Finding an NBA fan that hasn’t seen a Miles Bridges highlight this season is akin to spotting Halley’s comet. Having established himself as one of the most exciting players in the league, Bridges has been all over Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and every social media site in between for any number of dunks this season.
There was his two-handed tomahawk on Toronto’s Chris Boucher. Or his windmill finish after a nifty behind-the-back pass from LaMelo Ball against the Sixers. Most recently, it was his enormous poster dunk on Atlanta’s Clint Capela that went viral.
Each of those moments offers a 30-second glimpse at Bridges and serves as a reminder of his athleticism and ability to put anyone on a poster on any given night. But they don’t tell the story of Bridges’ season in Charlotte, one that has seen him make the jump from promising prospect to impact player.
With 13 games remaining in the season, Bridges is flirting with a 50-40-90 season, a feat mostly reserved for elites in the history of the game. His 59.6% effective field goal percentage not only is a jump of over 10 points from last season, it ranks among the best in the game alongside bigs that live at the rim or sharpshooters from range, neither of which describe Bridges.
“He’s taken a major jump here to be at shooting those numbers,” Hornets head coach James Borrego said. “He’s worked on his game. His 3-point shot has become more and more of a weapon for him. He’s much more confident (in) catch and shoot (opportunities). His ability to shoot off the bounce is there as well.
“He’s been great at the free-throw line. He’s gotten to the rim. He’s been much more efficient at the rim. You put it all together, he’s a much better player than we saw him at this time last year. He deserves a lot of credit.”
The 50-40-90 club features eight players in NBA and WNBA history and includes Steph Curry, Steve Nash, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki. The numbers represent a player that shoots at least 50% from the field, 40% from the 3-point line and 90% from the free-throw line.
Through Friday’s win over the Cavaliers, Bridges is shooting 50.5% from the field, 40.4% from the 3-point line and 84.8% from the free-throw line. Ultimately, even if Bridges crosses the 90% threshold at the charity stripe, he likely will not officially finish with a 50-40-90 season.
This season, Bridges is shooting 78-for-92 from the free-throw line. The statistical minimum to qualify among the league leaders is 125 made free throws, meaning Bridges would need to nearly triple his made free throws per game over the final 13 games of the season to reach the baseline.
Whether Bridges officially qualifies or not in no way lessens the improvements he’s made on the floor this season.
“With me coming off the bench, my roles in my first two years have really trained me to just take good shots, not force anything,” Bridges said. “I just want to take good shots and I’m making shots in a really good efficient way so I just want to keep that going. My teammates are getting me involved. My coach has a lot of confidence in me and I got confidence, too, right now. So, I just want to try to keep this going.”
It’s Bridges’ 3-point shot that has been perhaps the biggest development in his scoring arsenal and, specifically, how he gets his shots off. After being a below-average shooter both on catch-and-shoot opportunities and off the dribble last season, Bridges has seen marked improvements in both areas this season.
This season, per Synergy, Bridges ranks in the 68th percentile on unguarded catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, knocking down 44% of his attempts. On jump shots off the dribble, he ranks in the 94th percentile. On pull-up 3-pointers, he’s shooting 42.6% this season, a figure that ranks him just below Kevin Durant and just above Steph Curry of players with at least 40 attempts.
“I worked all offseason on catch-and-shoots, off the dribble and I feel like it’s starting to show,” Bridges said. “The more confidence I play with, I feel like you’ll see more of my work that I put it in the summer.”
Ask Borrego about what’s been most impressive about Bridges game this season and a slew of responses follows. However, it ultimately centers on his shooting.
“The playmaking, No. 1,” he said. “He’s able to make plays for other people off the bounce, in transition, out of pick and roll, out of slips. He’s doing a tremendous job… in his playmaking. His shotmaking might be at the top of this board right now. I think the shotmaking, his ability to make shots at the clip he’s making, I don’t think anybody anticipated that right now.
“And then you add the shotmaking off the bounce as well, the ability to make shots at the rim off the bounce, from three off the bounce, I didn’t see that coming this year and he’s exceeded my expectation in that area.”
Bridges’ improvements as a playmaker can be seen in terms of his career-high assists per game average and in his increased assist ratio this season. Simplified, assist ratio measures the number of possessions that end in assists. Bridges’ assist ratio of 15.7 this season is a notable jump from 11.2 last season. Up, too, are his potential assists and secondary assists, all that coming despite a decrease in usage this season.
“The game has slowed down for me a little bit,” Bridges said. “I mean, I’m three years in now, and I kind of know the NBA game. I just want to continue to get better and make the right plays for my team.”
Perhaps most impactful to the team’s success, though, has been Bridges’ improvements as a defender. No individual defensive metric will fully capture a player’s impact defensively, but they all point in the same direction.
His individual defensive rating has improved from 114.0 last season to 109.6 this season despite the cast around him constantly changing due to injuries. Cleaning the Glass has the Hornets as a marginally better team defensively with Bridges on the court versus off, a figure that is backed up by NBA.com’s data as well.
While marginally better may not be seen as a big improvement, last season Bridges’ had the highest defensive net rating and the Hornets were eight points better per 100 possessions with him off the court. This season, that defensive rating has been middle-of-the-road. Pair that with his drastic offensive improvements, and he quickly becomes one of the most valuable Hornets statistically.
“Miles has been a work in progress on off-ball defense, and he’s worked tremendously (hard) in that area the last couple of years and he’s really grown in that area,” Borrego said. “I don’t want to undersell that part as well because that’s as important as the offensive end. Obviously, there’s going to be mistakes out of every player defensively. But those mistakes off the ball by Miles that we’ve seen the last couple of years have become fewer and fewer and he deserves credit.”
The total net result has been a season in which Bridges has made a leap and changed the outlook on his career. On a team full of lottery talents and young players, Bridges has stood out above all save for perhaps his close friend in Ball.
At just 23 years old, the outlook on Bridges’ future has changed. No longer is he a blossoming young talent. Now, he could develop into something even greater.
“There’s another level to Miles,” Borrego said. “I don’t think any of us saw the level he would get to this year. If you look at his body, his power, his size and his current skill set, he’s got another level to him. I think that’s exciting for our group”