Mikal Bridges plus minus

[NashDishesDimes]

I was curious today and found on fox sports stats the plus minus leaders in the nba. It was interesting that somehow Saric and Covington were the highest in the league . I then noticed the highest Suns player was Bridges and Book second.

Seeing Saric and Covington proves how valuable 3D guys and roll guys are. But im really not sure at all how Bridges is #1 on suns.

His stats are rhe most unproductive minutes ive ever seen aside from a decent amount of steals, his FG% and 3P% are below average so cant really say hes 3D.

I just find it so strange. I agree he does play above average defense but lets not call him a lock down defender please.

I really think the reason has to be that he comes off the floor for Josh Jackson whose plus/minus is horrendous...

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

You can say what you want about his defense, but advanced defensive metrics suggest he is one of the best defensive wings in the league and is exceptionally good at defending the pick and roll ball handler. On offense he plays completely within the flow of the offense and really only shoots when he has a good look. So a very good defender and a very unselfish player on offense that makes very few mistakes will get you a good plus/minus.

 

[SirStefan32]

Yeah, I don't remember which of the advanced stats site it was, but Bridges rated as #1 and #2 defensive wing in the entire NBA in consecutive reports I saw.I have no idea how they calculate that, so I have no idea how accurate that is, but it matches my own eye test. He does look like Bender offensively right now, but his defense is outstanding.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Yeah, I don't remember which of the advanced stats site it was, but Bridges rated as #1 and #2 defensive wing in the entire NBA in consecutive reports I saw.I have no idea how they calculate that, so I have no idea how accurate that is, but it matches my own eye test. He does look like Bender offensively right now, but his defense is outstanding.

He's a great team defender. He won't be locking up great players 1 on 1 right now, but maybe he will add that as he gets stronger and more experienced.

 

[SirStefan32]

He's a great team defender. He won't be locking up great players 1 on 1 right now, but maybe he will add that as he gets stronger and more experienced.

Yeah, he definitely needs to add 10-15lb of muscle to maximize his effectiveness. I've seen him defend someone perfectly, but he simply gets overpowered.

 

[sunsfan88]

He’s a really good defender on a team in which it’s 2 best players are among the very worst defensively for their position. So that helps his case.

Offensively, he was a catch and shoot player in college that doesn’t have any other skillset on that end of the floor. But he doesn’t have NBA range so he looks like a complete mess on that end.

I remember few seasons ago Andre Roberson was among league leaders in +/- as well and I can see Bridges having that type of a role in the league. Obviously I hope it’s more than that since we traded not one but two first rd picks for him but we’ll see.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

He’s a really good defender on a team in which it’s 2 best players are among the very worst defensively for their position. So that helps his case.

Offensively, he was a catch and shoot player in college that doesn’t have any other skillset on that end of the floor. But he doesn’t have NBA range so he looks like a complete mess on that end.

I remember few seasons ago Andre Roberson was among league leaders in +/- as well and I can see Bridges having that type of a role in the league. Obviously I hope it’s more than that since we traded not one but two first rd picks for him but we’ll see.

He got so much better each year in college, and I think there's a good chance that happens in the pros too. Buddy Hield followed that trend despite being older than most rookies coming in.

 

[sunsfan88]

He got so much better each year in college, and I think there's a good chance that happens in the pros too. Buddy Hield followed that trend despite being older than most rookies coming in.

It could be the case but Hield had a very different playing style in college than Bridges did. Hield played in college like Oladipo does in the NBA. He handled the ball, and could score off dribble and play make some as well. Bridges has never really shown he can do any of that.

I’m hoping his shot comes around because that will be his bread and butter. I’ve noticed recently teams have started to double Ayton or Booker off him so he needs to start making them pay.

 

[95pro]

Bridges has been trying new things on the offensive end lately, now that the ball is actually moving. He'll try a drive and finish every now and then, or a spot of jumper.

His D is great, lately I've noticed his man doesn't want to try and do too much while Bridges is guarding them. That one block he had on Plumlee was awesome but it was a bad foul call.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Doesn't surprise me at all. Stats can be useful, but there are soooo many things that can't be measured.

To my knowledge there are no stats that measure the following.
- being in the right place on offense
. - ready to catch and shoot
. - makes it easier on your teammate because you're a threat to score
- being in the right place on defense
. - ready to help
. - makes it easier for your teammate to guard their man


There are a thousand things going on that you can affect without it showing in a stat. Guys like Archie Goodwin drive me crazy because they're out of position 95% of the time and then they make a spectacular play and all people remember is the spectacular play.

 

[devilalum]

It’s always hard to evaluate players on a horrible team. Obviously the Suns are lacking in NBA ready talent. That’s why they suck.

So if you’re gonna improve which pieces do you keep and develop and which ones do you discard?

How many minutes would Bridges get on a top 5 team? I’m not saying he’s bad just that it’s easy to overrate a good player playing for a bad team.

The Suns have had a lot of games where they fall behind big then the other teams second team comes in and the Suns make it look close.

Who’s getting all the meaningless catch up minutes?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bada0Bing]

I think Bridges could easily play 32 minutes on a championship level team. Feeding off the stars, playing solid D, grabbing a few boards, hitting open 3s.

Of course, I'm imagining the Bridges with 3+ years of experience because that's when I assume we'll be ready to compete.

I have the patience to sit through 2 more seasons of losing before we make our run.