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The maturation of Miles Bridges, the leader the Charlotte Hornets need

Finishing touches were put on his pregame warm-up routine. The final flick of his left wrist is done, testing out his stroke for the night.

Head down and focused while strolling to the opposite end of the court, bound for the Charlotte Hornets’ locker room, Miles Bridges hears an unmistakable voice cutting through the din in the arena that temporarily stops him in his tracks. Within a nanosecond, he peers to his left, scans about halfway up into the lower bowl’s stands and spots the person responsible for the screaming those two words that stop just about any male once they are uttered.

“Hi Daddy!”

Bridges acknowledged his little man, the very individual who’s partially responsible for the acceleration in the soon-to-be 4-year-old’s maturation process. Ace wasn’t even around when his dad began his career in Charlotte in 2018 and his physical growth is coinciding with Bridges’ ascension as a team leader and one of the NBA’s most exciting young players.

“It’s a great feeling because when he first started coming to the game, he was a baby, he really didn’t know that much,” Bridges told The Observer in an exclusive one-on-one interview. “But now he’s going to turn 3 in a week. He knows what’s going on. He likes coming to the games, he likes watching basketball. So it’s a different type of fun for me now. It just gives me an extra reason to go hard because I know he’s watching, and I want to set a good example for him. Yeah, it’s just extra motivation for me.”

If that isn’t enough — besides also doing it for his 1-year-old daughter, Ayla — a glimpse at the Hornets’ roster from Bridges’ initial season as a pro in 2018-19 should do the trick. Scan it like he did prior to a workout at the team’s facility over the summer after Hornets strength-and-conditioning coach Adam Linens, and something pops off the page.

“He had a list of the players from my rookie year and he hasn’t changed it,” Bridges said. “And I was the only one left on the team. He was like, ‘Dang, that’s crazy.’ ”

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the longest-tenured Hornet: Miles Bridges.

“That’s crazy,” he repeated. “It’s a compliment in itself, too, though. To see that the guys really like me, the general manager, Mitch (Kupchak). M.J. (owner Michael Jordan), that they want me on this team. But it’s a good feeling knowing that I’ve been here for the longest, and I’m kind of like a leader of the team. So I’m just going to continue to get better and, hopefully, I can stay with the Hornets my whole career.”

Bridges’ game improving at right time

Bridges is eligible for a rookie extension, a deal that must be completed by Monday. Beating that deadline is unlikely and if the sides can’t come to an agreement, the fourth-year forward will have to wait until he becomes a restricted free agent in July to negotiate a new contract.

With a game that’s still blossoming and determination to continuously improve, he’s certainly not going to come cheap. He’s essentially achieved greater heights up to this point than even the team’s brass imagined, proof of the lunch-pail mentality established in his hometown of Flint, Mich. — the city he has tattooed on his body to serve as a constant reminder of where he comes from.

Monumental leaps were taken by Bridges in 2020-21. Despite coming off the bench for 48 of 67 games he appeared in, he established several career bests. He increased his overall shooting (50%), jumper beyond the 3-point line (40%) and rebound average per game (six). All that to go with 12.7 points per game, merely down slightly from the 13 he averaged in 2019-20, and he became more of a controlled aggressor and facilitator.

The 11 double-doubles he recorded last season — including eight as a reserve — tied for the second most in the league and was tops for a reserve in a season in franchise history.

“Miles has taken a major step in our program,” coach James Borrego said. “Nobody saw this coming with his ability to shoot the ball and play-make. He’s come a long way as a guy that we can put the ball in his hands. He can play on the ball, off the ball, make decisions. And he’s really grown in the shooting area, obviously. I think that is the No. 1 key for Miles. He’s made shots at a 40 percent clip. Shooting the ball off the bounce or catch-and-shoot.

“His ability to finish at the rim is elite, and he’s a playmaker now. We can put the ball in his hands and he can move the ball and create for us as well. Defensively, he gives us great versatility and size. He can guard 1-4, sometimes 1-5, and he gives us that ability to spread the floor and play a more open style.”

Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges checks the grip and rotation of the basketball prior to action against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, October 13, 2021 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC.
Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges checks the grip and rotation of the basketball prior to action against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, October 13, 2021 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC.

That’s a direct result of his unbelievable synergy with the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, LaMelo Ball. Incredibly, the two make it seem as if they’ve been teammates for years, relying on telepathic senses to know when to connect. Alley-oops. No-look dishes for easy reverse lay-ins.

It’s dumbfounding. Confusing even.

Regardless, the results are often breathtaking.

“The guards that I played with in high school and college like Cassius Winston,” Bridges said, “those guys, we always played a fast-paced game where they are throwing me lobs or I always had to be ready to catch the ball. And Melo coming in, he is the right point guard for me. I mean, we jelled right away. We hang out a lot off the court, so I feel like that helps. But I think we were just automatically matched. I don’t understand. I don’t know.”

Ball has his own theory.

“I feel like it’s already written for real,” Ball said. “There is so much stuff we’ve got in common that we didn’t even know before until we started hanging out. Just everything for real. He always used to (wear) No. 1, I was No. 1. The dude signs just like me. The s--- is crazy.

“Like, we’ve got the same exact signature. Like we are brothers from another world or something. It’s crazy. It’s a whole brotherhood, it’s not just like teammates. It’s like family. So we are on the court playing like that.”

Emerging as a leader with a voice

Beyond his development and the social media-clip worthy highlights he creates with Ball, Bridges is emerging as a leader. He’s more vocal. He points things out.

Evolving in ways that leaves his biggest fan proud.

“This is new,” his mother Cynthia Bridges said. “Because I’ll be honest, Miles, he was a follower in school. And I was always telling him, and his sister was always telling him, ‘Hey, you can’t follow just because the guy is popular.’ You’ve got to be your own person. So I think it started clicking at Michigan State.”

Those days in East Lansing, Mich., indeed assisted in the molding. In several ways.

“I definitely think it prepared me,” Bridges said. “First of all, the workouts are crazy and you are always going hard at Michigan State. So when I came here and I was going hard every workout, every practice, even pregame, they were like, ‘Bro, you don’t have to go that hard. It’s not Michigan State anymore.’ Michigan State is known for having the hardest workouts.

“And plus coach (Tom) Izzo just staying on you mentally, just making sure you are good, making sure that you have self-accountability. You hold yourself accountable. And I feel like that helped me now.”

For Izzo, it was simply a necessary step in Bridges’ journey. A building block of sorts.

“Well, I think one of the things that is really important is these kids never fail anymore,” the longtime Michigan State men’s basketball coach told The Observer. “They fail, they just move on or they transfer now. Or if they fail they change teams. Whether it’s high school, college ... It seems like you never can fail. His freshman year, he came in, we lost three 6-9 guys and we were just kind of an average team, one that maybe wouldn’t have made the playoffs. And I think he helped fight us through getting there. So he learned what it’s like to go through some adversity.

“With Miles, there’s three kinds of being ready: Are you good enough? That’s, of course, one. Are you strong enough to go into that league? And then are you mature enough? And I think he was good enough and strong enough. I thought he was a pretty mature kid, but we all know he had a ways to go.”

Given all the support he has received getting to this point, Bridges felt compelled to reciprocate it. Having already purchased his mom a home in Charlotte so she could be around to see him play basketball and her grandchildren grow up, he pulled off a heartwarming surprise back in June.

He tricked her to go outside, telling her he needed assistance grabbing something out of his truck. She obliged. Once she waltzed out the door and peered to the right into her driveway, her priceless, incredulous reaction indicated her elation. She had no clue Bridges was filming away on his iPhone.

A sparkling, white Infiniti SUV was parked in front of the garage. For her. On her birthday.

“It was like, ‘Oh, my Gosh,’ ” Cynthia Bridges said. “He loves me so much he got me a car. He’s forgotten about all the whoopings I gave him. But I just cried, it was just so exciting. It was unbelievable, that he loves me this much that he’ll do this for me because he already got me the house. It was a very touching moment.”

Bridges considered it a small gesture for the many things she did to ensure their well-being.

“I just thank God every day for the sacrifices that I made for Miles and my other kids also,” Cynthia Bridges said. “But I just thank God every day for giving me this life now. I can’t complain about anything. I walk 5 miles every day. I want to stay healthy so I can keep watching him play. And I told him if he goes somewhere else I will still stay here.”

Charlotte is the place Bridges wants to be

Bridges doesn’t want to go anywhere else, though. He’s on track for a lucrative deal he hopes keeps him in Charlotte, but knowing he’s potentially closing in on life-changing money doesn’t move him much. He’s not about to stiffen up.

That’s not in his makeup.

“I try not to put that type of pressure on myself,” he said. “I just go out there and have fun. I got here having fun and playing hard, and that’s what I’m going to continue doing. So good things always happen to people that play hard. So I’ll be very excited.”

His subtle, low-key approach is one of the many characteristics that haven’t changed since he landed in Charlotte in 2019, the day after getting drafted by the L.A. Clippers and being subsequently traded to the Hornets. In finding his stride as he attempts to reach greater individual and team heights, he’s certainly transformed himself from a teenager into a young man.

“It’s just me seeing a lot of things,” Bridges said. “You throw a 20-year-old kid into a lifestyle that he’s never seen before, he’s definitely going to see a lot of things and learn a lot of stuff fast. So I feel like I’ve seen a lot of stuff, I see how people move. And it’s helped me grow up into who I am today.”

And his hope is the Bridges-Ball show continues here for a very long time.

“I’m excited,” Bridges said. “I’m definitely excited because I know I’m going to continue getting better, he’s going to continue to keep getting better. And I think that is going to be scary for the league in the next few years.”