Michigan State Basketball: Is Miles Bridges being overlooked in NBA draft?

The latest NBA mock drafts have Michigan State basketball star Miles Bridges slotted around the 12-15 range. Is he being overlooked?

Announcing he’d be returning for his sophomore year, Miles Bridges knew he’d be back in East Lansing with higher expectations than anyone since Gary Harris.

Must Read: 5 reasons Brian Lewerke’s will be Mark Dantonio’s best QB

Harris really broke the mold of presumed one-and-dones, shying away from the NBA after a breakout freshman season to pursue a national title as a sophomore with the Spartans. Bridges did the same thing in 2017-18, pushing away almost a sure lottery selection for a chance to win titles at Michigan State.

Bridges came back to win the Big Ten and lead the Spartans to their best regular season record ever under Tom Izzo but it wasn’t enough as they were bounced in the Big Ten Tournament by Michigan and in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Syracuse.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Bridges seemed to have a solid year. However, because he wasn’t named the Big Ten Player of the Year nor National POY, people assumed his return for a second season was a poor idea.

In fact, his is a take from a member of the national media:

Because Bridges doesn’t have a true position — he’s between a 3-4 position player — many believe he’s too much of a tweener to really excel in the NBA. However, he’s shown he can play anywhere from 2-4, although the two-spot is a stretch. He could afford to improve his handles, but he has the athleticism and explosiveness to guard the two.

Has his position-less game made him the most overlooked player in this year’s draft? It sure seems that way.

There’s a reason he was a top-10 recruit when he came to Michigan State and just because he didn’t take over every game as a sophomore doesn’t mean he’s not capable of doing so — he’s just not a selfish player but steps up when he needs to.

Look at Harris’ numbers to his freshman to his sophomore year. He didn’t quite improve in every statistical category like people expected. The same happened with Bridges. Harris went from a potential lottery pick to the No. 19 overall selection.

Bridges came back, saw his shooting percentages drop, but points per game rise (just like Harris) and went from sure lottery to fringe-lottery (most likely No. 15 to the Wizards).

Next: MSU Football: Post-spring 2018 game-by-game predictions

Keep overlooking Bridges, but if he’s anything like Harris, he will be on the border of All-Star status in a few years.