Phoenix Suns: Mikal Bridges and the art of starring in your role

The Phoenix Suns expected Mikal Bridges to complement the young tandem of Booker and Ayton. Now, he’s starring alongside them in ways only he can.

Before he was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 10th pick in the 2018 Draft and quickly dealt to the Phoenix Suns, projections for Mikal Bridges’s NBA future were clear.

“A prototypical 3-and-D prospect who has made steady progress over his three college seasons and may have untapped upside” wrote The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor in his annual draft guide.

“Even if it’s difficult to see upside in a 21-year-old, his floor remains attractive for its reflection of a three-and-D wing and quality locker room presence” wrote Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman.

Bridges stood 6’7” with a ridiculously lanky 7’2” wingspan. He canned more than 43 percent of over 200 3-point attempts during his final year at Villanova. But after three years in college that would have him make his NBA debut at 22 years of age, not many were high on his ability to get much better. And when it comes to the draft, teams are more willing to take low odds in a swing for great than be secured with just good.

You could do a lot worse than draw comparisons to Robert Covington, though, which Bridges got from KOC. Covington has been an invaluable piece to just about every team he’s been on since breaking in with Philly for his ability to shoot the long ball and defend multiple positions. Bridges faced similar responsibilities upon entering the NBA, coming to a Suns team already with two foundational pieces in Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. They needed teammates who could snuggly fit around their playstyles, not try to overshadow them.

The Suns are off to a surprising 7-3 start this season that has them tied for tops in the west in large part because Bridges has found that place alongside Booker, Ayton and Chris Paul. Watch how he manufacturers an easy dunk for himself in a win against Indiana without ever taking a dribble.

Bridges finished with 34 points against the Pacers. Yet somehow more impressive than this new career-high was how effortless a performance it was. He needed just five dribbles to convert 12 of his 18 field goal attempts, hitting on spot-up looks via the gravity his flashier teammates created but also moving into space opened up by the defense to get points in ways you see in the play above.

He doesn’t need the ball to thrive, ranking second on the Suns in scoring — albeit with an underwhelming 15.2 points per game — despite placing seventh among rotation regulars in usage rate. That’s a comforting fact considering the presence of a star backcourt that’s best with the ball in either of their hands.

His proficiency as an off-ball shooter creates an excess amount of space for those elite creators to work in. As one of the game’s most intelligent cutters, ranking inside the 88th percentile last season, Bridges also understands when to punish a lackadaisical defender watching the ball instead of his man.

“Been around a lot of guys in this league over the years,” Chris Paul said when asked about Bridges after the game. “And he’s one of the best guys I think I’ve ever been around.”

The Suns are 3.2 points better with Bridges defensively and are top-10 at that end because of all the ground his length allows him to cover and the versatility it affords. He’s defended everyone from quick guards like Victor Oladipo and Jamal Murray all the way down to bigger forwards like Jerami Grant and Harrison Barnes.

Only so many players can be removed from the play by one of the game’s best screeners only to get back and block the shot just outside the restricted area as Bridges did on Oladipo.

Early into his third pro season, it’s clear that Bridges is very much the player many pegged him to be. He’s canned 40.0 percent of his catch-and-shoot triple attempts, the third-best mark among players with at least 50 attempts. He’s taken on the challenge of stopping offensive engines like Luka Doncic, Brandon Ingram and Donovan Mitchell.

“He’s been a bit of a flagship for our player development program and I’m just happy to see him not just doing it on the offensive end but he does it every night on the defensive end,” Monty Williams said of his young wing. “Even when he doesn’t stop his guy, he’s gonna give you great effort.”

Sound spacing and quality perimeter defense won’t flood social media timelines or earn Bridges accolades or All-Star appearances. So in one sense, the pre-draft evaluations were right on the money.

But in another, those aspects are proving key to help Phoenix end more than a decade-long postseason drought. As they blossom even further, it will also have the Suns realistically dreaming bigger in the years to come.