Indiana Pacers Profile: Malcolm Brogdon’s consistent two-way brilliance

What makes Malcolm Brogdon so special for the Indiana Pacers?

Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon has been a nice addition to the roster. As he dives into his second season, what exactly makes him such a crucial piece for this team?

Strengths

Play-Making: A true Pick and Roll maestro

Modern basketball has progressively become dominated by the Pick and Roll thanks to its popularization in the ’90s by one of the sport’s greatest minds in Jerry Sloan while coaching fellow Hall of Fame members John Stockton and Karl Malone, and in regards to the Pacers in 2021 and beyond, Malcolm Brogdon has become a true master in this devastating play.

There aren’t many true floor generals at the position anymore, as it’s quickly become a scorer’s position, but Malcolm continuously displays the immense value of having such a guard. His pick and rolls with Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner are poetry in motion as it routinely ends in a successful bucket.

When coming off these screens, Brogdon can be seen regularly making precise bounce passes to a diving Sabonis, hitting a popping Myles Turner for three, or making some stupid skip pass across the defense’s face to snipers like Justin Holiday in the corner.

If none of these looks are open via an unsuccessful screen or a defender playing under, it’s common for Brogdon to step into his bread and butter mid-range jumper or, especially with his new coach Nate Bjorgren and his emphasis on the three, a quick trigger three-point shot that goes in more often than not.

He does an incredible job at getting in front of defenders off screens and “putting them in jail” which makes breaking down defenses exponentially easier since he effectively can take his man out of the possession, creating almost a 5-on-4 on offense.

The fast break is another common vessel of assists for Brogdon mostly because of his great decision-making in these scenarios, as he rarely fumbles 2-on-1 fast break opportunities thanks to his perfectly timed passes.

His top-12 placement in assists in 2019-20 at seven per game and top-20 placement at potential assists at around 12 paint him as an elite playmaker, and watching the film it’s hard to find games or even plays where he makes bone-headed turnovers based on his passing.

Defense: Inspector Gadget-like arms causing defensive havoc

Brogdon brings tons of value offensively, but his defense might actually be even better at times because of his ability to disrupt the effectiveness of on-ball initiators. Besides a healthy Oladipo, Malcolm is easily the best perimeter defender on the team. He has sneaky-good lateral quickness and his massive wingspan and hands allow him to wall off even some forwards. When you pair this with his above-average strength, you get a lockdown guard that can defend one through three.

Malcolm’s best assets on defense are easily those oven mitts he has as hands and the quickness of how he can poke in offensive player’s “oven” to strip balls loose. Especially in a drive-limiting defense ran by Bjorkgren, Malcolm frequently shoots off of his assignment to rip opposing drivers before they can even touch paint and I’m pretty sure every ball handler’s worst nightmare is getting caught in an Oladipo-Brogdon trap as there is pretty much no correct answer if the rest of the Navy and Gold rotate correctly.

Beyond the on-ball stalwart that Brogdon has been since his Bucks days, he has also been one of the best passing lane interceptors in the NBA thanks to the aforementioned hand and arm length he possesses, combined with his predictive lane jumping. A lot of the Pacers’ fast-break points will most likely come from some sort of Brogdon forced steal headed the other way where, again, his play-making shines.