When the Knicks hired Mike Brown as their new head coach, much of the focus was on how he can optimize the All-Star tandem of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
However, it is Mikal Bridges who might have the most to gain from Brown’s hiring.
The two-way wing recently signed a four-year contract extension worth $150 million to stay with the Knicks. With Bridges set to remain in New York for an extended period of time, putting him in an ideal role will be important to the team's title hopes.
Bridges had a bit of an uneven debut season with the Knicks.
After the club sent five future draft picks to the Nets to acquire Bridges, his fit on the roster was inconsistent. There were the highs — like a 41-point explosion on Christmas against the Spurs, a buzzer-beater against the Trail Blazers, and key defensive stops against the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs.
But there were also nights when Bridges disappeared, like an 0-for-9 shooting performance against the now-champion Thunder in January.
Though his raw numbers of 17.6 points on 50 percent from the field looked good on paper, it never seemed like Bridges was fully comfortable. After altering his shot release this past season, Bridges’ three-point attempt rate dropped and he shot 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, his lowest mark since his rookie season.
He was effective from the corners (42.4 percent) but struggled mightily from deeper. Bridges knocked down only 30.5 percent of his trifectas from above-the-break. In the playoffs, he shot 36.2 percent on above-the-break threes, but made only 32.3 percent of his corner ones.
Ways to build Bridges
There are levers that Brown could pull to help Bridges become more efficient.
Under Brown’s watch, the Kings played fast and also embraced the pass.
In his two full seasons as Kings head coach, they finished seventh in assist rate and top five in passes made per game. Kings center Domantas Sabonis thrived as a creator in Brown’s offense, through dribble handoffs and finding cutters from the mid-post and at the top of the key.
The Knicks can use Towns in a similar way. With Towns’ ability to shoot from outside, it would open space in the paint and create easier scoring opportunities for Bridges, as well as other Knicks. The former Villanova star was successful earlier in his career as an off-ball cutter with the Suns.
Under Tom Thibodeau last season, the Knicks were 26th in pace in the regular season, per NBA Stats. The team was also 13th in transition frequency. When the Knicks did push the ball, they were effective, scoring 1.18 points per possession — good for second in the NBA.
Bridges is effective running the floor and it would give him more opportunities to find easier buckets.
On defense, Bridges was New York’s primary point-of-attack defender. He was often tasked with defending lead ball handlers, and he struggled at times navigating picks while trying to stay in front of guards such as Tyrese Haliburton or Trae Young.
Even with a new coach, it’s hard to see that changing — none of New York’s other starters are capable of guarding at the point-of-attack.
The only way Bridges won’t be in that position is if Miles McBride plays more minutes with the starters, rather than Josh Hart or Mitchell Robinson. But it’s hard to envision a lineup of four starters with McBride joining the Knicks' primary five-man unit.
One other adjustment the Knicks could embrace would be switching more on defense, so Bridges won’t be hung up on screens as much.
Self-improvement
Even with the coaching change, there are adjustments Bridges can make on his own.
He needs to be more willing to embrace contact — there were too many occasions where the iron man opted to fade away in the mid-range and avoid defenders. Bridges converted those attempts, making 51.3 percent of attempts from three to 10 feet, according to Basketball Reference.
Last season, Bridges attempted a laughably low 118 free throws in 3,036 minutes. In the year prior, he took nearly 200 more freebies despite playing over 200 less minutes with the Nets.
The lack of foul shots, lower three-point rate, and high volume of mid-range attempts made Bridges the antithesis of efficiency. If he can alter some of that shot diet toward the rim and welcome contact on finishes in the paint while attempting more threes, the Knicks will greatly benefit.
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