PHILADELPHIA _ The skills that Mikal Bridges has developed over the last seven years _ his defensive prowess, moving without the basketball, his ability to knock down a 3-point shot or drive to the hoop for an emphatic dunk _ are about to make him a certain lottery pick in the next NBA draft.
However, his coaches during that time, both at Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pa., and at Villanova, will tell you there's more to Bridges than talent alone. It's being a good teammate in his dedication to working within the framework of the team. It's his attention to detail and preparation. It's taking coaching without complaint and always striving to improve.
In the view of Jay Wright, "he's humble and coachable."
"It's probably his intelligence and his patience, to be smart enough to understand that his path to being a great player was going to take some natural physical maturity," the Wildcats coach said. "It's getting bigger and stronger. It's a mental maturity. It was going to be natural. You just couldn't do it in a year. You couldn't do it in two years.
"It's having the intelligence to enjoy that process. He never rushed it. He never complained. He just kept getting better in every phase. I'm really proud of him, and I'm impressed."
Bridges' coach at Great Valley, Jim Nolan, said he would describe the player as "coachable, coachable, coachable."
"He was a good teammate and a good leader, but he was coachable and a good decision-maker," Nolan said. "In our program, we get on kids. I get on kids. It's about focus and concentration, doing the right thing. There were no special cases, and that included Mikal. But he always gave that effort and did what we asked him to do. He did the things necessary to be successful. Plus, he's a great character guy."
