Couch: Miles Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr. know they're ready for the NBA

CHICAGO – Miles Bridges looks and talks like a man who’s seen a thing or two.

NBA teams, he said, seemed to appreciate that — his willingness to follow his gut, buck the trend and stay in school for a sophomore season.

“They were impressed with that,” the former Michigan State star said Thursday at the NBA Draft Combine.

Jaren Jackson Jr.’s wingspan measured 7-feet and 5 1/4 inches this week in Chicago. The NBA wouldn’t have found it as amusing if he had decided to follow Bridges’ example and do a sophomore year at MSU. He nearly did.

Jackson revealed Thursday how close he came to staying in school another year.

“I’d say I was less back and forth than I was more inclined to stay at school,” Jackson said. “I kind of came to the decision late.”

“He was asking me every day, ‘What should I do?’” Bridges said. “I was l like, ‘Do what’s best for you.’”

It’s hard to argue Jackson made a mistake. You can’t find a credible mock draft that has him outside of the top six. And, if you listen to him, he knows he’s ready. Bridges is now, too, with no reservations. 

Not since Jason Richardson and Zach Randolph in 2001 have the Spartans had two players this poised for long and fruitful NBA careers.

Neither is working out here in Chicago. Just measurements — Bridges is 6-feet-6 3/4 standing with shoes; Jackson 6-11 1/4 — and interviews. Jackson had four Thursday, all with teams near the top of the draft. Bridges had seven, rattling off Chicago, Sacramento, Indiana, Cleveland, San Antonio, Denver and the L.A. Clippers, with at least Philadelphia, Charlotte and New York coming Friday.

There are folks in NBA circles who see Jackson as having the highest ceiling in this draft. When someone suggested that to Jackson Thursday, he responded playfully: “That’s you (saying that)? Thank you, man.”

He might not have Bridges’ seasoning. But he also sounds like he knows he’s ready, and that his game and skills translate awfully well.

“You see where (the NBA game is) going — 3-point shooting, fast-paced, everything is kind of a switch (on defense), so you’ve got to able to move a little bit, be more nimble on your feet. You’ve got to be quick,” Jackson said.

“You can see with conference finals, there’s a lot of spacing. You’ve got to be able to handle the ball. You can’t be a liability on defense or offense. In terms of shooting, just me being out there, I feel like I can space the floor.”

We saw all of it at MSU in spurts. He was too green to take advantage of his entire repertoire consistently, too often in foul trouble and perhaps not used enough at center. But MSU has never had a player like him — not a rim-protector with such a knack for blocking shots or a player of his size and youth who could hit consistently from the outside. His game was evolving still as the season came to a sudden halt against Syracuse in the NCAA tournament.

“That zone is just something different,” he said Thursday, lamenting the Spartans’ second-round exit. 

He’ll never see it again.

Bridges is more haunted by the Spartans’ finish. “It took me a long time to get over it,” he said, sounding like he might not be all the way there yet. “Once I get back on the court, I’ll be good.”

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Bridges’ NBA future is less tantalizing but still intriguing. His draft stock did not fall by returning. It didn’t rise, either. He’s pegged by most projections to be selected somewhere between Nos. 10 and 15. While he became a more consistent outside shooter and proved he could hit big shots in tense moments as a sophomore, the holes in his game remain.

“Just my ball-handling, creating my own shot, that’s all (NBA executives) are worried about,” Bridges said. 

Bridges began to find traction with this part of his game late in the season, showing improvement all the way through the Spartans’ NCAA tournament win over Bucknell. He made moves in February he couldn’t in December. That improvement, however subtle, will make his rookie season easier, more productive. He's more likely to be part of a playing rotation.

“It’s definitely going to be faster than college, way more space, so I think that’ll help me out,” he said.

He’s right. The college game is condensed. And, if you’re a focal point of defenses already and ball-handling isn’t your strength, driving is difficult. He’ll find more room and less attention in the NBA.

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The most interesting revelation from Bridges Thursday was that he lost 20 pounds in the two weeks after the season, at the suggestion of his agent and NBA teams. He played last season between 235 and 240 pounds. He’s 220 now.

“I stayed away from fried foods and drank a lot of water,” he said.

Sounds easy enough. 

Bridges was a mature freshman who, against the current, became an old sophomore, aided by a trying season off the court. 

“With me leading the team, us facing distractions, that’s definitely helping me out now,” he said.

Bridges was a one-and-done kid who wanted to be coached hard and came back for more. He’ll do fine at the next level — at the very least — as a human highlight reel, a capable outside shooter and versatile and position-less defender in an increasingly position-less league. If he’s nothing more, he can play a decade as that.

If he had left MSU last year, “I feel like I would have been ready for it," he said. "But I feel like I’m more ready for it.”

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Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.