Saberestar wrote:bwgood77 wrote:Bogyo wrote:
Yeah, and I still feel like thats not his game, not really in his arsenal. He can do it occasionally, but do not expect him to be a Booker/KD/PG - lite on offense. That is not him. And I'm fine with that. This kid has already carved out a lot more from his basketball career than people/experts were projecting. That's what you call overachieving, and is the best thing you can do for yourself in life - regardless of basketball too, but this is a basketball forum.
Just imagine for a second if all of our draftpicks would overachieve like Mikal or Book
I don't think that's what he does now, but I think it's because he is a high iq player and knows that 3 pt shots or cutting to the rim are a lot smarter plays than iso ing for a midrange two, which is simply not a good shot and what most teams try to cut out of their shots and games if possible.
But we've seen the ability, him practicing it against LeBron even and it's certainly in his arsenal. I think it's something he can pull out of his back pocket at any time if needed, but understands that's not a smart way to play, if you can help it...and you want as many open 3s and shots at the rim as possible, which is what we are mostly trying to do as a team concept.
I think that he is improving, but he does not have that in his arsenal yet. He has done it a few times here and there, but you can not say that he does it night in and night out.
We just saw it againts the Clippers. They did hard closeouts on Galloway, Cam, Crowder and Mikal because they knew that all of them struggle creating off the bounce. It worked for them this time, it was the key on their win.
It is not a secret that the best offensive players in the game are 3-level scorers, that way they are tough to stop for any type of defenses. That is the next step for Bridges and he needs to do it consistently. We would be even more dangerous as a team.
We've seen it's something we can do, but that's not what Monty wants, and Bridges knows that's not an efficient way to play. Bridges sticks with the system that we have been successful with and he likely knows what the high percentage shots are...shoot if open or trust to pass it to your teammate.
I know a lot of people love seeing guys play iso ball...perhaps it was the Kobe generation, or Melo,or Iverson, but it's just not an efficient way to play. Now,with flopping and the guys who have become great at drawing fouls like Harden and Doncic, or even Booker to an extent, you can make it more efficient. But even Booker, a great guy at creating off the dribble, averages around 46% from short to mid-long range...which equates to about a 32% shot from 3. Booker can finish 70% at the rim though, and hopefully at some point can be a good 3 pt shooter.
But back to Bridges. He is shooting 46% from 3 and 91.7% at the rim. Now the latter is certainly not sustainable, and probably the former, but it would be ridiculously dumb for him to start trying to create off the dribble.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should. This is not a smart shot, for anyone really. The elite players know this which is why everyone goes for the rim or 3s.
Now there may be situations you are absolutely forced to, at the end of a shot clock or game, with no one open, and no other options, but it's just not something people should be looking to do.
