comes inconsistently and with not the best efficiency.

Thoughts?

Bridges great contract value starting to look like an overpay.

He’s an average defender in my opinion. Offense is hit or miss. You never know what you’re gonna get from him.

He works best standing in the corner waiting for someone to pass him the ball for a wide open 3. Or cutting to the basket off a guard penetration.

Don’t let him dribble, don’t let him make decisions.

He needs a lot of help on defense. We’re gonna have to start hedging his man off PnR because he’s doesn’t stay attached to his man coming off a pick, EVER!!!
-DA or whoever will need to hedge a little bit so he can recover.

-Month needs to make the proper defensive adjustments.

Paul can’t guard anyone and Bridges is a regular guy on defense.

I don't know about average but he's no Marcus Smart. He allows himself to be switched off of the main guys too easily

[sunsfan1o1]

Still untouchable? Just checking with the consensus on this. Defensively he's fallen off and his albeitly better offense comes inconsistently and with not the best efficiency.

Thoughts?

Bridges great contract value starting to look like an overpay.

He’s an average defender in my opinion. Offense is hit or miss. You never know what you’re gonna get from him.

He works best standing in the corner waiting for someone to pass him the ball for a wide open 3. Or cutting to the basket off a guard penetration.

Don’t let him dribble, don’t let him make decisions.

He needs a lot of help on defense. We’re gonna have to start hedging his man off PnR because he’s doesn’t stay attached to his man coming off a pick, EVER!!!
-DA or whoever will need to hedge a little bit so he can recover.

-Month needs to make the proper defensive adjustments.

Paul can’t guard anyone and Bridges is a regular guy on defense.

I don't know about average but he's no Marcus Smart. He allows himself to be switched off of the main guys too easily

I think he’s an average defender. But these days no one plays defense so he looks great to a lot of people.

Bridges will be fine once Booker and Cams come back. He’s a role player. He’ll never be more. He’s looking bad now cuz like Craig he’s being asked to play a different role and he’s not built for that.

This team is full of role players who can execute Monty’s system to perfection.
With so many injuries our “best defender” is expending more energy on offense and it shows on defense. Bridges can’t be both. Not many can.

Plus Bridges handles are suspect, he has no moves, and he’s not very creative. He needs a system to succeed.
Like in Villanova. He is a system player.

[Slim Charless]

Bridges great contract value starting to look like an overpay.

He’s an average defender in my opinion. Offense is hit or miss. You never know what you’re gonna get from him.

He works best standing in the corner waiting for someone to pass him the ball for a wide open 3. Or cutting to the basket off a guard penetration.

Don’t let him dribble, don’t let him make decisions.

He needs a lot of help on defense. We’re gonna have to start hedging his man off PnR because he’s doesn’t stay attached to his man coming off a pick, EVER!!!
-DA or whoever will need to hedge a little bit so he can recover.

-Month needs to make the proper defensive adjustments.

Paul can’t guard anyone and Bridges is a regular guy on defense.

I don't know about average but he's no Marcus Smart. He allows himself to be switched off of the main guys too easily

I think he’s an average defender. But these days no one plays defense so he looks great to a lot of people.

Bridges will be fine once Booker and Cams come back. He’s a role player. He’ll never be more. He’s looking bad now cuz like Craig he’s being asked to play a different role and he’s not built for that.

This team is full of role players who can execute Monty’s system to perfection.
With so many injuries our “best defender” is expending more energy on offense and it shows on defense. Bridges can’t be both. Not many can.

Plus Bridges handles are suspect, he has no moves, and he’s not very creative. He needs a system to succeed.
Like in Villanova. He is a system player.

It's tough. I'm once again tempted by a potential Siakam trade. A Koloko/Siakam/Mikal frontline sounds amazing to me. The length and the switch ability would do us some good. Unfortunately I'm not sure if an Ayton/CamJo/FRP combo pries him off of Toronto. I'm also not sure I like the idea of paying Siakam 50/yr when he's eligible for that supermax.

That being said that frontline is a problem for other teams.

I'm honestly tempted to just say trade Jae and Shamet to NYC for Fourier and 2024 picks. *If* we have Presti, he'll be able to use those picks wisely, plus Fournier is a FA next yr so we can cut costs.

[sunsfan1o1]

I don't know about average but he's no Marcus Smart. He allows himself to be switched off of the main guys too easily

I think he’s an average defender. But these days no one plays defense so he looks great to a lot of people.

Bridges will be fine once Booker and Cams come back. He’s a role player. He’ll never be more. He’s looking bad now cuz like Craig he’s being asked to play a different role and he’s not built for that.

This team is full of role players who can execute Monty’s system to perfection.
With so many injuries our “best defender” is expending more energy on offense and it shows on defense. Bridges can’t be both. Not many can.

Plus Bridges handles are suspect, he has no moves, and he’s not very creative. He needs a system to succeed.
Like in Villanova. He is a system player.

It's tough. I'm once again tempted by a potential Siakam trade. A Koloko/Siakam/Mikal frontline sounds amazing to me. The length and the switch ability would do us some good. Unfortunately I'm not sure if an Ayton/CamJo/FRP combo pries him off of Toronto. I'm also not sure I like the idea of paying Siakam 50/yr when he's eligible for that supermax.

That being said that frontline is a problem for other teams.

I'm honestly tempted to just say trade Jae and Shamet to NYC for Fourier and 2024 picks. *If* we have Presti, he'll be able to use those picks wisely, plus Fournier is a FA next yr so we can cut costs.

I’m high on Cam Johnson. I think he has a chance to be really good in this league if he can stay healthy.
I would trade Mikal before CamJo. I would never include both Ayton and Cam unless it’s for someone like a KD.

I wouldn’t expect Presti to come to the suns so I wouldn’t count on that.
I still think the only thing this team needs to do is trade Jae Crowder ASAP.
That trade will give the team and locker room new life and energy.
Jones perception of Crowders value might be the same as Crowders perception of himself. So that might be a good thing or a bad thing

[Saberestar]

Read on Twitter

[lilfishi22]

Bridges has been incredibly impressive over the past month or so. Really rough around the edges when his scoring but you can see he's trying and he's not afraid to shoot it would seems. He's starting to build out his creation repertoire which looks unsurprisingly like Book's.

[Saberestar]

On Jan 4th, Mikal Bridges missed a shot at the buzzer to tie the game @ CLE.

Tonight - on another crucial in bounds - Monty Williams drew up another play to get Mikal the same shot.

This time he knocked it down & took that confidence into OT with a dominant stretch.

Read on Twitter

Interesting thread and it shows how much Mikal has improved this season.

[bigfoot]

Bridges splits for January

18.6 points
4.1 rebouds
4.9 assists

He is turning into Kwahi-lite. Certainly in the top 10 for value contracts

[sunsbg]

Great improvement as a scorer and it's like 80% of his assists are from passed to guess who. Mikal - DA, Booker - DA two man games could be a nightmare for opponents in the years to come. But let's bring Siakam who will take shots from both Booker and Bridges.

[lilfishi22]

Great improvement as a scorer and it's like 80% of his assists are from passed to guess who. Mikal - DA, Booker - DA two man games could be a nightmare for opponents in the years to come. But let's bring Siakam who will take shots from both Booker and Bridges.

The idea is Siakam will be another creator once CP3 moves on. I have doubts Mikal will be a high level creator whereas Booker and Siakam both already are.

[Qwigglez]

Bridges last 12 games is averaging 23.5 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, while shooting over 48%, 38% from 3, 90% from the line.

[lilfishi22]

Bridges last 12 games is averaging 23.5 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, while shooting over 48%, 38% from 3, 90% from the line.

I think equally as impressive as his new playmaking and scoring chops is the fact that his efficiency really hasn't been impacted. Most guys playing a new role or having new responsibilities that they've never had before tend to be less efficient largely because they now get more defensive attention. But Mikal is still efficient, not as super efficient as say the past few seasons where he was purely a finisher but still above average.

Just really impressed and that's after I've pretty much given up on expecting this type of offensive development

[Qwigglez]

I think equally as impressive as his new playmaking and scoring chops is the fact that his efficiency really hasn't been impacted. Most guys playing a new role or having new responsibilities that they've never had before tend to be less efficient largely because they now get more defensive attention. But Mikal is still efficient, not as super efficient as say the past few seasons where he was purely a finisher but still above average.

Just really impressed and that's after I've pretty much given up on expecting this type of offensive development

Statistically, Bridges is having his worse TS% since his rookie year. Last year he was at close to 63%, this year he's at 57.2%, so it's not that dramatic of a difference, and likely that number will deviate back around 58-60% once the Suns are back to being healthy. Though I actually prefer his efficiency to stay where it is, mostly because that would mean he is still taking the same amount of shots and he isn't deferring to Booker and CP3. Honestly, we shouldn't rely on CP3 as it is anyway. Obviously it's nice to have as a luxury, but if we could have Booker and Bridges being the focal points of the offense, it would lead to better shots all around for the rest of the team.

[Iceman36]

Mikal learnt to create his shot due to all the injuries and sinks them with great efficiency. I also already gave up on him, but he surprised me big. He made a big step forward. Really impressive! We now have 4 Players in the starting lineup, that can create their own offense: CP3, Book, CamJo and Mikal. That's pure luxury! I still believe we have a one last shot at the title with CP3 this year, when healthy. And I hope, we keep our core (also Ayton) and dont do something stupid at the trade deadline.
In the offseason we have to adress our PG issues. I'm still mad over the missed Haliburton oportunity. Also we could have Sabonis or Grant if we were more aggressiv or Sarver wasn't to penny-pinching!

[bwgood77]

I think equally as impressive as his new playmaking and scoring chops is the fact that his efficiency really hasn't been impacted. Most guys playing a new role or having new responsibilities that they've never had before tend to be less efficient largely because they now get more defensive attention. But Mikal is still efficient, not as super efficient as say the past few seasons where he was purely a finisher but still above average.

Just really impressed and that's after I've pretty much given up on expecting this type of offensive development

Statistically, Bridges is having his worse TS% since his rookie year. Last year he was at close to 63%, this year he's at 57.2%, so it's not that dramatic of a difference, and likely that number will deviate back around 58-60% once the Suns are back to being healthy. Though I actually prefer his efficiency to stay where it is, mostly because that would mean he is still taking the same amount of shots and he isn't deferring to Booker and CP3. Honestly, we shouldn't rely on CP3 as it is anyway. Obviously it's nice to have as a luxury, but if we could have Booker and Bridges being the focal points of the offense, it would lead to better shots all around for the rest of the team.

The thing is, his efficiency isn't necessarily down because he is being more aggressive, but for both him and Ayton, it really dipped when they really struggled being the only two starters available with only really only 1 backup to play with them, since all our top 4 guards were down, so they both shot poorly for quite a while. Bridges had multiple 3/10 games and stuff and Ayton had a few bad ones including that 6/20.

Seems they gradually got better with it, and getting Paul and then Cam back helps, and they are more efficient again.

[lilfishi22]

I think equally as impressive as his new playmaking and scoring chops is the fact that his efficiency really hasn't been impacted. Most guys playing a new role or having new responsibilities that they've never had before tend to be less efficient largely because they now get more defensive attention. But Mikal is still efficient, not as super efficient as say the past few seasons where he was purely a finisher but still above average.

Just really impressed and that's after I've pretty much given up on expecting this type of offensive development

Statistically, Bridges is having his worse TS% since his rookie year. Last year he was at close to 63%, this year he's at 57.2%, so it's not that dramatic of a difference, and likely that number will deviate back around 58-60% once the Suns are back to being healthy. Though I actually prefer his efficiency to stay where it is, mostly because that would mean he is still taking the same amount of shots and he isn't deferring to Booker and CP3. Honestly, we shouldn't rely on CP3 as it is anyway. Obviously it's nice to have as a luxury, but if we could have Booker and Bridges being the focal points of the offense, it would lead to better shots all around for the rest of the team.

Yes it's certainly a down year, largely because of the fact that the team as a whole isn't running as well as it has over the last few years. Everyone has suffered. My point was more from about this season alone.

Pre-Booker's injury he had a 57% TS% which is a step below his usual ultra efficiency but still efficient for a wing. But when he was given more creation and playmaking responsibilities and with it came more defensive focus from opposing teams, he managed to marginally raise his efficiency to 58%. His 3PT% dropped by about a % but he increased his FTA from 2.6 to 4.3. He boosted his assists from 3apg to 4.6apg while somehow only raising his TO from 1.23TO to 1.67TO. The guy has been an absolute baller