Da Windy City
Fansided

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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
Chicago Bulls Mikal Bridges
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Sharing is Caring

Admittedly, this is an area where Young should dominate. After all, he is a point guard. How in the world could a 6-foot-7 wing compete with a 6-foot-2 point guard in the category of getting teammates involved?

Again, don’t just glance a the numbers. Of course Young is going to have more assists per game. He’s also going to be responsible for more of his team’s points. This is obviously a by-product of his position. However, it’s also a result of his monopoly over the team’s offense. As I stated earlier, there were not many options on Oklahoma this past season. Therefore, Young was asked to do a lot. Lon Kruger put all of his eggs into Trae’s basket. When it worked, it worked well. However, when it didn’t, it resulted in Oklahoma finishing the season 4-12 over its last 16 games (including the postseason).

The opposing team’s formula was simple. All it had to do was stop or even limit Young, and the game was over. In February and March when it counted the most, Young shot 25 percent and 29 percent respectively from three-point range.  He shot 36 percent from inside the arc during the same period.

During this same time frame, Bridges shot 40 percent and 49 percent from behind the arc, and 63 percent and 58 percent from two-point range. So what does this tell us besides the fact that Bridges seems to play his best basketball when it matters the most? It tells us that Young accounted for a disproportionate amount of the team’s offense. When his ability to shoot the three was taken away, he was fairly ineffective.

Bridges, on the other hand, assisted on approximately 10 percent of his team’s field goals. He seems to be the perfect compliment to a team that already has Kris Dunn to distribute and Lauri Markkanen through whom to run its offense. The numbers show that Bridges doesn’t need the ball in his hands all the team to be highly effective, thus allowing for more opportunities for his teammates.

Home/Chicago Bulls