From Malvern, PA to Brooklyn: Mikal Bridges’ NBA Journey | Brooklyn Nets

From Malvern, PA to Brooklyn: Mikal Bridges’ NBA Journey | Brooklyn Nets

[Laughter] [Applause] All right get a family [Applause] Shot oh what an Al man I’m proud appreciate proud of you good this so nice that you guys come down not you you have to there’s my girl oh man you look great you look great to officially retire his jersey and great friends since we first day we

Met all so happy for you so proud of you deserve it put the work in keep going kill congrats night man we welome home and Philadel I’m just so grateful God is great um my family coaches friends teachers like they made it possible I think all I to do was just show up I know everybody that’s been around me I think they just molded me to the person time in today I just just so grateful

And have everybody here in my life so thank you so much I’m happy we are up 24 thank you so much the Kel Bridges he’s on the precipice of taking that next step he’s been willing to put in the work every day of his career and he’s an

Everyday guy and he commits himself to getting better he identifies where he wants to improve on and you know you just watch over time you can see such a natural progression I just I’m glad that the authenticity like he’s still the same even for me seeing him back from when he

Played basketball in school to fanova and then now to the NBA like he’s just a really good person and that makes me really proud he got an opportunity and took full advantage the cut the finish and the foul Mel Bridges he really has elevated to another Level [Applause] yes sir yes sir yes let go we are extremely competitive where did that start um I know I’ve always been very competitive I had goals some sometimes there were very hard goals but it was something that I knew was attainable if I work really

Hard grew up in West Philly and that was during the time of like it was a huge rug epidemic going on in the area and it was it was a rough part of town and you know I just always wanted to live a different life than not be like subject to my

Circumstances but it just really sparked this competitive in me and I’ve always been that way I was the first one in my family to go to college and I really wanted to be different and wanted people to look up to me and when I found out I was

Pregnant I just felt like I let everyone down and it was like one of the hardest times in my life because I had a lot of people doubt me and didn’t think that you know I would be any different from what they seen around I’m like a young

Teenage mom that didn’t make it you know and that was that was hard for me but I really used that just as my fuel to know that again I can do hard things I’m capable of that and I can be successful and my son can be successful but you

Tell Mel like even when he has hard days you know how the NBA is it’s just you’re never going to have a great game every night and I say you know you’re capable of doing hard things muel like you’re going to have bad days but it’s the

Setbacks in life that really propels us for our best comeback and that’s something that I always use in something that I believe in for sure I went to tennis camp when I was young I used play my mom all the time when I was like 11 me she used to whoop

My ass every single time like I’m getting in a car not even like looking at this like who is this woman like no way she did me like this I’m looking out the window like don’t talk to me pissed off like like piss off just looking out the

Window like can’t wait to get home so I go right in my room yeah my mom used to get on me cuz she said you have to let him win at some stuff I was like no no bro no I would just I would I would literally beat him and I

Would never let him win my mom’s like that’s not normal TAA like most parents let their kids win I’m like no he has to earn the win and eventually as I got older more athletic got a little lankier got faster I just started dominating once Mel probably was like 13 I couldn’t

Beat him at anything he had a true gift of athleticism he could play anything maybe Scrabble I can beat him at that even though he thinks that I make up words but I’m pretty sure I’m good at that he was in high school and we were

On a courts and I thought that I can like I could take him he was talking a lot of trash and I was like come on you’re you’re a Suburban kid Mel like I’m from the city and he went up he like dunked on me and I fell backwards on the ground and

He say something around like um leave the baby off the streets get the baby out the streets or something like that I was mad I’m getting older she’s getting older so it’s just like you know sometimes you get older the opposite way you start coming down but I’m just

Starting to grow I’m starting to just be even more physical more athletic and I used just go crazy every time I was like I’m not losing like I’m just not and that’s I guess where I get my competitor from look it’s no doubt that being a young single mom

Brings about its own unique challenges but you know one thing that was important for me is that you lead with love you remember how important it is to be kind and really be transparent and lead with authenticity like those are just some of the things that are

Important to me but those are the things that I wanted to instill within Mel single mom it’s not easy I can’t even imagine what that’s like but knowing that she was always she had his back and that Bond was very special and that that was part of who Mel is was and

Is still to this day my mom just raised me right just to be a better person I think that’s how it goes and I don’t know be a hard worker I think me being a hard worker I think it just comes in jeans of seeing her and

Watching what she does and it was just like natural just watching how much she works I had like a thousand things to do is like a Serial multitasker and I think Mel could see that like he can see like I would kiss him good night and then I’ll be like

Pulling out my books at 10:00 at night doing my homework up to like 2:00 get them up make breakfast get them to school go to work come home and do that routine all over again so I always wanted to push myself to be able to give Mel a better life that I

Have I said okay like what will be the best ideal circumstance for both me and muel well I was working at Vanguard at the time and vanguard’s in mour and I said all right this is great I’m going to move to Mal you have to understand like there

Wasn’t a lot of people like me that wasn’t a lot of people of color and there certainly weren’t any single parent family so you know I always felt like almost like I wasn’t good enough you know cuz I wanted Mel to have the absolute best social economic Al you’re going to

See kids that have things that maybe kids would not have in the city it’s going to be a more Caucasian less diverse community and coming into that knowing what Mel is too so loved by the community and so loved by his classmates from the moment he stepped foot on campus all the way

Through I had to just learn a little quicker than usual and living in Philly until then like all my friends were black and all that never had no white friends until I came up but she knew I mean she knew and she never lived in

Subur Nei so she knew how it was going to be different and prepared me for it I said like people may look down and people may have things to say but you have to know that everyone’s circumstances are different but this doesn’t Define who you are and not only

That like you are going to be great like I was always would tell them that like no matter what you do you’re going to be great even when he was playing basketball I said you’re going to be an NBA player he laugh he didn’t believe me

I think he just was so young but I I was legit saying that when he was maybe like in third grade you could do whatever you put your mind to like you could do great things like you call it you believe it and you’ll achieve it like it’s sounds

Simplistic in nature but you got to have big lofy goals you just do in life in the city the opportunities for basketball may be more there to play and be around it here sometimes not as much got to find it a little bit more I think their goals were stability but also

Someone who’s going to promote and give him an opportunity to really show what he can do here’s a solid program that a coach is going to spend time or a staff is going to spend time lots of time we’d be in here all year round working to

Make the program better and make the kids better so Mel came out in 7 grade and uh you know I recognize that he had some athleticism but the reality is athletically he was not our best player on the team and was not a starter um so

I think that is what has helped him to continue to improve because he never had that I don’t think he ever had that stigma like I’m the big fish in the little pond so he always worked to be better the first time I saw him walk in

My office it was the big smile you see the height you see the length you see the way he carries himself in that first meeting you feel like okay okay this young man may have some potential we don’t know yet this is the first meeting but you see what he’s bringing with his

Character this is some potential we’ll see how this goes he was the big reason why I never played another sport in high school cuz he always had leagues going on we had fall league we had summer league we had spring League we always have open gyms so it was just like you

Really couldn’t play another sport so our open and jyms were interesting in that the kids wouldn’t just come and play like we played with them and we were just as competitive if not more competitive than the kids at times especially on like a random Tuesday Thursday when they’re tired from school

There was one particular game I remember where I sort of whispered to him like Hey you know this is game point you’re going to take the shot he took the shot um and there they’re team one and so that was kind of like my first impression of like all right there might

Be something here but once we got into the summer that’s when he got the experience of what it’s really like to be in a program that’s program oriented you’re going to play hard you’re going to defend you’re going to learn to defend you’re going to share

The ball you’re going to do all these things and I say like everybody else he didn’t want to play defense he didn’t want to play defense like all the other kids that ever came into the program sometimes he didn’t want to pressure the basketball or sometimes when his Man

Passed the basketball it’s time to relax and we as coaches you see the length you see the ability to move you see the height and you know that if he’s able to get these Concepts this guy is the limit to be a great Natalie on ball Defender rebounder box out rotate listen I’ll

Tell you it’s not fun but it’s rewarding in the end when you turn around and we look at the banner and you look at what’s up there defense is really where that comes from Mel’s mom was just the Sun the centerpiece the Cornerstone you always knew that you always got that vibe from her and she was always open to having conversations and her and coach noan talked all the time if you asked Jim Nolan he would say we had some fights

Like put my son back in the game you know but look I think you got to trust a coach it was very evident that Mel was best player on a team but Jim Nolan would never let you know that like Mel was no different from anyone else he

Never treated Mel special or made him feel like you’re the star of the team knowing that this is great valley and not like a juggernaut Powerhouse high school program we just focused on the purity of the game we were really pure and uncompromising about how to

Play the game of basketball the way we thought it was supposed to be played and it was well suited for Mel in a sense that as good as Mel was we would not let him take a lower quality shot if one of his teammates was open for a higher

Quality shot cutting pass and cutting that was our offense PC pass and cut and I was always playing off ball and easy points and playing the right way and that’s what it was it was just cutting and it’s funny cuz that’s like a lost thing cuz everybody has a ball in their

Hand so like you go to college and I’m back cutting people it’s like this whole thing people like whoa like he’s cutting like da cuz people not used to it I’m just like I like I wish I could do what everybody I wish I come off ball screens

Do all these moves but people appreciate it and I just I always had that and then as I just kept developing my game is always just like a thing that I always learn that a lot of kids don’t learn we were never going to allow the players to be satisfied with where they

Were and so even though Mel’s talent and potential and upside was here and someone else’s may have not been as promising we were going to in a sense nitpick Mel we focused a lot on the little things of the game that anyone no matter what talent or what caliber could

Do and if Mel was this good he could still do these intangibles these things that didn’t show up on the stats so we would break down a lot of film and if there was a play where you know Mel got beat someone drove by him Mel could very

Easily catch up and pin the ball right up against the backboard and while the whole crowd would go crazy and Pat him on the back at school the next day we in the film room would say why did that kid even get by you in the first

Place he was a great teammate loved his teammates teammates loved him what he showed his character always radiated and you just wanted to be around him and he always did give a great effort and he was always so coachable he always did everything that we could ask him to do

For muel like he just wanted to win no matter what was asked of him he wanted to do it because he wanted to win he was never someone like oh I want to go out and score 30 points tonight it was what does the coach need me to do to win and

Then I respected that you know cuz he was like that young I was say I want you to score x amount of points you know and he would say mom like we just need to win like sometimes it’s not about me scoring points I may be needed to do

Something else so definitely respect the kid for that after that junior year he did play aaou but he played a with some of his teammates at a less competitive level aou I knew we knew he needed to go to the highest level a that could possibly

He could go to knowing where he was and knowing the potential you had to do it he had to go through it and I know even at that time I’m sure that whe they thinking Mel’s an NBA player there who knows even there at that point I am not

Sure maybe much at that point the Nike eybl is just the elite of the elite I mean there are division one players who don’t start on those teams who will go play in the Big 10 the Big East that’s how good the talent is he was still a question mark he’s like a

Potential guy everyone’s kind of looking at him like this long lanky kid there’s something there and a lot of the big schools liked his length and everybody’s like trying to figure him out then you can legitimately see all right Mel Bridges is playing against a future first round draft choice let’s see how

He matches up man ridiculous especially as a kid has never seen anything like it just all these schools Duke UNC like Nova Michigan State you’re just like just crazy man like nerve-wracking especially my first experience you could see the first time he played at that level that he was was

Kind of gaining confidence every time he was on the floor he was figuring out his own game at that time each game like just nervous you know trying to play the right way I’ll start here first game and second game I get like this the third game I get like

This in the fourth game and by the fourth game like I’m comfortable now like I’ve been in it and I Now understand the speed the talent and what was amazing to us was he fit in so seamlessly because he did all of the little things because he didn’t need to

Be the go-to guy but anytime he had to make a play he was the most efficient guy out there muel was playing peach jam and Larry Brown was in the gym I was standing off to the side he said Bridges you related to Bridges and I was like no

Mel’s mom he looked he’s like okay he’s like that kid’s going to be NBA player one day and I like jumped up I gave him a hug I was like thank you so much I’ve been saying this or so long No One Believes Me went back and told Mel he

Just laughed at me like okay Mom my coach put me in a good position just to play how I play and just just line it up shoot cut get Breakaway dunks you know play some defense get some blocks so just keeping it simple and I guess you

Know NOA saw and just you know you know like me I just remember right after Team final like letter after letter after letter I was like oh my gosh this is different and you know it felt good later in that summer his a coach said you better get on him because everybody

Else like Texas Georgetown Florida everybody’s offered him and you guys are kind of still evaluating and then we really started looking into his background and that he grew up right around Villanova and his mom was getting her NBA in Villanova she like this this is no-brainer I wanted to find out what was

Important important to the coaches the things that Jay believed like just the core of who he was and what he wanted to bring about in his student athletes he wanted Mel to be a good man he wanted him to be a great student he cared holistically about the

Athlete meeting Tania and his dad and his high school coach and then getting to know Mel everything else fits so perfectly you know he he wanted to come in and get better he wanted to be coached he wanted to learn tell me what

I need to do coach me up I want to be a great student I was really just trying to pick the best school for me and Nova was that and I wasn’t looking at nobody El once that Nova was close to home easy for my mom and him to go to games great

Education I remember my grandma was that’s the biggest thing she was on just you know how great a school in Villanova was once Villanova was in the play we had a team dinner like coach and a few other assistant coaches came by the house I cooked lasagna and I got him a nice

Bottle of wine and he kind of was like very relaxed but after that when they laugh he was like I’m going to vova I was like I know like he he knew that that was a choice that he was going to make for sure I said to tenia after he

Committed one thing I’ll never forget when he said to us I’m coming in the house she broke down crying and she said my job’s done and she sacrificed her life for him truly I knew that all that hard work leading up to that place that I trusted

Him with Mel and that’s something that’s important like I’m like giving up my child to someone else and me just growing up being a single mom like that was that was really important to me and I knew that leaving him with Coach right that I can take a deep breath I I could

Exhale and know that he’s going to take it where I left it off and continue Mel’s Journey on the next phase of his Life we really like to recruit physically tough physically strong guy so Mel was kind of out of our normal recruit and it was because he was so slight I never forget Jay was like he’s playing against grown men like not children grown ass men and his small frame he needed to like

Get into the Wai room and bulk up to be able to play against grown men when we did make the red shirting decision we all decided like this guy’s going to be really good how quickly can we expedite this physical maturation so the decision was like look Mel you can

Play with these guys but we got to use four or five days a week on weightlifting strength training and not as much on basketball to get you there quicker I understood it it was just tough you telling a kid that 17 years old playing every year of his life

Pretty much he has to like sit out a year and he’s like completely healthy you know that’s like that’s strange I never done anything like that so I’m like all right like just kind of put my pride aside but also knew like I’m not a

One and done type of guy like this is building and this is for my future so I needed this year I mean that was the the toughest year of my life but the best year for me and mind you I have my roommate Phil who’s playing oh we had the biggest

LoveHate relationship in the world oh I hated that man with a passion when it came to on that court at that time I was playing like 15 minutes a game a little bit but his schedule was way more worse than mine when you’re not playing it’s tough when

You’re just working out every day lifting we have practiced he still practices and he has to like work out after and he probably had lift before so he was extremely exhausted he’ll come back to the room just kind of just like dead a lot of time it was way harder for

Him in terms of being off the court that people realize everybody’s talking about the game and things like that and I’m just sitting there like I don’t play you know that’s kind of like that embarrassment a little bit EA me alive wanted to be out

There and so it it was tough on me especially mentally but my boy Phil my best friend to this day he got me mentally right like we just chill in these little dorms and we both had TVs like right in front of our beds and we

Just play Madden all day you know chill have fun and that’s like one of the biggest things that like kind of really helped me get through my freshman year just I think he felt what I was going through and just kind of just helped me get through it just you know and I

Appreciate him for it our practice are pretty physical we played very hard so on that team we had uh Darren hilard he was like second team All American then we had Josh har was a sophomore I think he won six man the year that year in the Big East so Josh

Was very good and that was his match ups every day in practice so dealing with those two guys had to battle and I think that made him so much better Josh Hart would struggle with him he’ blocked Josh Hart’s jump shot like once in practice

And be going down the other end and Josh would be chasing him down and we knew what Josh was going to do and he was red shirting he was you know like 165 lbs and we were like no Josh no and he would just annihilate him knock them into the

Walls thank God we padding and Mel pop up and be right in on the next play i’ Never sensed that he wavered at all I sensed him 100% supporting his teammates I saw him dive in 100% to his development realizing that maybe he just did need that a little bit extra time

And embracing it and taking full advantage of it what did I say in the Huddle to right and I said if you catch a ball in the perimeter you have plenty of time to drive there’s 4 seconds he flew at you shot fake drive you don’t

Want with 4 seconds throw the ball off the top of the backboard want to get good shots all right get the paint M you’re jogging Let’s Go Blue let’s go get matched up wake up the traits and values that set the Nova program and the Nova players

Apart uh I think it’s the culture um what coach right drills into you playing for each other playing hard playing together I think we all came in with open minds but when we left we kind of had that really instilled in us and we still carry to this day like attitude

That’s like the biggest thing man that’s what we say after every huddle after every time we break like at lunch and we all bring it in it’s always attitude how you respond when something doesn’t go right you get back on defense after a turnover you miss a shot don’t get mad

Get back on defense just kind of respond the right way obviously I don’t run around here like I used to in college and run around clapping yelling attitude but there always in back of my head and how I carry myself after a full year of lifting

Working out he came in ready to go I mean uh he was waiting for it and he made an immediate impact on our team he’s coming in as a red shirt freshman we had a really good team we had Ryan Arch jaakan was a senior Daniel

Cher was a senior we had mature guys you know Josh Hart Chris Jenkins so we were thinking of him as like this is a sixthman six seventh man Off the Bench our defensive stopper but he finished every game coach right loved him that year he was so disruptive on on the

Defensive end his length he was getting a real feel for the game and he was a big punch for that year for us I mean we didn’t have a guy like Mel on that team and he kind of BR something to to the court that we needed that energy that

Length just that presence out there his first year he was an unbelievable Defender and as the year went he was always out there in key moments especially towards the end of the games when we needed stops I remember our game in the final eight against Kansas when

The game was online and we needed to stop he was in the game with a chance to go to the final four and then he made the steal and the play to ice the game it’s legendary Bova lore 4.7 seconds trying to go length to the court with

Archak 3 seconds at Mid gives it to Jens for the [Applause] Championships nobody had us winning and I was what 19 years old like I was that was the most fun of my life after we won like just being a kid and college kid throughout his career I think he learned

How to play literally every role from a guy that came off the bench to a productive starter and then his last is one of our stars so he’s literally played every role there is to play uh in college basketball you see articles you see stuff on the internet my name popped up

In some things about the future and I was like oh damn like I was just playing defense they just like watch out for him so I kind of had that mindset in back of my head like I’m like oh people think I could be a pro like in the NBA I’m like

Oh dope I was more worried about the NBA’s impression of him that I was his ability to play at that level he’s so unselfish are they’re going to appreciate that you know the NBA isn’t made of players that all score 20 points a game there’s a place for players that

Have that unselfish defense move without the ball finish just shoot the three and have their isolated roles the red shirt the evolution year after year and his senior year at at Nova I had a funny feeling and I think he knew already the first round was in there

Somewhere there was a game at the Garden versus Gonzaga he had a play where he went down the middle of the floor and had a ridiculous dunk and then literally the next possession he sprinted down and got a block it was a backto back possession and it was just like who

Welcome to the show Mel Bridges Mel Bridges is making a case for First Team all America in this game talk about a player that plays at both ends and after that game Jay billis was just like this kid like he’s going to be a top 10 pick

And like from that moment on like whatever mock DFT you ever saw whatever it was it was always at 10 like it was never fast as just strictly off J bills saying this guy going to be top 10 after that game he was on the radar and then

He had a great senior year and we won the National Championship so everyone else sees this he’s not just going to get a chance he’s going to get drafted high and once you get drafted high now you got an Opportunity at the draft it was like very emotional cuz I remember him just being this small little kid and I remember the tough times that we had and just all the things that we’ve experienced over the years and the fact that this is like come to fruition is like this is

Real with the 10th pick in the 2018 NBA draft the Philadelphia 76ers select Mel Bridges from Villanova University you say that you get choked up every time you see him running out of the locker room now you get to see him run out of the locker room in the arena

You work in I mean what does that mean how crazy is that it’s surreal and for those that don’t know your story M you were a red shirt you turned into a sixthman of the year and then you were a captain of a national championship team

So how has your journey made you the player that you are it’s a lot of work man I I’ve been through everything and I mean I don’t know I just I just want to thank God for this I’m just I’m too too too happy for this I was so thrilled for

Him and his mom happier for Tena that he was going to Philadelphia my son is coming like to play at the team that I work like that’s a that’s a dream come true like it’s that stuff doesn’t happen every day and then I found out he was being traded Philadelphia has traded the

Rights of muel bridges to the Phoenix Suns for zier Smith who’s the 16th pick in the draft so Mel Bridges who grew up dreaming of playing for the Sixers mom works for the Sixers he’ll go to the Sun now the only thing that was going through my mind honestly was is he okay

And literally my phone wrong it was him he’s like I picked up the phone he’s like Mom I’m okay everything’s going to be okay Mom you know it’s like I like I’m the one who’s supposed to be consoling him so amazed at how he handled it in front of everybody he’s a attitude

Attitude coach you know that’s kind of our our code word he goes I got this attitude what I got to do I got to go out there and prove them wrong but at the end of the day all that hard work that Mel did to put in his

Game like it finally paid off and as a parent like when your child gets to fulfill their dreams and their aspirations no matter what it is you are incredibly proud and it’s just a moment that you know you’ll never forget it’s grained in your Heart Crowder comes away with the ball nice feed Bridges the cut and the Finish Mel Bridges having a game of his life here in game two of the final the conversations once in a while that we would talk about with Phoenix was the group that he loved around him

And how they cultivated a culture and working out and spending time together and I think that continued to push and motivate him to where all of a sudden in those last 10 games in fix look I he I have an opportunity now and he just takes it runs with with

It there’s always Rumblings like his name comes up in trade talk all the time but I don’t think it was going to happen in a blockbuster trade with the Nets the Phoenix Suns are acquiring Kevin Durant Phoenix sending male Bridges cam Johnson and four first round

Picks to Brooklyn I worried the same way because I knew he loved Phoenix he loved his teammates you know I call him like are are you okay I’m I’m good he goes I got to make this work and I was just like you know what he’s done this

Before people don’t understand like when you get traded there’s no time to be like oh I got to sell my house I got to get my I got to get my Affairs in order like it doesn’t work like that like the next day you’re out and you’re in that

City you’re getting a physical and you’re like getting ready to play for that team you know I just have an immense amount of respect for the players because it’s tough we kind of knew I kind tell you there’s a lot of jokes when Katie wanted

To come here we knew the pieces and who might be the ones that’s going to go and us two was the the main two we joke around I always said like at least we got us at least we got us and um at least I got my t with me that’s just

Just how it goes when we first got a cal he wanted to play that night and the trade wasn’t finalized and I and I had to explain to him like you know unfortunately this is this is kind of out of our hands you’re not going to a to play and I realized he

Had this quote unquote Iron Man Street going where he hadn’t missed a game since since high school and even in high school it wasn’t his fault that he missed the game so really refreshing to see a guy like that want to jump in there with his teammates right off the

Bat be a part of this group and and set a tone early you know I took the news and at first it was like wa but then quickly it was back to normal and understanding that we have work to do that we need to get out here and get acclimated with the

Guys the team the area um and then just a lot of excitement for this opportunity it’s a great opportunity 100% I said this is part of Mel’s journey and we’re going to be ready and I flew with him on the flight and next thing I know

Blink my eyes we’re in Brooklyn and been riding this wave ever since just grew up here man since high school and college always wanted to buy a house out here so you know when I got traded here they kind of helped cuz now I’m like in a city so now like you have

A reason like Oh no you’re cran up in the city now go go to the beach just grateful for that cuz I always wanted to live here and then you know get traded I think it’s just all part of the plan I love New York I’m like I’ve been

Waiting for this actually my whole life and I’m actually happy that I’m older now I can really experience and I’m mature enough like I don’t know how been if I was a 21 year old 22 year old in there but now I’m 26 biggest thing I love is just the

People it’s like that New York feel like I walk outside no matter who you are no matter what you do like we’re all right here together I’m like I love it like I’m the perfect timeing I’m like God always got a plan man like got me there exactly

What I need to be there but yeah I love New York Kel Bridges he’s on the precipice of taking that next step this is certainly the most responsibility that he’s going to have over the course of his NBA career but it’s a great position to be in if you’re Mel

Bridges this next step for for him is going to be really cool cuz he’s got a big upside he he really does anyone from New York City in general you want to see someone who’s out there competing to win it you want to see someone who’s out there caring

About their teammates and I don’t think anyone could ever question that about muel you know you know good game bad game he’s going to give you the effort and when you see a guy so locked in and you know where his heart is you can deal with

Anything he’s worked on this stuff every single day nonstop and he’s been able to take those steps and then apply them on the court but there’s a mental aspect of it too just understanding you know this is the way that you’re going to play and and

Execute it and you know it takes a lot of guts to step up and play like that and um you know he’s really proven that he’s really a top player in this league on both ends of the floor one-onone with Lopez the bridges it’s extremely tough to be a

Two-way player in this league and be asked to prod on the offensive end and have the responsibility on the defensive end there’s a select few in this league who ultimately at the end of the night really do it on a consistent basis it’s really extremely hard to do so I’m

Pleased that he’s taken on that role I think he’s going to grow into it it’s a heck of a challenge for him but I think he’s accepting that challenge even if Mel was not my son I would have a hell a lot of respect for

That kid he gets it he’s a team guy you know that’s what I love about him is that he will do whatever it takes to win I respect that about okay this team needs me to do this all the time so that’s what I’m going to

Do this team needs it it’s Mel and he’s capable and he’s always been ready for this I don’t think there’s a ceiling he’s a nasty competitor and anytime you have a guy like that that you know so selfless and doesn’t care who gets the credit I would never put a cap on what

He can do tough delivery Mel Crites off the heel oh what a board where did he come from Mel Bridges is not human I don’t know man just the next step that’s what it really is um it’s a new role and personally I think I can

Fulfill it and succeed in it just who I am as a person and I think it’s just that time where you just keep growing as a person and a player and then who wouldn’t want this type of you want to say pressure like you know the type of

Expectations like you know if you really love a game and you really want to be the best you can be as as a player you would want this type of feel where like okay everything’s on your shoulders like what are you going to do but you know

How I’m raised and where I came from a lot of things I’ve been through I just feel like I’m ready for a moment and kind of always Been

The story of Mikal Bridges’ journey to the NBA, fueled by a close bond with his mother and a decorated three-year run at Villanova.

Featuring exclusive interviews with Mikal’s mother, Tyneeha Rivers, Villanova coaches Jay Wright and Kyle Neptune, high school coach Jim Nolan, and more.

From Malvern, PA to Brooklyn presented by Qatar Airways.