How Miles Bridges Returned to the Hornets & a Look at What's Next

Miles Bridges and Mitch Kupchak addressed the media Tuesday morning.

For the first time in over a year, Miles Bridges spoke to the Charlotte media. 

Tuesday morning he was accompanied by Hornets General Manager and President of Basketball Operations Mitch Kupchak to discuss everything from his off the court incident, to sitting out this past season, returning to the Hornets organization, and much more.

"First of all, I want to apologize to everybody for the pain and the embarrassment that I cause everyone, especially my family," Bridges stated. "This year away, I've used it to prioritize going to therapy and becoming the best person I can be and someone that my family and everyone here can be proud of. I want to thank the Hornets' organization and the NBA for giving me a second chance. A lot of people don't get a second chance and I want to use this second chance just to prove to everybody that I'm the same kid that you drafted five years ago. I'm happy to be back and I can't wait to get this year started."

Bridges appeared to be sincere in his apology and cognizant of the fact that not every fan agrees with the decision by the Hornets to bring him back or even by the NBA to allow him to play.

"I understand that people think I don't deserve a second chance. I'm going to try to use this year to prove to everybody just who the person is that I am. Who is Miles Bridges? And it's not what people think he is."

How is he going to regain trust from the fanbase and community? Well, it starts by continuing to go to therapy and focusing on bettering himself and his actions. He wants to lead by example and return to being a role model for kids and will do that by spending a lot more time getting out to functions and events throughout Charlotte.

"I will be around the community a lot. Not because I have to but because I want to. Being away for a year made me realize that I wasn't in the community like I should be. I have a name, people know me, and kids look up to me. So for me to be around, I feel like it would be big for them."

So, how did the Hornets come to the ultimate decision of bringing Bridges back? After months of information gathering, Kupchak, along with current owner Michael Jordan and the new ownership group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schall, they believed Bridges would not be a repeat offender and came to a unanimous decision to extend the qualifying offer.

"The decision to extend the qualifying offer took a lot of time to sort through, a lot of measured thought with ownership, people in the organization," Kupchak said. "At the end of the day, we relied on the process in Los Angeles number one. The legal process had to play out and back in November, the District Attorney in Los Angeles and Miles pleaded no contest to domestic abuse. There was conditions and it's my understanding since November Miles has been complying with the conditions that the district attorney in Los Angeles laid out. 

"Also in the fall, the NBA began to conduct an investigation of what took place and that process took many months. We were involved in the process. We got feedback from the NBA, but really didn't know what the NBA was going to decide until they decided.

"Our relationship with Miles that goes back five years and talking to Miles this past year, whether it was ownership, myself, or our coach, knowing Miles as we know him and him showing remorse and accountability and indicating to us that this would never happen again, I believe Miles when he says that."

If Bridges lives up to his word, he'll earn some trust back with the fanbase. It will never be 100% but he understands that. As far as the basketball side of things go, Bridges still appears to be in great shape. He's been working out throughout the course of the past year and admitted that it's probably going to take him a little bit of time to fully return to where he was, but he's confident it will happen sooner than later.

"I still have a feel for the game and I'm the same player and even better than I was before. Staying in the gym consistently is going to help me out. Being around my teammates and learning their games, I think that's going to be big for me. With this 10-game suspension I can also see what we need to work on during those ten games and seeing what I can do to come in and help."

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