HotelVitale wrote:nolang1 wrote:Compared to Wesley Johnson in 2010, Bridges is a year younger and much better at shooting, defending, and decision-making aka the main attributes you are looking for from this type of player.HotelVitale wrote: I've been trying to talk myself into this but I still think he has some risk and isn't nearly as much of a surething starter as you all do. He won't be able to drive consistently against anyone and I don't see much raw passing/vision talent (though I know most guys can get decent at that), and I definitely don't see an all-NBA defense type there. I also see more of a decent open spot-up shooter type than a wet shooter who can hit from all over, on the run, against hard close-outs, etc. I still like him in general, but don't see why people think he's a shoe-in to a better career than, say, Wes Johnson.
That's what I mean--Wes Johnson had about the same shooting #s (50/42 vs 52/43), better passing #s, and much better defensive stats (though defensive stats are stupid). But for some reason people think Bridges is absolutely the real deal while Johnson was a phony. It's hard to make the jump to the NBA's athleticism and speed, and a lot of the stuff that Bridges seems very good at now are b/c/o him having NCAA advantages that won't be NBA ones (e.g. length and lateral quickness are great for the NCAA but won't be special in the NBA). I really want to like Bridges and he's shown good stuff but I still see a guy who could fail to be anything special given what he's got now.
To be clear, I don't want to go into the weeds comparing WJ and Bridges. Point was, with Bridges people might be falling in love with a 'type' of the player rather than the player himself, happens every year with a couple of prospects. Half of the posts here are about why it's smart to take a very good role player instead of a potential star--instead of us talking about whether Bridges is really a lock to be a great role player. Based on what we've seen so far, I think he looks like a legit NBA player but there's a big gap between that and an above average starter; will he continue to make great decisions when you have to make them twice as fast, while he continue to shoot great from 3 from 3 ft further and with guys his size guarding him, etc?
Sorry, I thought it would be self-explanatory from the stats. Bridges is on track to attempt twice as many threes as Wes Johnson did his last year of college, shot a high percentage on them last year too (as opposed to Johnson being a one-year wonder), and has been a significantly better free throw shooter. That by itself adds up to being a much better shooter, and then you can look at the tape and see he actually does hit threes in a variety of different ways and isn’t afraid to shoot from NBA range already.
On defense, Bridges has demonstrated the ability to guard 1 through 4 whereas Johnson got his stats playing in a 2-3 zone.
