Miles Bridges tells Draymond Green why he skipped the dunk contest: he needed rest and the event needs fixing. Higher prize money, guaranteed endorsement deals, and a simpler timed format would help. Bridges ranks himself third in the Most Improved Player race behind Darius Garland and DeJounte Murray.
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Hi, it's Colin Cowherd. I started The Volume to bring you some of the most authentic voices in sports. While you're here, make sure you hit subscribe. Thanks.
And speaking of All-Star break, I have a question, especially coming off the heels of probably one of the worst, if not the worst dunk contest we've ever seen in the NBA. Why is it that you don't participate in the dunk contest?
I mean, I participated my rookie year and—
Yeah, but you didn't win it.
I didn't win it at all.
So—
Yeah, I did terrible. I don't know. I mean, it's just for me, I don't know. All-Star break for me is like me getting a break away from basketball, you know? And this year I played the most minutes in the NBA. So I feel like my legs definitely needed a break. You know, I know the fans, they wanna see the best dunkers in the league. Go at it, like myself, Ja Morant, Zion Williamson when he's healthy, Anthony Edwards. But they gotta look at it like, like, it's All-Star break, you know?
Mm-hmm.
If I would've made the All-Star game, I probably would've did dunk contest. But during that time though, I'm trying to rest my legs and get ready for the second half of the season. 'Cause it's a huge run for us trying to make the playoffs. And I think fans don't get that. But at the same time, it's definitely entertaining. It's definitely entertainment. So, you know, I'm gonna think about it. I'm gonna think about it.
I think you make a great point there that most people don't realize, even when you are an All-Star, that weekend, or I mean, they've extended the break now, which kudos to our commissioner, Adam Silver, extending the break. 'Cause I remember when I first came in the league, like you would play your last game Thursday.
Mm-hmm.
You then get on an airplane after that Thursday night game, fly to whatever city you're going to, and like have media. And if you played your last game on Wednesday, you had to fly Wednesday night and be there Thursday morning for media. And then you're there till Sunday night. And at that point, games used to start back up on Tuesday.
Yeah.
And you see like now you had games starting back up on Thursday and Friday. You had teams finishing, on like Wednesday. And so I think that was, that's a huge improvement for us. But most fans don't realize in being an All-Star or participating in All-Star weekend, you end up not getting a break. And especially when you're an All-Star and you are the last event, which is the All-Star game, you don't get outta there. Like I didn't leave Cleveland this weekend and I didn't play. I didn't leave Cleveland till 3:00 AM. Right. With Monday morning. And so it's not much of a break. And I think that's a very great thing that we have now. And we always talk about like, you younger guys, as the younger the league gets, the more spoiled you guys get. 'Cause y'all get this long break now that we never got.
But— I remember a rookie year, I didn't get that break, you know? I did the dunk contest. I probably had like, what, 2 days? 2 days and got right back to it. So yeah, it was tough.
Sure. I think the NBA can do a better job in making the dunk contest enticing. Like, I'm not sure exactly what the bonus is currently. It's maybe $50,000 or $100,000 or somewhere in between there. I think if the NBA, made it more enticing, you get more guys in it. Like all the guys that you just named, if it's a $250,000 bonus, or I remember when Blake Griffin jumped over to Kia and then he had that Kia sponsorship for the next 6 years. I think if the league can incorporate something where they maybe use one of their partners that they already have a deal with, like, Hey, you're gonna have a Kia deal, or you're gonna have this deal or that deal, a Mercedes deal, whoever the league are partners with, if they can include in that an endorsement deal for the guy who wins, a much bigger bonus for the guy who wins, would that be more enticing for you as someone who should be in a dunk contest or could be and should and could win it?
Hell yeah. Jumping over Mercedes for a Mercedes deal? Yes, I would definitely do that, or for any type of endorsement. But really, we just doing it for, what'd you say, $100,000?
Yeah.
But if it's more stuff like that though, like endorsements, guys are definitely getting to it. And I think they need to change the format back to like just being timed on the dunks, you know?
They had so many—
Yeah, yeah. Because— I don't know, it be getting irritating, man, just watching guys miss dunks over and over and over again. So it's good. I think the NBA's gonna fix it. Especially this year, it was kind of a wake-up call for them on the dunk contest, but it'll get fixed.
Michael Levine, you heard it here first. You need to bump your bonus up, my man. You need to get these guys an endorsement deal for winning the dunk contest. We gotta do something, Michael. 'Cause what I do know is, I don't think the answer is to get rid of the dunk contest. Like you heard so many people saying get rid of dunk contest. I don't think that's the answer.
Nah, that's definitely not it. That's definitely not it. Just make it a little more interesting, that's all.
Absolutely. Speaking of awards, there's a lot of guys up for most improved player, yourself being one of 'em. Jordan Poole is a guy who mentioned a lot, my teammate. Ja Morant, Darius Garland, DeJounte Murray, which are also two. So there's three of the top five Clutch Clients, by the way. But where do you feel like you rank as far as those guys go? And let me just throw this out here. I don't think Ja Morant is in the most improved player category. Yes.
Huh? I think he's in MVP conversation.
That's it. Like, that's the only conversation he's in. He's not in the most improved player conversation. Like last year, Ja averaged 20, 21 points a game. Now, yes, he's up to 28 points a game. Yes, that is a huge improvement. But if you know anything about basketball, you're not shocked by that improvement.
Right.
And so I personally don't think he should be in that conversation. But nonetheless, where do you feel like you rank amongst those guys as far as most improved player goes?
I mean, beginning of the season for sure, I thought I was first. My numbers went down a little bit, so, and plus Darius and DeJounte made the All-Star Game, so I'll probably say I'm third right now. We forgot to mention the guy, Anthony Simons, too. He's been having a great season.
Mm-hmm.
But yeah, for me, to be honest, I'm probably like third right now. We still got 20 more games. I'mma stay in kill mode, continue to try to win. I feel like the more that I win, the more I have a chance to win MIP. That's really not my goal. My goal is the playoffs. But I think the MIP race is gonna be very tight. You know, there's a lot of guys that improved their game during the summer. So we'll see.
No, no doubt. And I think, well, I'll ask you this question. Do you think with 20 games left that there is still something you can do to change that? Or do you think coming down the stretch in the NBA with 20 games left, most races are already decided?
Mm. You right about that. Most races are decided. But like I said, say if we going like crazy win streak, get to the playoffs, I'm still killing in that situation, yeah. Sure.
