’Nova’s Bridges brings effort and maturity to draft
Mikal Bridges brings a parable to next Thursday’s NBA draft.
You don’t have to be a top-10 high school recruit, and you don’t have to be a one-and-done college player to become an NBA lottery pick.
In Bridges’ senior year of high school, ESPN ranked him 82nd in his class; Rivals had him 95th, and 247 Sports listed him 114th.
And on Thursday, a team is expected to select Bridges, who spent four years at Villanova, among the top 14 picks, possibly by his hometown Philadelphia 76ers at No. 10.
“I’ve just tried to become a better player, but I know there’s a lot to improve,” said Bridges, who played on two national championship teams. “I just want to win and bring that mentality to any team I go. Being a little mature and older, I know what to do to win and how to win.”
It’s rare a four-year player is selected in the lottery because teams value potential, and one-and-done players are perceived to have higher ceilings than the players who spent four years in college. They reason if he were that good he would’ve entered the draft a year or two earlier.
But NBA teams also realize there is an upside in taking a player who is NBAready, has improved each year of college, understands sacrifice and could play for the same team until his late 20s, the prime of a player’s career.
That’s exactly what Bridges is, and why executives, scouts and coaches believe he will contribute immediately and possibly for a long time. It helps that he’s a small forward who can defend and score — the much sought-after three-and-D perimeter wing.
“Going into his first year of playing we thought we had something special here,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Then he just kept improving every aspect of his game till the end of this season where in the Big East championship game, he just took the game over.
“He did that in a number of games for us this season — defended, rebounded, created his own shot, ran pick-and-roll, posted up, isolation. Everything. He’s a complete player, a great leader, an amazing young man.”
While some players who spent four years in college and are lottery picks don’t pan out in the NBA, some do, including Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Kris Dunn, Buddy Hield and Taurean Prince were the fifth, sixth and 12th picks in the 2016 draft, proving teams foresee substantial growth for those players in the NBA.
When teams analyze Bridges’ game, they are struck by the improvement from season to season. That’s his upside — a desire to get better with results to back it up.
From his redshirt freshman season in 2015-16 to his third season in 2017-18, he went from 6.4 points per game to 17.7. His offensive rating improved to 132.5 points per 100 possessions from 128.7, and his individual points per possession increased to 1.22 from 1.14 as his possessions more than doubled from his first season to his last.
Bridges, who graduated in May and turns 22 on Aug. 30, could have returned to Villanova for a final season.
“I wasn’t thinking about the draft during the season,” he said. “But after, there was no other choice. I’ve got a lot of confidence, and I knew I was ready.”
Part of that character comes from his mom, Tyneeha Rivers, who happens to be the Sixers’ vice president of human resources.
“I told Mikal early on he could be whatever he wants,” she said. “Say what you want to be and say what you want to do and start taking those steps to get there. He’s not done. He has so much more to do, and my advice hasn’t changed. Let’s set goals and work to accomplish them.”
She made sure he wasn’t afraid of failure (she used to make him do 10 pushups for every missed free throw) and that has translated into a player with work ethic and humility.
“He expects great things. He will never settle for mediocre,” Rivers said. “He will play hard, and you’ll get the full package with him. He’ll keep pushing for greatness. He has a lot more to do.”