The biggest offseason move the Phoenix Suns made was putting together a wild package to land Miles Bridges, and through four games, it is the players they gave up to acquire him that they miss the most. Bridges has been a defensive disaster at the power forward position, but it is the offensive freedom that the Suns have given him which they quickly need to pivot away from.
Output of Bridges not deserving of being featured so heavily on offense
Friday's loss to the Denver Nuggets in the Emirates NBA Cup saw Bridges have his best scoring night with the Suns yet, as he put up 24 points. The team still lost 127-120, and defensively he was as porous as we have already seen him be to begin the campaign. Unsurprisingly, Devin Booker leads all players in field goal attempts at 16 each game, but Bridges sits second at 14.5.
He has rewarded the Suns with 16.3 points, while the 22.2 percent he has managed from deep has been horrendous. Dillon Brooks functioned much better as Booker's offensive co-star last season, and was their best player in the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. His own shot attempts have dropped from 17.1 (second to Booker) last season, to 12.3 this time around.
Despite this, he is still managing more points than Bridges (16.5), while the 42.9 percent he has shot from 3-point range has provided the Suns with some spacing for the likes of Jalen Green to operate. Brooks is also the better defender, and when he is not getting needlessly ejected, he is their emotional leader. He has to take some shots away from Bridges for the good of the entire team.
Improved defending should see Bridges assume co-star role once more
That is not to say Bridges should be relegated to third or even fourth option offensively as part of the current starting five. If he can become the defender he promised to be at media day, then absolutely he should be taking the second most shots behind Booker. Brooks is the more efficient scorer, but Bridges is capable of doing things at the forward position with the ball in hand that nobody else on this roster can.
He deserves to be rewarded for that, but only if he can pull his weight defensively and drag the Suns away from the bottom of the defensive efficiency standings. Until that happens - and it is unclear if Bridges can ever get his act together on that end of the court - Head Coach Jordan Ott has to rethink his pecking order of who gets to shoot the basketball.
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