LaMelo Ball is unveiling the potential of Miles Bridges with the Hornets

Miles Bridges first appeared on this site in July 2015, during the Nike Global Challenge in Chicago. At the time, Bridges was a senior in high school in Flint, MI, who had become a five-star recruit on the grassroots circuit in early summer. He was choosing to play with De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk (who were also at the event) in Kentucky, or Cassius Winston and two other recruits in the top 50 (Nick Ward and Josh Langford) in Michigan State.

Even then, no one was sure what Bridges’ role would be. He was a powerful and explosive 6’6 winger who struggled to shoot and had an unstable handle, but had a huge explosion around the rim. How do you make a player like that go downhill towards the basket? While Bridges competed in Chicago, we were only a few weeks away from the Warriors winning their first championship with a small ball attack, and months away from Duke winning the NCAA tournament after changing Justise Winslow from three to four.

“I know for sure that I am a side player,” Bridges told SB Nation at the event. “If a coach wants me to play stretch four times, then I’ll be fine with that. I know I worked on handling the ball, my kick is getting better. So, I feel like I’m two or three in college. ”

Bridges would eventually choose the state of Michigan. He usually played alongside just one big man as a freshman, but still spent most of his time finding out on the perimeter (25 percent of his assets were spot-ups, by Synergy Sports, which was 15 percent larger than any. another type of half game) Bridges was good enough to be designed as a late lottery pick, but he made the shocking decision to return to school after the Spartans were defeated the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Bridges presented similar numbers as a sophomore, mostly playing the three alongside Jaren Jackson Jr., Ward and Xavier Tillman. MSU lost again on the first weekend of the tournament (this time with Jackson Jr. on the bench), and Bridges was chosen 12th overall by Hornets, which is exactly where we put him after his first year.

Bridges’ early years in Charlotte were mostly forgettable. As a rookie, he averaged 7.5 points playing against Kemba Walker while spending 53 percent of his minutes on the little striker, according to the Basketball Reference. After Walker left as a free agent that summer, the Hornets dropped from 8th place to be one of the worst teams in the league. Bridges nearly doubled his scoring production in his second year, averaging 13 points per game, but he was still struggling to score efficiently with below the 52 percent average of true shots. He played 72 percent of his minutes as a small striker in his second season.

Five years after having John Calipari and Tom Izzo fighting for him as a recruit, Bridges still did not feel fully optimized as a player. This has finally started to change this season in a Hornets team that is suddenly a factor in the Eastern Conference playoff scene. What happened?

Now, he can play with LaMelo Ball.

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Photo by Michael Reaves / Getty Images

The Hornets are one of the biggest surprises in the NBA at the start of the season. Entering Wednesday night, Charlotte was the number 6 seed in the East. A year after posting a -7 net rating as a team, the Hornets suddenly came out of the red with a net rating of +0.4.

Hornets are not great, but they look genuinely exciting for the first time since they returned to Charlotte. Gordon Hayward fulfilled his big off-season contract to become the primary goal option. Terry Rozier is having a career year and Malik Monk is finally starting to show what made him choose the lottery. There is no doubt that Ball was the catalyst. We had Ball as our main general candidate in the draft, but he is even better than expected at the beginning of his career, after slipping to third place on the night of the draft, where Charlotte was happy to win him.

Ball injected life into the Hornets, and no one was a bigger recipient than Bridges. It seems that the pair combines for at least one viral dip every time they take the floor. Sometimes this happens in the transition, where Ball loves to pass from behind and Bridges is one of the few players alive who can take a casual spin to avoid a block.

This has often happened in pick-and-roll (more on that in a second), where Ball has a knack for placing a lob where only Bridges can catch him, and Bridges has a knack for flying through the air to dunk home passes of 6’6 attackers must not be able to assemble.

And Ball’s classic exit passes are also paying off, even when they don’t result in outstanding sinks. The ball will pull the pace of any situation, including after baskets made, as you will see in the second clip. Bridges knows the value of running on the ground when you play with a guard who can take the ball out and up in all situations.

Not even halfway through his debut season, Ball has already created plays memorable enough with Bridges for his own package of highlights. It is proof of Ball’s magnetism as a leading guard. It is proof that its loudest critics had concerns that were totally exaggerated when entering the project.

It also shows how adding a key piece, especially as the main creator, can make everyone around you look better. Bridges, weeks before his 23rd birthday, now looks much more interesting than last year.

Bola is ready and willing to throw any pass, especially those that the defense thinks are not possible until he tries them. That defenses also have to focus their attention on Hayward helps Bridges find openings too, and he has been more effective in those opportunities, even though his numbers per game are a little low.

Finally, it looks like he’s finding the role he’s always been made for.

The Hornets are putting Bridges in a better position to succeed on the ground

Part of the key to unlocking Bridges has been to let him tackle incompatibilities with speed on all four instead of trying to use his strength to score three. Hornets coach James Borrego has committed to using Bridges exclusively as a great man for the first time in his career this season, and this has been a big part of his standout campaign.

Bridges spent 93 percent of his time playing alongside just one big one this year, for Basketball Reference. He spent only one percent of his time in the ward. This is a big change from the way Bridges has been used since college. Even in his first two years in the league, he played as a small striker 53% and 72% of the time, respectively.

Playing on all four allowed Bridges to finally be used as a roll man instead of a spot-up shooter. Bridges always had a natural ability as a wolf catcher, but he rarely became the centerpiece of his game. That changed this year and the results were electrifying.

Here are Bridges’ numbers as a roll man dating from his first year in Michigan, with the percentage of general attempts that came as a roll man, the points for possession in those attempts and how he qualified on those opportunities in compared to peers, by Synergy Sports.

This is what Bridges’ roll production looks like on a spreadsheet. It’s a little bit more fun to watch on video.

Not even Joel Embiid was able to prevent this:

The Hornets found their cornerstone of the future in Ball. Bridges is proving this season that he can play a supporting role in what comes next.

Bridges went from being a potential customer to a player before our eyes this season. Finally, finding the right way to leverage your talents certainly helped. The same happened with the addition of a sublime ace like Ball.