Three cases that prove Mikal Bridges to the Knicks is “it”
Two NBA dynasties featured non-superstars in starring roles. Could today’s Knicks form a third?
Having corrected the glitch in the Matrix and swapped Mikal Bridges from off-off-Broadway to center stage, the Knicks are good. Really good; like, title-contender good. As a result, like some dark Lovecraft prophecy fulfilled, monsters have arisen across the Association to spew and sew hate. You’ve probably seen/heard some version of this:
There is a cult (ironically comprised mostly of casuals) zealously devoted to the belief that Bridges is a false savior, their faith founded on circular madness: first that Bridges, 27, has never been a great player, since if he had he’d already have been an All-Star, bro; second, that since Bridges is not and has never been an All-Star, he never will be. Imagine! Trading all those draft picks for a role player and obvious nebbish? More like Melvin Bridges, am I right? Leon Rose thought he traded the farm for some magic beans and all he got was Lance Thomas with a 3-ball.
An inconvenient truth, then, that two weeks before the Knicks allegedly overpaid for Zeppo, The Athletic’s Fred Katz reported “other teams [had] offered hoards of first-rounders” for Bridges. Bit of a stretch having to account for other teams having the same obvious hole in their thinking as the Knicks – that would imply the Nets are not just the smartest team in New York, but across much of the NBA. News flash: the Knicks have won as many playoff series the last two seasons as New Jersey/Brooklyn has in 17. The Nets aren’t the smartest anything.
Yet as recently as June, Bridges was still the centerpiece of the settlement Brooklyn got in their shotgun divorce from Kevin Durant, a talent the Nets considered “a co-star to whichever big name [they] can trade for down the line.” The Nets were bright enough to realize what was in front of them – in an offseason where Paul George changing teams is treated with the magnificence of the eclipse, Bridges possesses many of George’s best qualities while being six years younger. This isn’t the first time a player’s fit figures first and foremost before their fabulousity – or foreshadows failure.
When a Dollar was a fortune
Behold the career resumes of four starting teammates:
League MVP/2x Finals MVP/All-Star MVP/5x All-NBA/7x All-Star/All-Defense/HOFer/75th Anniversary Team
All-Star MVP/6x All-NBA/7x All-Star/7x All-Defense/HOFer/75th Anniversary Team
All-NBA/8x All-Star/6x All-Defense/HOFer/75th Anniversary Team
All-NBA/4x All-Star/HOFer/75th Anniversary Team
The fifth was an All-Star but once. Never an MVP, nor All-Defense. Didn’t make the 75th Anniversary Team. Never averaged more than 16 points a game, nor even five rebounds or assists. Was never more than the Knicks’ third-leading scorer. Yet despite never being regarded as an equal star to Willis Reed or Walt Frazier or Dave DeBusschere or Earl Monroe, Bill Bradley started on two title-winning teams and is a Hall of Famer too because fit was his forte.
Bradley wasn’t big and strong like Willis. He didn’t defend like Clyde. Couldn’t control the glass like DeBusschere. Never dreamed of moves like Pearl’s. So what did he bring? His literal first-ever possession in the pros offered a hint.
Howard Komives fluffed his lines by traveling, but the vision and unselfishness that would become hallmarks of the Golden Age Knicks are already evident here in Bradley. Every year fom 1968-1976, Dollar Bill ranked second or third on the team in assists. Nobody thinks Ringo made the Beatles “the Beatles,” but everyone knows they’d have been lesser without him. And while Bradley was always a secondary distributor, there was one thing he did better – or at least more – than any of his more illustrious teammates, as seen in this later clip from his debut.
Bill Bradley ran. Alllllllll the time. Never stopped. Ran fast breaks. Ran up and down sidelines and baselines in halfcourt sets. Ran curls. Ran cuts. Ran for the Senate. Ran for the White House. His first book was titled Life on the Run.
Say you’re a defense trying to stop four future Hall of Famers. Reed was a boulder down low with the grace and touch of someone a foot smaller. Frazier kept the ball on a string and could blow by, pull-up or set up someone. DeBusschere paired bruising physicality with implausible skill. Monroe was a mythical shot-maker and creator, Kevin Durant meets Kyrie Irving.
With that combined threat, what’s a defense to do with a fifth who never stops moving, who’ll can the open jumper if available but gladly dish to any teammate with an even fractionally better look? In 1972, you probably wouldn’t build your team around Bradley – but he was absolutely (though not chronologically) the piece that completed the Knicks’ fit, the fifth finger forming the fist. Today’s Knicks don’t need Bridges to be Reed or Frazier. Dollar Bill would be mighty fine.