Celtics media day is at the end of the month, which means practices and preseason games are coming up quickly. With that in mind, and with the Celtics entering the season with the highest expectations, we’re spending the rest of the month looking at 10 big questions for this team heading into training camp.
Question Number 6: How will Malcolm Brogdon perform in his new role?
The Celtics are bringing back almost all of their rotation players from last season, keeping a level of continuity you don’t usually see in professional sports. But as much as they're running it back with mostly the same crew, the addition of Malcolm Brogdon adds a key element -- and an unknown entity -- to this roster.
Obviously, we know a lot about Brogdon from his first six seasons. We’ve seen him in Milwaukee and Indiana, performing at a near All-Star level and being the key for a lot of success. He’s one of the league’s true professionals and he has a versatile skill set that makes it seem like there's a quick answer to this question.
“He’ll be fine. Next question.”
And that might be true. It feels more likely than not that Brogdon will slide into whatever role Ime Udoka asks him to fill, he’ll do it well, and the team will benefit from having him around. There will be obvious concerns about his durability, but as long as his health can be managed properly, it’s hard to find someone who believes Brogdon will be anything but solid at his worst, and awesome at his best in Boston.
“I want to come here and sacrifice to win. Everybody on a great team, everybody sacrifices to win,” Brogdon said when he was introduced in July. “(I’m) trying to add. (I’m) not trying to take away. This team that already has something special, they've made it to the Finals, they already have a recipe. And I want to add to that recipe, not disrupt it. Whatever this team needs from me, whatever Ime needs from me, whatever my teammates need for me, that's what I’m gonna do.”
Brogdon is the right type of player at the right time of his career (he turns 30 in December) to make this kind of move to the bench. He’s gotten close, but not close enough in Milwaukee. He saw promise in Indiana fade into rebuilding. He knows this is a great chance for him to be a big part of a great team. If he’s going to get a ring, he can get it in Boston without resorting to late-career ring-chasing. All he has to do is buy in.
“I’m in my prime,” Brogdon said. “I experienced winning at a high level in Milwaukee my first three years, went to Indiana, had a solid season and then two rough seasons. So this is everything I’ve wanted: to be able to get back to this level, to be able to compete with guys that want to win a championship and that are all in, that want to sacrifice to win. So it’s very fortuitous for me to be here and I think it’s the perfect time for me.”
Still, it’s fair to ask the question about Brogdon because his role, unlike any of his roles in the past, will lack the definition he’s used to. Even the most eager, well-intentioned players can struggle with playing different styles.
Athletes are creatures of habit. They become superstitious because of the routines that end up leading to success. They develop quirks, like eating certain foods on game days, warming up at a particular time, or wearing an article of clothing. Athletes can get weird when they tie great games or big wins to their particular routine.
Brogdon will have that routine taken from him in many ways. Even if he is able to play 80 games for Boston (he almost certainly won’t, but I’m making a point), there's a good chance that he’ll start half the time. Dennis Schröder was Udoka’s go-to starter regardless of who got hurt early last season, and I’d expect Brogdon to be in that same boat.
Marcus Smart is out? Brogdon starts at point guard.
Jaylen Brown is out? Brogdon starts at shooting guard.
Jayson Tatum is out? Brogdon starts at small forward.
Al Horford or Robert Williams are out? Brogdon starts and other guys slide down a position.
Personally, I wouldn’t be shocked if Brogdon was up for Sixth Man of the Year but didn’t qualify because he started too many games. I also wouldn’t be too surprised to see some by-product of the varied roles in Brogdon’s statistics, like a dip in his shooting or a drop in his assists. It’s hard to be asked to be a spot-up shooter in one quarter, a distributor the next, and then a slasher in the second half.
In a perfect world, Brogdon won’t slide around as much as I made it seem he might, but this isn’t a perfect world and Brogdon is a perfectly versatile perimeter player with decent size and great basketball IQ. It makes sense to plug him in as a starter when one of the regulars needs a day off.
It also makes sense to play with Brogdon’s minutes and keep Derrick White in a more consistent role off the bench because White isn’t quite as good as Brogdon at mixing things up. Keeping White in a steady, less-varied role will be helpful for everyone, even if it forces Brogdon to be a little more malleable as a player.
The question of how he’ll adjust to this role, which is unlike any role he’s played, is a fair one. There may be more of a learning curve than Brogdon is used to, and that could lead to some confusion from time to time, at least in the early going.
If there is a curve, how long will it take for Brogdon to smooth it out and be fully on the same page as his teammates? If he does struggle with certain aspects of his game, how long will it take for him to regain his footing? If he struggles with the weight of his varied responsibilities, how long will the coaching staff wait before adjusting their game plan? If the mental aspect of the game takes a toll on him, how long before his body starts to follow?
Trading for Brogdon feels like a home run move, and I tend to believe he’ll be fine. But as good as it looks on paper, we still need to see it in practice to make sure his transition in Boston is a smooth one.