Mikal Bridges deserves top-10 consideration for the 2018 NBA Draft
By Max Holm
As Luka Doncic and college’s stud freshmen make their cases to go high in next June’s draft, a junior out of Villanova is making his own.
Luka Doncic, Marvin Bagley III, DeAndre Ayton and more — these are the names that dominate 2018 NBA Draft conversations and justifiably so. They will likely only have to wait a matter of minutes to hear their name called by commissioner Adam Silver should they declare for the draft. It’s starting to seem like that may also be the case for Villanova’s Mikal Bridges.
This big men class and Doncic certainly seem like the prized jewels, but the season Bridges is having should not be overlooked. Should he come out next spring, he makes this class a lot stronger in the lottery. In fact, he should get some looks in the top 10, even just outside the top five.
While he does not possess the same upside as the aforementioned prospects, he has a clear path to a very productive role in the NBA. Over recent years, we’ve come to appreciate super role players more and more. Draymond Green has infamously blurred the lines between star and elite role player. That’s exactly where Bridges’ ceiling lies.
After a promising sophomore season, Bridges just continues to get better. The Villanova junior wing raised his 3-point shooting from 29.9 percent as a freshman to 39.3 percent as a sophomore. This season that average is sitting at 46 percent on over five attempts per game. He looks confident, fluid and is showing flashes of being able to comfortably his pull-up jumpers too. Watch him light up Gonzaga below with a flurry of 3s en route to 28 points.
What jumps out with Bridges, exemplified by his jumper, is his offensive improvement. His defense is still stellar (more on that later), but that was more of a known commodity. Bridges is deadly on catch-and-shoot situations. Just that, straight line driving and elite defense would make him a prime candidate as an elite role player.
But when you watch more of him, he continues to show flashes of even more. In this video below against Hofstra, Bridges posted up and scored on a smaller defender, hit a pull-up mid range jumper and escaped a double team to set up a teammate for a 3. That all took place in a matter of minutes.
His field goal percentage and shooting from 2 has dipped this year, but that’s likely due to an uptick in usage. In his first two years, Bridges’ 2-point percentage was around 70 percent, but he carried a usage rate between 14.5 percent and 15.3 percent. This season he’s still hitting nearly 56 percent of those shots at a usage rate over 23 percent. It’s worth monitoring these and his finishing, but it seems he’s doing well with a larger workload.
All this combined, the only thing really lacking from his offensive game is playmaking. He makes good reads, but he won’t be confused with a point-forward. However, making the right play consistently is extremely valuable. Bridges does that. This iteration of Bridges is so much more than a 3-and-D wing.
He’s more than a 3-point shooter and he’s more than a good defender. Defensively, Bridges’ 6’7″ height and 7’1″ wingspan puts fear in opponents. He can guard 1-5 at the college level and should be able to handle 1-4 in the NBA. Bridges has great instincts and recovers well when beaten for pace.
He can get into the body of his opponents and you can’t overstate how valuable his wingspan is. Bridges will often master his weak side rotations and help defense, blocking shots at the rim. As one of college basketball’s elite defenders, he should have NBA teams feeling confident about that translating to the association.
Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft: End of 2017 edition
Two-way wings like Khris Middleton and Robert Covington made huge leaps in the league and got paid accordingly. There’s no denying how hard it is to find a two-way wing, let alone someone who can grow beyond that coveted 3-and-D role. That’s the type of player that is worth investing a top-10 pick in. Sure, shoot for the moon and go for a few possible franchise players first. But after that? Good luck finding many prospects better than Bridges.