Improvements throughout college
Valley of the Suns: Bridges’ 3-point shot improved throughout college, up to well over 40 percent his final season. What changes did he make to improve so much?
@BehindCurve: According to this great piece by Pete Thamel:
"When Mikal Bridges arrived at Villanova… his right elbow jutted out like a chicken wing on his jumper, a gawky motion that twinned with his gangly 6-foot-7 body."
Here are a couple low-quality looks at his HS shot:
And one from his first year in the lineup at ‘Nova: a bit “Lonzoesque” left to right.
In my opinion his issues were:
- His guide hand was extending fully, likely interfering with his shot.
- His right elbow was further out than ideal.
- He really had a pronounced shot from the left side of his center line: extra movement, variance, inaccuracy
He’s worked very hard to change these things over the last three years, blossoming from red shirt freshman to leading the national champion Wildcats with his rebuilt then refined jumper.
In Bridges’ words to Reuben Frank from this piece:
"I always had shot from the left side, and we wanted to make my shooting form simpler and just shoot from the middle instead of having all that extra movement. It was just a matter of repetition. Doing the same thing over and over until it was second nature. Now I don’t even think about it."
And here’s the payoff, from last February:
Really pretty stuff.