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Why the Chicago Bulls must draft Mikal Bridges over Trae Young

By Patrick Sheldon

SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 31: Mikal Bridges #25 of the Villanova Wildcats looks on from the bench in the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks during the 2018 NCAA Men's Final Four Semifinal at the Alamodome on March 31, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 31: Mikal Bridges #25 of the Villanova Wildcats looks on from the bench in the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks during the 2018 NCAA Men's Final Four Semifinal at the Alamodome on March 31, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Trae Young Chicago Bulls
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Pump up the volume (shooting)

If you were to look strictly at the numbers, you would think Young has a decisive edge in this category. I’m not here to tell you that Bridges had a better statistical season than Young. However, if you’re willing to go deeper than the stat lines, you’ll see it’s much closer than it appears.

The one thing supporters of Young rave about is his three-point shooting. They won’t shut up about it. They’re like that friend you have that just went vegan or is four days into CrossFit and claims it’s been “life-changing.”

However, looking at the numbers, Bridges actually has a clear advantage in this category. Young shot 36 percent while taking about 10 three-pointers per game. Bridges, on the other hand, took six per game but shot 44 percent. Well, what about inside the arc? Surely Young was better, right? Wrong. Young averaged nine two-point attempts per game and shot 49 percent. Bridges took six per game and averaged 59 percent.

So how was it that Young averaged 27 points per game while Bridges averaged 17, even though they played about the same number of minutes per game? Volume my friends. Young was literally the only competent option on a mediocre Oklahoma squad. Consequently, he almost always had the ball in his hands and took a ton of shots.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look at some of the more advanced analytics. Usage percentage estimates the percentage of a team’s plays used by a player when he was on the floor. Young’s was a whopping 37.1 percent, while Bridges was 23.2 percent. Now let’s look at how those percentages translated to victories.

Win Shares and Win Shares per 40 Minutes measures the total number of wins a player contributes through his offense and defense, and the number of wins he contributes per 40 minutes. Trae Young’s numbers were 5.7 and .201 respectively, while Bridges were 7.7 and .241. Meaning even on a more loaded team, with fewer plays, Bridges contributed more wins to his team than Young did to his.

So, you can marvel at Young’s ability to pull up from 35 feet and drill a three. However, if you want an efficient scorer who will do much more to contribute to the team’s overall success, then Mikal Bridges is who should be marveled.

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