At the start of last season, Malvern native and Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges sat down for a talk with his coach, Monty Williams, before one of their road games, writes Marc Narducci for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I just thought I deserved to play more,” recalled the Great Valley High School graduate and former Villanova star.

The coach, however, had some sobering news for the player, who’s now in his third year in the NBA.

“He told me I wasn’t working hard enough,” said Bridges. “And ever since then, he made me realize I had to work hard and get back on track.”

The advice — dig in, focus, grow as a player — clearly worked. A year after that heart-to-heart talk, Bridges has become a key player on a team that is a force to be reckoned with.

Bridges is averaging 12.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this season. He’s shooting 41.7 percent from three-point range. Unlike last season — when he started only 32 of 57 games — he has started every game so far.

Bridges’s on-court contributions propelled the Suns to second place in the Western Conference, fanning the flames of championship aspirations.

Read more about Mikal Bridges in The Philadelphia Inquirer.