The modern era of positionless basketball thrust upon the sport by the Warriors has fundamentally changed the way talent evaluators must think about the NBA Draft.
Gone are the days when so-called tweeners — prospects stuck in between two of the traditional five positions — were maligned as difficult to build around. Instead, they are now the fulcrums on which these new lineups pivot.
The most important piece of the positionless puzzle is the rare two-way wing who can slot in at multiple spots depending on the situation. Such players are, in an economic sense, scalable insofar as much of their value is derived from being a single input (one player on a 15-man roster) with a wide variety of potential outputs (the positions they can play).
From a team-building perspective, these prospects are obviously valuable commodities. They offer front offices significant flexibility when it comes to drafting or signing new players. Their effect on the floor is similarly important since, generally speaking, they are able to add another shooter to the perimeter offensively and function as a multi-position defender on the other end.
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In June, the 2018 NBA Draft will bring forward another crop of potentially positionless lineup enablers. One of them — assuming he doesn’t shock the world and return to school again — will be Michigan State’s Miles Bridges. As a freshman, he spent his on court time exclusively as a small-ball power forward before moving into a full-time small forward role this season. His versatility is bonafide.
The 19-year-old’s track record also stacks up to former NBA players statistically. As a sophomore, he’s averaging 17.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest. Only 20 college sophomores in the last 25 years have put up similar numbers (at least 17.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists). Nearly every player from a major conference to hit those benchmarks had a long NBA career, and that’s before we get to lower major prospects like Will Barton, Bonzi Wells and Lamar Odom.
Obviously, Bridges won’t translate to the NBA on statistics alone. The real question is whether he has any game to go along with the numbers.
The sophomore appears capable of providing the requisite shooting needed to space the floor after struggling from the foul line during his freshman season. At this point, Bridges is a career 37.9 percent 3-point shooter on 285 attempts. He hoists more than seven 3s per 40 minutes and is shooting an impressive 88.8 percent from the foul line. That’s up from 68.5 percent last season and drastically swings his projected NBA 3-point numbers from league average to the high 30s. Bridges has converted 36.4 percent of his NBA range 3s this season.
Bridges’ lefty mechanics are smooth and repeatable, although he doesn’t get a ton of lift on his jumper. He is more than a spot-up threat, though. After averaging 1.292 points per possession (92nd percentile) on 24 off-screen plays as a freshman, his volume has already doubled this season, per Synergy. Despite lower efficiency, Bridges shows good footwork and nice balance when shooting on the move:
Assuming he continues to improve as a mobile shooter, Bridges has the potential to feature a well-rounded offensive game given his success beating closeouts from spot-up situations. This season, he’s averaging 1.467 points per possession (94th percentile) when getting to the basket in those spots, per Synergy:
Bridges is somewhat limited by his lack of a pull-up jumper here. He’s shot just 26.3 percent on them over two seasons, per Synergy, ranking in the 14th percentile nationally as a freshman and the 28th percentile this season. Comfortably connecting on pull-ups after one or two dribbles would round out his three-level attack.
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The likelihood Bridges will develop into an offensive focal point who can create consistently for himself and others seems low. It’s not a role he’s played in either season for the Spartans, and most future wing creators tend to show themselves at some point in college. If we calculate creation based on output using unassisted field goals sourced from Hoop-Math and assists per 100 possessions, Bridges ranks out as about average among wings drafted since 2012.
However, he’s not inept when it comes to generating offense for his teammates. Bridges is averaging 3.7 assists per 40 minutes this season, has a positive assist-to-turnover ratio and shows a reasonably good feel for the game. He’s turned into a decent passer on the move and is capable of making simple reads off the catch or out of the pick-and-roll and handoffs:
Bridges has some offensive game. He’s just not on the same level as a creator when compared to recent early lottery wings like Josh Jackson, Jayson Tatum and Michael Porter Jr., but that’s part of why he’s projected to go in the late lottery rather than in the top five.
The flipside of the positionless basketball coin requires a versatile defender who can guard multiple opposing players. On face, Bridges seems capable of doing that.
He’s a stout 230 pounds and has matched up against bigger players throughout his college career. He’s also a good rebounder for his size and averaging more than 2.0 "stocks" — steal plus blocks — per 40 minutes. His instincts and athleticism even occasionally shine as a weak-side rim protector. However, while Bridges’ transition on offense shouldn’t confront too many obstacles, his size raises some questions about how he’ll project defensively.
Bridges is listed by Michigan State as 6-7, but his last official measurements put him at 6-6 with a 6-9 wingspan. Losing that inch would make him slightly undersized as a small forward and well undersized at the 4 based on a collection of 2016 measurements from Nylon Calculus. In fact, several 6-6 wings drafted since 2012 would be characterized as strict shooting guards. Bridges isn’t Jonathan Isaac.
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Instead, he compares physically to players like Cleveland’s Jae Crowder, Milwaukee’s Sterling Brown and San Antonio’s Darrun Hilliard. Of the three, only Crowder averaged more than one block per 40 minutes in college like Bridges, but his shot blocking hasn’t translated into the NBA. Given Bridges’ lack of length, he’ll need his leaping ability to carry the day in that department.
Bridges’ rim protection is but one skill input that will help shape whether he meets his ceiling outcome in the pros. His ability to shoot on the move matters. His ability to create offense matters. His versatility matters.
That versatility, though, bolsters Bridges’ floor outcome. The modern NBA demands multifaceted players on the wing, and there’s a scarcity of them. New influxes of talent can help.
While the Michigan State sophomore is but one input with scalable positional outcomes, it takes a multitude of skills to come together to make one Miles Bridges.