The NBA is a star-driven league. Players such as Kevin Durant, James Harden, Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard are the focal points of coaches' game plans every night. But in the playoffs, having stars isn't enough. Every postseason, the NBA sees young role players step up and change the course of a game or even an entire series. It happened just last year when the Jimmy Butler-led Miami Heat rode a Tyler Herro hot streak all the way to the NBA Finals.
With that in mind, we spoke to three under-25 players on true championship contenders to break down film and discuss the keys to playing off of superstars, adjusting their individual games and filling a role that could make a difference in a deep playoff run.
MORE: NBA's best 25 under 25
Mikal Bridges: Phoenix's irreplaceable 3-and-D wing
All eyes will be on Paul and young star Devin Booker as the Phoenix Suns enter the playoffs as a top-two seed, but Bridges' perimeter defense and efficient offensive attack make him an X factor this postseason. Bridges is excellent at impacting the game on both ends without offensive volume, which dates back to his days at Villanova, when he played a similar role next to Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson on his way to a 103-13 career record.
"You're going to have top guys on your team who can score the ball," Bridges told ESPN. "Unbelievable talents like Book and CP, just masterminds with the basketball. Then you're going to need other players to help out, score as well and do all the other little dirty things. I feel like at Nova that's why we were so good, we had five guys out there that could all shoot and score but also do all the little things, so it made us really hard to beat."
During a recent film session with the 24-year-old wing, we broke down the keys to thriving in his current role:
1. Running the floor hard
Among players to use at least 200 transition possessions this season, Bridges is the most efficient scorer, thanks to his willingness to sprint the floor, his long strides and length as a finisher. He has proven to be an ideal lane-filler for Paul.
"Knowing teams are going to relax, getting out in transition and having a point guard like CP, knowing he's going to find you so all I gotta do is be aggressive," Bridges said.
Twenty-seven percent of Bridges' total offense comes in the open court, second in the NBA behind only Ben Simmons and ahead of transition juggernauts Russell Westbrook and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Bridges either runs wide to give Paul a drop-off option for a layup or sprints to the corner for a kick-out 3. Even when it doesn't result in a bucket for himself, Bridges' energetic rim runs often force retreating defenders to react, opening up looks for his teammates. While the game slows down in the playoffs, Bridges can still put pressure on opposing defenses and generate easy offense early with his ability to run the floor.
2. Corner 3s
Bridges has hoisted the third-most corner 3s in the NBA at 197, behind only Danny Green and Bojan Bogdanovic. He ranks 17th among 34 high-volume shooters in eFG%, and his ability to knock down open corner 3s will be a key factor in just how far the Suns can go in the playoffs. In 47 wins this season, Bridges is shooting 49% from 3. In 25 losses? Just 30.5%.
Interested to see how Mikal Bridges' jumper translates to the NBA line. He's shooting 41.8% from 3 on a healthy # of attempts this season (39.3% last year) but doesn't have the most textbook mechanics. Still gets great rotation and has touch. High floor prospect. pic.twitter.com/yTchFDWYAC
— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) February 24, 2018
He has ironed out a slight hitch that showed up his rookie year, and it shows in his percentages: 33.5% on 3s as a rookie, 36.1% as a sophomore and 42.1% this season. He's really good at staying low with his hands and feet ready, sliding from the slot to the corners on dribble penetration, giving Paul and Booker a target. He's also a reliable weakside target with Paul as the pick-and-roll ball handler and Deandre Ayton forcing Bridges' defender to tag at the rim, allowing Paul to make timely skip passes for open 3s.
3. Quick decisions
With Paul and Booker rightfully eating up so many of Phoenix's dribbles, it's imperative that Bridges doesn't need much time or offensive volume to have an impact. According to NBA.com stats, 6.1 of Bridges' 9.4 shots per game come with zero dribbles taken, and his 65.6 eFG% on those shots ranks 13th in the NBA, which speaks to his ability to add value without needing many dribbles.
"0.5 man, we play a lot of 0.5 action," said Bridges, explaining the philosophy to shoot, dribble or pass within half a second. "Just moving the ball, playing off each other and a lot of guys being unselfish. We play for each other."
If a defender closes out hard, Bridges can attack in a straight line into a finish, drop off or kick out, making the extra pass to open teammates. He's the only starter in the NBA with both an assist-to-turnover ratio better than 2.75:1 and a true shooting percentage over 60%.
4. Staying active off the ball
Where Bridges' chemistry with Paul is most apparent is as a cutter. Bridges is a threat on cuts from the corner when the ball is on his side of the floor, regularly catching his defender napping as Paul stares down the weakside action before firing a laser beam to Bridges as he slices right in front of his defender's face. These type of instinctual cuts embody what a perfect fit Bridges is alongside one of the best floor generals the game has ever seen in Paul.
"Just communication and eye contact," Bridges said of the keys to these corner cuts. "CP, he's going to lead me if I'm open. He's going to find me. You see all that action, you see Book, you're watching CP to see what he's about to do, you kind of forget you've got a man right there because he's just standing there. Usually the majority of the game I'm in the corner, ball moves, I move. It's not normal when a guy cuts when he's just on the ball side like that."
5. Disruptive defender
Bridges is Phoenix's most disruptive wing defender, ranking 26th in ESPN's defensive real plus-minus so far this season. While he might not have the body to bang with LeBron James, he's wiry and nimble enough to chase shooters around screens, and can neutralize opposing point guards with his 7-foot-2 wingspan.
Rangy wing Mikal Bridges checking shifty PG Lamar Peters. Think Bridges can guard up to 3 positions at the NBA level with his length/frame. pic.twitter.com/Tbm1zq3L5a
— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) August 5, 2017
"Something with point guards I can use my length," Bridges said. "The best point guards, they shoot it from so far, so you've gotta push up. It's tough. Bigger guys that post up is definitely not my advantage. Guys more on the perimeter is more of an advantage for me."
He's well-versed in navigating on-ball screens, using his lean frame to fight over the top and his length to bother pull-ups or throw backs to the bigs. When breaking down specific opponents, Bridges talked about not letting Harden get into his "wiggle." He talked about the difficulty of navigating Nikola Jokic's screens when defending his Nuggets teammate Jamal Murray. He broke down how to defend Luka Doncic's step-back and what to give up when defending Jayson Tatum. He studied Andre Iguodala closely growing up in Philadelphia, which shows in his ability to swipe the ball away from opponents as the primary or weakside defender.
"He has probably the quickest hands at that position, especially with how big he is," Bridges said of Iguodala.
Bridges talked about how vocal Booker is off the ball, which helps Bridges know which direction to send the player he's guarding. Paul's winning pedigree and pursuit of perfection has clearly had a trickle-down effect on Bridges, but playing with energy and making winning plays has been ingrained in Bridges since his college days, which could help Phoenix make a deep run just like Villanova did in 2018.
"I just play hard and try to make it tough on guys," Bridges said of his defense. "I try to be the best defender I can for my teammates. I try to be the best on ball, helpside, off ball. I think that's helping us. I think me playing a role in that is a part of our success, but, I mean, I can't do it without the other guys out there. They're the ones giving me the confidence to go out there and guard."
Bruce Brown: Brooklyn's 'point center'
Few young players have reinvented themselves quite like Brown, was drafted No. 42 overall as a combo guard by the Detroit Pistons in 2018.
Despite standing just 6-foot-5, 202 pounds, Brown has terrorized opposing defenses as a pick-and-roll dive man this season. He turns James Harden pocket passes into some of the most efficient offense in the NBA, earning a place as the captain of Zach Lowe's Luke Walton All-Stars.
"I call it the point center," Brown said of his new position with a smile during our recent ESPN Film Session.
Brown struggled to find his rhythm from beyond the arc early this season, shooting just 17.4% from 3-point range through Feb. 18. He started searching for other ways to add value off the ball, predominantly as a diver in Harden pick-and-rolls. With the opponent's weakest defender generally on Brown, the 24-year-old turned himself into a screener to generate mismatches for Harden on switches. If the defense blitzed or trapped the former MVP, Brown served as a decision-maker in 4-on-3 situations, similar to the role Draymond Green so often played as the safety valve for Steph Curry blitzes.
"I'll catch it in the pocket and I'm a really good finisher around the rim so I'll either finish or make the right read," Brown said. "James will lead me toward the rim and I'll take one dribble and make a play."
Among the 139 players who have set at least 275 direct screens this season, Brown ranks 11th, generating 1.093 points per possession according to Second Spectrum data. On the 146 screens Brown set with Harden as the ball handler, the Nets scored 1.207 points per possession, which would rank first in the NBA.
Brown pinpointed a March 1 overtime win against the San Antonio Spurs as the model for how effectively the Harden-Brown pick-and-roll pairing can be at producing multiple options for success.
"Our offense was literally James come down, me set a screen or slip and then make the right read," said Brown, who went for a season-high 23 points on 13 shots in 34 minutes. "I think I hit Ky in the corner, DJ on a lob and then I hit a floater to seal the game."
While he's been most in sync with Harden, Brown is also effective screening for Kyrie Irving, generating 1.1 points per possession on 81 direct screens. Getting out of the screen quickly is key when paired with Harden, while patience is imperative with Irving as the ball handler.
"Ky, as great as he is offensively, he likes to take tough shots and he'll make tough shots, but usually if he does give it to me it's a little later than James," said Brown, who also talked about the nuances of being an off-ball mover during Irving isolations and when to cut to the rim and when to stay spaced.
In the five games they've played together, Brown has taken advantage of teams doubling Durant, finding gaps in the defense thanks to his feel and energy as a cutter. He's found a similar rhythm with Blake Griffin. On top of his cutting, he's an elite positional offensive rebounder with the freedom to crash from virtually anywhere on the floor as long as he sprints back. A former wide receiver who tracks the ball well in the air, Brown is the only player under 6-foot-6 averaging more than 3.0 offensive rebounds per 40 minutes, serving as a source of energy on flat nights.
Brown has also given the Nets a tough-minded defender, which was his identity when he entered the NBA and a big reason he started 58 games as a rookie in Detroit. Brown is an agitator defensively, picking up Steph Curry 94 feet, staying attached to CJ McCollum, taking away Paul George's airspace in pick-and-roll, and battling on switches. He's earned the respect of his peers with the way he's reinvented his game and the winning impact he's had on a Nets team loaded with stars.
"Just knowing how to play basketball has helped me in so many ways," Brown said. "This team, we have James, KD, Ky. They're going to do all the scoring. They need people to do the little dirty work and that's perfect for me. That's what I love to do. I play with a super amount of energy on both ends of the floor. I think they love playing with me. They know I'm going to do literally anything they need me to do."
Landry Shamet: Pick-and-pop shooter
While Brown gives Harden & Co. a dynamic roller who can dissect 4-on-3s or slip out of switches, Shamet gives head coach Steve Nash a different dimension as a screener with his shot-making ability and quick release. Starter Joe Harris is Brooklyn's most dangerous pick-and-pop screener, setting 5.4 per game while shooting a remarkable 47% from distance, but Shamet gives Brooklyn's offense that same dimension when Harris is on the bench. He ranks in the top 35 in the NBA, averaging 1.09 points per possession on direct screens.
He'll set step-up screens for Irving, popping to space and quickly swinging the ball around the horn for open Durant 3s in the corner much faster than any big man could.
A prolific screener alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George last season with the LA Clippers, Shamet has a strong understanding of angles, when to ghost screen versus when to set the screen, how to get out quickly and exactly how teams opt to defend it.
"You think about it from your perspective. You're locked in guarding Kawhi Leonard and you know there's only one guy on the floor that you're not trying to switch with, it's going to be tough to react," Shamet told us during an ESPN Film Session last year, adding that if teams want to keep their matchups when he's the screener, there are ways he can manipulate different coverages.
"After you do that for a few times you can slip out, you can hold it if you know the show's kind of weak and Kawhi can get around it," he added. "Just realizing who's guarding you and how you can bring that matchup to get involved. It's just a matter of finding matchups and finding out how to be effective."
Shamet is no stranger to playing alongside established stars. As a rookie, the former first-round pick was asked to add value as a floor-spacer alongside stars such as Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler while learning behind veteran JJ Redick, sprinting off screens and handoffs with regularity.
"I was like little JJ in Philly, that was my role," Shamet said. "Come in and try to do some of the things that he could do. It was good practice. It was great for me. He was great. Just getting to work with him every day in Philly. He took me under his wing."
Shamet knocked down 40% of his 3s for the Sixers through 54 games before being dealt to the Clippers, where he emerged as a starter on a retooling LA team and converted 43% of his triples. Once the Clippers added Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Shamet was yet again in a floor-spacer role alongside two superstars.
"Obviously, their names speak for themselves," Shamet said. "Night in and night out they're number 1 and 2 on the scouting report. That's a fact. You know that coming in. All the attention's there. Then the goal is to try to minimize the effects of the other guys, and I'm one of the other guys."
Talking to Shamet last year, his understanding of how to get open off the ball, how to spring himself free for 3s as a screener, and how to play out of handoffs was clear. He talked about the hand fighting that goes on when setting his man up before sprinting off a pindown, comparing it to jujitsu. Shamet's AAU coach dating to fourth grade put a huge emphasis on moving the ball and making quick decisions. Even before he arrived at Wichita State, 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 drills without any dribbles were a staple of his youth practices.
"You had to learn really quickly, the fundamentals of your footwork there naturally and then obviously how you score and be effective when you can't catch and iso and break people down," Shamet said. "Learning how to set up screens, read screens, when to go back door, when to flare, when to fade, when to curl, tight curl, all these things."
With that as his baseline, Shamet has no problem talking through the chemistry that goes along with playing off elite ball handlers when the defense is all eyes on the headliners. With the game slowing down in the playoffs, along with the fact that the Nets have three of the best isolation players in the NBA on their roster, Shamet, Brown and Harris become valuable screeners to create mismatches.
"When all three of them are on the floor it's going to be time for everybody else to eat because [the opposing defense is] going to have to double somebody," Brown said.
Shamet had been mired in a bit of a shooting slump, shooting just 22.7% on 3s in May before going 5-for-7 from distance Wednesday night. Regardless of how he's shooting, his ability to sprint around screens, make reads out of quick actions, move off the ball and screen for stars should prove valuable. He has an excellent opportunity to avenge his 4-for-18 3-point shooting performance in the Clippers' seven-game loss to the Denver Nuggets last season. The Nets will be hoping that with all eyes on their big three, Shamet will be able to produce like he did in the first round against the Dallas Mavericks, when he shot a blistering 45.8% from beyond the arc.
Other under-25 contributors on contenders
While we were only able to conduct film sessions with Bridges, Brown and Shamet, here are five other under-25 role players on contenders who could swing a game or two in the playoffs.
Donte DiVincenzo: Energy guard
After not playing in the postseason as a rookie, DiVincenzo came off the bench nine times and started Game 5 of the second round in place of an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo in last year's playoffs for the Bucks. This year he's been a fixture in Milwaukee's starting lineup, providing 10.5 points per game and shooting a career-best 37.8% from beyond the arc.
Talen Horton-Tucker: Shot creator
Including the playoffs, Horton-Tucker played just eight games a season ago, but has provided the Los Angeles Lakers with a spark off the bench this season. Still only 20 years old, Horton-Tucker has 24 games of double-digit scoring off the bench this season, second among Lakers reserves.
Shake Milton: Skilled wing
After being pressed into a starting point guard role with Simmons out last season, Milton is back in a familiar spot coming off the bench and playing off the ball, and averaging career highs in points (12.9) and assists (3.0).
Matisse Thybulle: Defensive game-changer
Thybulle is the type of defensive playmaker who could change the course of a game with his length and instincts on that end of the floor. Don't expect Thybulle to offer much as a floor spacer or half-court scorer, but at 6-foot-6 with a 7-foot wingspan he's the only player in the NBA with a steal percentage and block percentage over 3.5%.
Terance Mann: Slash-and-pass defender
Mann, who earned the nickname "Stat Stuffer" at Florida State, is doing just that in a limited role for the Clippers. Though the volume is low, Mann is shooting 50% from the floor, 42% from 3-point range and 83% from the line.
Luke Kennard: Floor spacer
Acquired by the Clippers in the deal that sent Shamet to Brooklyn, Kennard has rewarded LA by shooting 46.4% from 3-point range, fifth in the NBA behind only Joe Harris, Marcus Morris Sr., Kevin Durant and Bobby Portis. Kennard's only playoff experience came in 2019, when he shot 60% from 3 in the Pistons' four-game first-round loss to the Bucks.
Mike Schmitz is an NBA draft expert and a contributor to DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and international teams.