Not all stars are All Stars
Mikal Bridges is doing more.
It’s All Star season in the NBA, which means endless debates about criteria, selections, and snubs. One name that likely won’t be mentioned on the list of snubs is Phoenix’s Mikal Bridges. The numbers don’t really make a case for Bridges and even if they did, it is hard to pick an incumbent selection for him to replace.1
Nevertheless, we come today in praise of Mikal Bridges. He has been the duct tape and string holding this Suns season together in the face of prolonged absences from Devin Booker and Chris Paul. Tasked with greater ball handling responsibilities, his usage rate has spiked by 36% per Cleaning the Glass.2 Bridges is getting 31 front court touches per game this season, up from 23 the previous season per NBA Advanced Stats. His usage is still modest compared to lead ball handlers, but of note is that this increase in usage has not been met with much of a drop off in efficiency. Bridges’ turnover rate is in the 88th percentile of all wings per CTG and he is sniffing a 50-40-90 shooting season. Bridges’ two point shooting numbers are down, but comes nearly entirely from an uptick in self-created mid range jumpers. Bridges is attempting nearly four pull-up two pointers this season per NBA Advanced Stats, double his mark from last season. To the extent that Bridges’ shot profile has changed, some of his rim attempts have turned into pull up long twos. The eye test suggests that this is the result of fewer rim cuts opening up in the absence of Booker and Paul, while common sense suggests that he will eschew those pull up attempts when Phoenix’s mid-range assassins are back. Somebody has to create offense for Phoenix right now and Bridges is staying afloat.
Where Bridges’ offensive game has really grown is in his creation for teammates. Bridges is assisting on nearly 15% of his teammates’ buckets per CTG, a career best by some distance. This isn’t just a case of somebody filling the assists void left by Paul. Bridges adds the right weight on passes, making them look easier than they are.
That entry to Deandre Ayton is tricky; under throw it and Precious Achiuwa picks it off, but overthrow it and you risk Pascal Siakam’s length getting in the way. Or how about Bridges threading the tiniest of windows between the maze of arms and legs presented by Scottie Barnes and Achiuwa here:
Bridges especially displays his growth as a passer on post-ups. With his elastic arms, the skip pass is often available to him, but timing and patience are everything. He sees Saben Lee’s cut to the weak side corner, but does not rush the pass with Royce O’Neale lurking, waiting for Ish Wainwright (Suns number 12) to cut into the paint and force O’Neale to commit before slinging the ball over to Lee.
It can look like Bridges is meandering around on those post ups when he suddenly prises open a passing window to the weak side.
This one is good: Onyeka Okongwu scrams Trae Young out of the mismatch on Bridges’ post-up, so Bridges draws Okongwu out to the perimeter while Bismack Biyombo cuts through the strong side dunker spot. That negates the switch by generating another mismatch (Trae on Biyombo) and Bridges only passes once that materializes. Barbecue sauce.
(Side bar: I don’t know if Jock Landale’s cut to the nail was thought through, but it works perfectly there, drawing Jalen Johnson (Hawks number 1) out and leaving Trae on an island).
Credit Coach Monty Williams for setting Bridges up for success with his increased role. The Suns don’t have Bridges just replicating what Paul or Booker do. Bridges still dribbles less than half as much as Paul and Booker per touch. A simple way the Suns get sets with Bridges as the decision-maker going is by having him catch the ball on the move coming off an elbow flare screen from Ayton. It works like a Bridges-Ayton pick and roll without forcing Bridges to dribble around a screen and stress his handle.
Bridges doesn’t just paint by numbers; he is getting adept at recognizing opportunities as they materialize rather than waiting for a scripted Ayton roll. He is quick to recognize Bogdan Bogdanovic cheating off of the strong side corner here (big no-no in help defense generally) and hit Torrey Craig for the three:
With Paul back, Bridges is starting to spread his wings more, at times pivoting from that catch off the elbow screen into a dribble handoff with Ayton instead:
Keep watching that Bridges-Ayton connection as it continues to blossom.
Bridges does all this while maintaining his excellence on defense (his defensive prowess has been well chronicled at this point, but suffice to say that he is averaging over 2 stocks i.e. steals + blocks per game and guards the best player night in and night out) and being the anti-Kyrie in some sense, a no-drama Swiss army knife who is a model teammate by all accounts. His sole reaction to the All Stars selections thus far? Sticking up for college teammate Jalen Brunson.
Having watched the dynasty Warriors grow, I see a bit of Klay Thompson in Bridges: the commitment to defense, doing whatever the team asks, and a Titanium constitution that sees him on the court every game. He may not be an All Star, but Mikal Bridges is a player every team wishes they had.3
In this space, we firmly believe that any argument for an All Star snub to have made the team has to include an argument for which player he should have replaced. We live in a world of tradeoffs folks.
As a reminder, CTG defines usage as an attempt “to measure how much of a team's offense the player is responsible for. This isn't necessarily a good or bad thing — that depends on whether the player is using that offense efficiently. But it does give you a sense of how much offensive responsibility the player is shouldering. A player with a very low usage is not creating much on offense (they are more of a role player), while a player with a very high usage is an offensive focal point.”