I’ve devoted already too many words to Mikal Bridges, mostly because he was very underrated, and it seems I may have to devote many more because he stills seems to be so, rating in the very back of the first round or not even in many 2018 prognostications. Those sites may point to his age (nearly 21 and a rising junior), or his supreme selectivity, which is in equal part good decision making and extreme lack of aggression (just 9.7 True Shooting Attempts per 40 in his two year career, slightly less than players like Shane Battier and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute through theirs). Yet to focus so overwhelmingly on those two aspects is not only missing the point but to ignore the overwhelming strengths that belong to Mikal Bridges and his game.

Missing the point because a player’s age is little more than a felicitous proxy for the concept of Upside. As a point of fact, being successful at a young age is much more tied to a player’s “floor” and the relative safety of such a pick. (“Will the player become an NBA player?” rather than “Will the player become a GREAT NBA player?”) Whereas upside is related to other factors: Frame, athleticism, skill, hand-eye coordination, intelligence, temperament, reaction ability, work ethic, the ability to learn new behaviors and incorporate them into one’s game, etc . . . Which is why we’ve seen many highly skilled, very successful college players of various ages become stars whereas the Freshman wunderkinds who were good but not great generally become the kinds of players that merely fill rosters out.

As this relates to Mikal Bridges, he may lack upside. However, it has absolutely nothing to do with his age, and everything to do with his temperament (passive), his skill level (he can dribble but he is not a highly skilled dribbler, his main strength being that he can manipulate defenders with his body after he’s picked up the ball and then shed them with his strides), the way he’s athletic (he can move on defense and has quick reactions but he does not have sudden burst with the ball, he so far lacks an explosive first step). That doesn’t mean he won’t be a useful player, perhaps extremely so, though it likely relegates Bridges to a low Usage role on offense and necessitates that he’ll bring value on defense to have any chance of achieving, you got it, Upside.

The good news? Mikal Bridges last official measurement was four years ago, when he was not yet 17 years of age. How tall was he? 6′ 6″. What was his wingspan? 7′ 0.5″. And it seems very much like he’s grown since then. Let’s say conservatively that Bridges is 6′ 7″ with a 7′ 1″ wingspan. Or otherwise, he’s HUGE for a player with read, react and movement skills that allow him to successfully stick college Point Guards. What’s that look like? Imagine something like a bigger, more athletic Klay Thompson with better ability to create defensive events on and off the ball. That is, Bridges is very likely to bring some, if not a lot of value on defense.

One interesting aspect to note is that because of the way Bridges is able to create events (very often steals which lead directly to Fast Break opportunities for himself or his teammates) is that he will very possible be an incredible transition player in the NBA. Especially for a player who won’t likely assert himself all that much in the half court.