Phoenix forward Mikal Bridges does a lot well on the basketball court. However, the Suns’ wing has struggled to step up with injuries mounting, and something must be done.
Phoenix swingman Mikal Bridges is one of the prototypical 3-&-D players in today’s NBA. Bridges is strong defensively inside and out, he can rebound well for his size, and when his touch is on, he is a better-than-average spot-up three-point shooter. Unfortunately for the Suns, with injuries mounting, Phoenix needs more than Bridges has been able to give, and he is seemingly breaking under the pressure. So what is wrong with and how do the Suns fix Bridges?
Poor shooting performances hurting Bridges’ overall game
Confidence is a significant factor for all athletes, and when players are taken out of their comfort zone, their confidence can be shaken. This push beyond his comfort zone is a big part of Bridges’ struggle.
Traditionally, Mikal’s offensive game is predicated on others. Bridges scraps his way to 15 points per night in transition, through movement, and with spot-up three-point shots. Unfortunately, none of those options are consistently available for Bridges.
Bridges is doing more defending and spending more time trying to rebound than ever before, making it difficult to get out in transition. Plus, there is no transition if you always take the ball out of the basket.
Since all of the primary ball handlers for the Suns are hurt or nursing injuries, no one can beat their defender to create passing lanes for cutting players or spot-up shooters. Bridges’ movement and shooting are nullified without someone getting in the paint.
On top of everything else, teams are game-planning for Bridges, with Devin Booker and Chris Paul out. The fact that teams are planning for Bridges makes his biggest offensive weakness even more prevalent: a lack of a go-to move.
If we think about great scorers, whether it is Harden’s step-back, Jordan’s fade-away, or Booker’s midrange pull-up, players that score consistently have a way to do that on their own, but Bridges does not. Scorers, natural scorers have something to fall back on when they are not scoring; Bridges has never needed nor developed that weapon in his Arsenal.
Maybe the most consistent item in his repertoire is his little pull-up when driving left of the lane, but we have not seen that in a while; teams are planning for that move. The result is Bridges stuck mired in a terrible shooting slump, but it is fixable.
Fortunately for the Suns and Bridges, there are a few steps both team and player can take to fix Mikal’s scoring.
Mikal needs to attack the basket with the ball consistently
Traditionally, Bridges does not have the ball in the kind of positions where he will be able to earn a lot of trips to the free-throw line, but that is changing. Scorers who are struggling know the easiest way to break their duck is to get an easy bucket; there is no easier bucket in basketball than a free throw. Fortunately, this is something Bridges is already noticing and trying to do.
Mikal averages less than three free-throw attempts per game on the season; however, three times since mid-December, Bridges has attempted at least seven shots from the charity stripe. Even better, those are not wasted efforts, as Bridges is an excellent free throw shooter who has hit more than 80% in his career and nearly 90% this season.
If his shot is not falling, and it certainly has not been, free throws can make a difference, as his 10/10 showing did in helping keep the Suns close to the Miami Heat this past Friday.
Getting to the free throw is a tried and true method for helping get a scorer back on track, and Bridges seems to understand that and will hopefully do it more.
Bridges needs to rely less on the three-point shot
Alternatively, one way to not end a shooting slump and not get to the bucket is to launch three-point shots, which is exactly the opposite of what Bridges needs to be doing. If Mikal is to get back to providing a consistent 15-20 points a night, he needs to attack the basket and stop taking too many three-point shots.
When a player is on a hot streak, taking three-pointers all day makes sense; see Landry Shamet a few weeks ago. However, Bridges has been ice cold from three-point land, hitting over 50% of his nearly five-a-game – a career-high in attempts – only two times since December.
This does not mean Mikal should not shoot any threes, which has happened several times this season; however, when he is going two for ten or one for five, he needs to do something different and attack the basket, which can help lead to free throw attempts is the answer.
The simplest solution with his outside shooting is for Mikal to take a page out of Cameron Johnson’s playbook. Johnson is an excellent pump faker who uses that move to draw out the defense the attack the bucket. Bridges’ awkward release makes pump fakes more difficult, but adding one or two fakes on threes to put the ball on the floor and step in for a shorter shot or go all the way to the basket can help expand Bridges’ game.
Steps one and two for helping Bridges break out of his scoring funk are simple enough as they are about mindset, attitude, and approach. If a player decides to attack the basket or improve his shot selection, that is something they can do without much effort during the game. However, if Bridges is ever to become a consistent 20-point-per-night scorer, Mikal needs to do some work in the gym.
Bridges needs to develop a go-to move the Suns can rely on
There is no one aspect of his game that Bridges can lean on to get a bucket when the going gets tough, and he needs to work on finding that shot. Then once he finds his spot and moves, the Suns need to call his number consistently.
Given his length and high release point, a fade-away jumper or even a short hook shot could be tools Bridges can add to his box to score more points more often. I’m not suggesting Bridges turns into Kareem or Hakeem – that is supposed to be Ayton’s job – but Mikeal has to find a consistent way to score that is hard to stop if he is ever going to take the next step the Suns desperately need him to take.
Bridges is paid like a guy who can carry a team from time to time, now is that time; it is up to Bridges and the staff to step up.