Miles Bridges was in a dilemma last weekend.

As someone who’s never been the type to pick up a golf club and get his Tiger Woods on, the Hornets’ forward found himself in a bit of a quandary while in Michigan. With a special outing with his team’s famous owner on tap, Bridges needed a point guard-like assist from a key individual back on campus at his beloved Michigan State: Tom Izzo.

Not once, but twice and mixed in with some fatherly advice.

“He came up for the football game and worked with our guys and I got a chance to help him,” Izzo told The Athletic. “He was actually going down to play golf with Michael Jordan and Miles never golfed so I got him over to our golf coach. I made him take some lessons. He did that. I got him a pair of golf shoes quick. He got them at the door Sunday. I reminded him don’t bet with Michael. He’s too good a golfer. He was fired up. He called me right from the course.”

Probably because his hefty handicap likely didn’t matter.

Basketball is Bridges’ game and he is preparing for his second season in the league, looking to build off the 7.5 points and 4.0 rebounds he posted per game in his rookie campaign. He’s spent a good portion of the summer in the gym and weight room, focusing on improving myriad aspects of his game.

No doubt that all sounds familiar to the man who led the Spartans to the 2000 Division I National Championship and has guided them to eight Final Fours since taking the head coaching reins in 1995.

“I think he is driven,” Izzo said. “When he could’ve come out as a freshman, I thought he was coming out. I always get accused of trying to hold my guys back. Shit, I was more shocked than anyone when he said he wants to come back and one of the reasons … he gave me two. I said, ‘What’s the reason?’ He said, ‘Well, I want to win a national championship.’ I said, ‘Bad reason.’ He said, ‘What do you mean it’s a bad reason?’ I said. ‘Your chances are still so slim.’

“You’ve got to be good, but you’ve got to be lucky to do that. And we had a good enough team and we were unlucky. But I said you can’t do it for that reason. And he looks at me and goes, ‘I think I’ve got to get a lot better at some things.’ Now, I haven’t had many guys say that.”

Complacency doesn’t appear to be in Bridges’ DNA and it’s undoubtedly not about to change as he puts his first NBA season in the rearview mirror.

“It’s time for him to get rolling a little bit this year,” Izzo said. “He was up for the weekend and he looked good. I watched him play a little bit. He looked good to me, but he’s got to make his adjustments that everybody has to make after their first year. But I’m excited for Miles. I love him. He’s the best.”

The Athletic spoke with Izzo about Bridges’ development, 2019-20 expectations and if he can be the face of a franchise similar to Kemba Walker.

Miles Bridges and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo (Mike Carter / USA Today)

From your vantage point, what do you think he brings to the Hornets in his second season?

He is a phenomenal athlete. Consistently, he’s got to get better shooting and better with the ball. But he should be able to guard a lot of different people. He has great strength. He looks in about as good a shape as I’ve seen him. He gained a little of some good weight because I think they wanted him to. I just think he can score the ball. He averaged 16, 17 here and he can score it in different ways. He’s a great offensive rebounder. He can take it to the hoop. He’s a good free throw shooter. I think he got to be a better 3-point shooter there. I don’t think it’s his total strength but I think he’s getting better at it.

The expectation is for him to play more at the “4” position this season? How do you think he will fare at that spot and can he flourish there in a position-less kind of scheme?

He played some “4” here the first year and some “3” the second year and I think he could be very good at that because I think he is big enough to guard a little “4” if he runs into that and he’s athletic enough to do some damage if a guy’s gotta cover him. That’s the beauty of, as you say, position-less or more teams that are looking at smaller “4” men now. I mean, that’s getting to be normal in college now, too. Either way that’s going to be great for him. But I think that one advantage at the “4” in pro ball, a lot of their wing guys get back on defense because nobody wants to give up a layup. I think it gives him a chance to get to the offensive boards a little bit, which is one of his strengths. He’s a phenomenal rebounder and he can really run. He can be a good trail guy on that break, too. So I think either way it would be a good move for him and for them.

Do you sense he’s motivated after last season, when he wasn’t considered among the best of his class and didn’t garner any real votes for the NBA All-Rookie-teams?

I really do. I talked to Miles at the end of the year. I said, “Hey, you did OK.” And he goes, “Coach, I didn’t play very good.” Miles is a very good self-evaluator and I don’t think many people are. And if you don’t self-evaluate it’s hard to motivate yourself to be better if you already think you’re good. I think he thinks he can play a lot better. That’s one of the things I loved about him here. No big ego for him. One of the nicest superstars that I’ve ever had. He had all the rankings and all the ratings and didn’t come in with a big ego. Swear to God he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve had and I think he is in his mind disappointed that the year didn’t go better for him and their team, and I think he is very motivated to do that. That’s my opinion after sitting down with him.

Sounds like you remain proud of his humility and gratitude because it’s not something always shown in today’s athlete.

Nah, no. Everybody’s ego is already so big. They are already the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mean he flat out said to me, “Coach I’ve got some things I’ve got to get better at. I need to get better at my shot, I’ve got to get better at this.” You know what I said to him? “That’s a good reason (to stay in school).” But that isn’t the norm. That’s what separates him from a lot of people in my mind. Whether it will be enough to be a great pro, time is going to tell. But that attitude — and he does have good work ethic — but his attitude and his non-entitlement … He doesn’t think he’s entitled to anything. He’s back here and it’s like he’s back in college. He’s one of the guys.

When they play, pros come back they always call every foul. Miles, he didn’t call any fouls. I said, “Miles, be a pro would ya? Call a couple of fouls when you get bumped that so we know your Magic, you know?” He just doesn’t do that. He’s just … I tell you what. I’ve got a lot favorite players, but for a guy who came in with all the billings, and us and Kentucky and this and that. … His first-year things didn’t go great for him as a player — well they did for him but not for our team because we had an unbelievable rash and every big guy we had got injured. And shit he didn’t complain, he didn’t do nothing.

I think he will be great and I think he will be great in that community. I think he’s that kind of guy. Now that’s great, but like here I can be a great guy but I’ve got to win. He can be a great guy, but he’s got to play well and win. That’s the next step for him. But knowing that he has to improve, knowing that he wants to get better, knowing that he wants his team to win more, those are good things in this day where everybody wants to brand themselves on personal things instead of team things, you know?

With Kemba Walker gone, the Hornets no longer have someone who is the definitive face of the franchise. Do you think Miles can become that guy?

I do. I think he can step up a notch. When you are the face of something … He is adored here. He played in a semi-pro-am thing here and stayed there for two hours and signed autographs and takes pictures for little kids. It takes those kinds of things sometimes to be a face of franchises sometimes, what he does in the community. But still winning and playing good will make those other things that much better and I think if he wins and plays good his ego won’t get in the way of changing. He’s a pretty humble guy. And so I think this is a big year for him.

I don’t know how good their team’s gonna be. As always in that league, you’ve got to have players and you’ve got to have experience. I don’t know if they have enough players and they are still going to be young. They don’t have a lot of experience. But that can be fun, too, on the other side of it. You can look at it a lot of different ways. But I think it’s a big year for him and I think he knows it and I think that’s the best part about him.

As a native of Flint, Mich., he’s very proud of his hometown. What are your thoughts on the love he has for the city he was born and raised in?

Well, we went up with our whole team when the water issue happened. That was his first year I think and he embraced that. I told him, “You are not one of the original Flintstones, but you are a part of the fraternity.” Flint’s been good to me and the guys that have come out of there have all been pretty successful in different ways. So that’s why Mateen (Cleaves) is part of Miles. I remember when we got him and Mateen and Draymond (Green) — Draymond loves Miles — and Draymond is from Saginaw, which Mateen says it’s a suburb of Flint. Although Draymond said Flint’s a suburb of Saginaw.

So I think just because of the number of players, Flint wins. But I’ll let those two fight it out. I’ve got enough fucking problems. The good thing is they always come back to fight it out. That’s what I love most about those guys.

(Top photo of Miles Bridges: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)