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.
Weaknesses
Ball-handling: Vastly improved, but at times still sloppy.
The main reason Brogdon hasn’t become an elite slasher that his height gives him the ceiling for is that he tends to have a sloppy handle when he touches the paint. He isn’t much of a turnover machine on the wing or when initiating pick and rolls, but he has a tendency of being ripped on drives to the middle of the lane by shorter players. It’s much better than it was as a Buck, but it’s still a part of his game that I think will improve with more opportunity.
Volume shooting: Will he become a more aggressive pull-up 3-point shooter?
I’ve mentioned before that I think Brogdon is an accurate shooter, but I’d love to see him shoot more than four per game in 2021. It seems like for a lot of McMillan’s tenure he wasn’t as confident with his three-point shot and only went to it when spotting up or wide open in situations where his defender went under on a screen.
A more obvious reason for the lack of an aggressively used go-to pull-up three-point shot is the fact that his shot seems at times to be a little bit slower than when he shoots from the mid-range. Perhaps this is due to a mental calibration he is used to making when shooting from range, as his shot seems to be short more often than long on misses thanks to less of a jump in his shot than most, but I’d just love to see more confidence and volume as it’d add even more layers to an already nasty pick and roll attack.
I think part of this was on McMillan, how do you not let a former 50/40/90 member not shoot more?
With all of this said, none of the skills really matter if they aren’t used correctly, and now it’s time to discuss his role and projected stats in the 2020-21 season.
What can we expect for the rest of 2020-21?
Offense: Pick and Roll Wizardry For A Newly Modernized Offense
Like I’ve mentioned almost to nausea in the previous Pacer Profiles is that the hiring of Nate Bjorgren was extremely beneficial for almost every player on the roster from a production and even growth perspective. This is especially true with Brogdon, as he’s almost made All-Star teams playing in Medieval times offenses for the past couple of years, which has limited his skill set.
If the New Nate uses Malcolm similarly to how Toronto utilized Kyle Lowry we might see Brogdon crack that All-Star spot. Even with ball-dominant wings like Demar Derozan and the great Kawhi Leonard, Lowry has routinely found ways to efficiently put up nearly eight threes a game on one of the more winning teams in the conference thanks to the immense value this three-point gravity brings.
We could project similar, if not greater, value from a player almost half a foot taller and, in my eyes, a more talented shooter if we actually give Brogdon shots from outside like I predict Bjorgren will. With how Toronto utilized an elite passer like Lowry in the Pick and Roll, I anticipate the same role given to a Brogdon.
He’ll still need to be a greater cutter and spot-up shooter next to Sabonis and Oladipo to add value to their vast skill sets, but I predict I larger role for Brogdon as an initiator, on top of his large play-making load.
Defense: Victor Oladipo and Malcolm Brogdon, the chaos duo
I suspect Indiana to be extremely aggressive on the defensive end this season thanks to comments before the season from Coach Nate, and the personnel on the roster with the likes of Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, and of course Malcolm Brogdon. Toronto locked down opposing teams by limiting paint touches by elite rim runners across the league, and the Pacers have the perfect players to do the same thing.
Don’t be surprised if you regularly see Turner notching four-block games, Oladipo and Brogdon picking off passes every quarter as if they are Deion Sanders and Larry Brown, and T.J. Warren further progressing into a positive defender.
With Malcolm’s ability to read and disrupt passing lanes and wall off even star wings, paired with Oladipo’s All-Defensive team level defense when healthy playing aggressive, tenacious defense, the Pacers are looking at having one of the best defensive backcourts in the NBA.
Projected Stats:
With how much potential production guards have in this offense, Brogdon will most likely average 20-23 points a game with around seven to ten assists to match. Because of his size and knack for being in the right spot, he might find himself on top of rebounding lists for guards at around five to even seven a game.
I’m not sure he gets back to the 50/40/90 club, but I wouldn’t find it crazy to see that aforementioned three-point volume his 6-8 attempts a game on solid efficiency. With how talented his hands are defensive, he’ll probably average at least a steal per game if anyone cares.