Mikal Bridges, Phoenix Suns
Why he’ll have a breakout year
Bridges checks all the boxes. He’s long, durable, shoots defends, and is a former national champion at Villanova. You won’t find a bigger Mikal Bridges fan than me and it’s because he has all of the tools to become a great “3-and-D” player in the NBA. I’m not just on the Mikal Bridges bandwagon, I’m driving it around town trying to lure strangers onto it and then pitching them on my Mikal Bridges pyramid scheme to attract more members (It’s not actually a pyramid scheme though, it’s multi-level marketing if you’re interested).
Per Basketball-Reference, Bridges played in all 82 games last year, starting 56 of them, so he was able to get a lot of playing time under his belt during his rookie season (29.5 minutes per game). That playing time should only increase heading into next year too after the head-scratching Josh Jackson trade.
The Suns have a young and exciting team and playing alongside Devin Booker and fellow sophomore Deandre Ayton gives him an opportunity to fit into a role rather than have to create offense which isn’t necessarily his strength. Additionally, Bridges should be the benefactor of an increase in passes from an angry Devin Booker when he gets double teamed.
Why he might not have a breakout year
Outside of the Suns just generally being a mess, he could stand to shoot the ball a little better from 3-point range after he hovered around 33% from deep last season. This certainly isn’t bad, but if he fails to improve on that number and instead dips a little lower, then the “3-and-D” mold starts looking like more D than 3.
Other than that the stars have really aligned for Bridges. The opportunity will be there for the taking as he would presumably be the starter at small forward on opening night. He just has to take advantage of it.