Malcolm Brogdon Deserves the Sixth Man of the Year Award
There’ are’s many reasons why the Boston Celtics hold the second-best record in the NBA (45-19). Jayson Tatum is playing like a legitimate MVP candidate, while the team’s offense ranks among the top five in points per game (117.5 points). They also rank in the top ten in terms of limiting their opponents’ offense as well.
More importantly though, one of the under appreciated reasons why the Celtics are enjoying such success is Malcolm Brogdon.
Brogdon Does More Than Just Score Off The Bench
In the past, the Sixth Man of the Year Award has skewed towards the player who leads the league in scoring off the bench.
But when you’re playing for a loaded squad like the Celtics, you have to produce in other aspects of basketball outside of your usual offensive flow. Boston’s team identity is built around stifling defense, and limiting turnovers, and they expect every member of the team to buy into this philosophy, no matter their role.
Off the bench, that’s where an all-around player such as Malcolm Brogdon shines brightest.
In 54 regular-season games this season, Brogdon has averaged 14.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.3 blocks, and 46% shooting from the three-point line. While Brogdon isn’t the leading scorer off the bench, he’s a top-five player in almost every other category.
Christian Wood of the Dallas Mavericks, the leading scorer off the bench at 17.5 points per game, has 17 starts this season. Bobby Portis Jr. of the Milwaukee Bucks, the leading rebounder off the bench, started 15 games. Even Russell Westbrook, now playing for the Los Angeles Clippers, who was once believed to be the runaway winner for the Sixth Man award this season has started three games this year with the Lakers and another three thus far with the Clippers.
How many times has Brogdon started this season? Zero.
What’s even more impressive is the fact that Brogdon only plays 25.3 minutes per night and yet, he impacts the game like few other bench players across the association. He leads all Celtics players in 3P%, and free throw percentage, all while playing above average defense without committing fouls. In fact he’s the only Celtics player currently averaging less than two personal fouls a game (1.6) that plays more than 25 minutes a night.
If voters were to stick with tradition that the Sixth Man of the Year would be any of the top two in the scoring department off the bench, it would be either Wood or Norman Powell of the Clippers. Westbrook comes in at the third spot with Brogdon in fourth. However, if we factor in overall impact on the game, then Brogdon holds his own against any other player.
And that type of thinking appears to finally be resonating with voters as well. Vegas has taken note of Brogdon’s impressive play, as the 30 year old has now moved into either the lead, or second place at many sports books for futures bets to bring home the hardware at the end of the year.
Take out Brogdon and his numbers from the Celtics’ equation and you take out the guiding force Boston has off the bench. Sure, the dynamic duo of Tatum and Brown can score at will but, it’s Brogdon’s multi-faceted contributions off the bench that makes the difference. He’s had his share of forgettable performances this season but at the end of the day, Malcolm Brogdon delivers more often than naught for Boston.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: 總統府. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.