Miles Bridges on pace to make Hornets history with crazy stat

It took until April of his third season in the NBA, but Miles Bridges has finally broken out. He had a decent rookie year, an even better second season, and through the first few months of his third year, he looked to have plateaued.

But then the Hornets suffered some injuries and they needed someone to step up and keep them in the playoff race. Bridges has done just that, and more.

Not only has Miles “stepped up”, but he’s broken out in a big way, averaging 20.7 points and 7.9 rebounds while shooting 52 percent from the floor and 45 percent from three. He looks like a more complete player now than when he joined the league, scoring from everywhere.

Sure, he has the highlight dunks that make Sportscenter just about every night, but he’s proving to be much more than just a dunker.

Miles Bridges does, in fact, have game

We all remember Dan Dakich’s now-infamous “has no game” quote on Bridges following a game during his sophomore season at Michigan State. He ragged on the Spartan star because he often got stuck out on the perimeter and didn’t utilize his strengths as much as he probably should have. He wasn’t selfish enough, is what Tom Izzo always liked to say.

But to say he had “no game” was just ridiculous, and Dakich knew it. He just wanted to make headlines and he unfortunately did.

Through most of his third season, it’s now obvious that Bridges has plenty of game and he’s about to make Hornets history with the first 50/40/80 season in franchise history.

Bridges is on track to become the first player in Hornets history to shoot at least 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from 3-point range, and 80 percent from the free-throw line. That’s wild.

And it’s not like Miles doesn’t shoot threes, either. He averages around four attempts per game but he’s just improved that area of his game immensely.

It’s hard to believe no Hornets player has ever reached those numbers for an entire season, but with 21 games left on the schedule, Bridges is about to be the first.