Since becoming a member of the Celtics, Malcolm Brogdon has talked about how unselfish he desires to play together with his new teammates and simply add to what was already a championship contender. In his first recreation motion with them on Sunday, the purpose guard backed up his phrase.
In the Celtics’ preseason-opening rout of the Hornets, Brogdon offered a primary style of how he generally is a game-changer for his new crew on the offensive finish. No longer tasked with being a crew’s major scorer, Brogdon was the primary Celtics participant off the bench Sunday, and his major focus was distributing to the bucket-getters round him. He completed with a game-high 9 assists because the C’s cruised to a simple 41-point victory.
With Brogdon – who’s greater than able to being a No. 1 or 2 possibility elsewhere within the NBA – the C’s are far more harmful. He’s not just one extra expertise on an already gifted crew, however as a result of he’s surrounded by All-Stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, he may be much more efficient. That was on show Sunday.
“There’s definitely a freedom in my mind, not having to be the guy that’s scoring all the points,” Brogdon stated. “I don’t have the best defender on me when I’m in the game most of the time now playing on this team, so it really opens me up to get downhill to create for everybody. I think that’s what we saw tonight.”
After being traded this summer time by the Pacers – the place he was their main scorer every of the final two seasons – Brogdon is aware of he’s only a piece of the puzzle with the C’s. He understands Tatum and Brown drive the ship, and he’s greater than effective with being a supporting actor.
“These guys, this is a team full of unselfish guys that clearly have an objective to just win,” Brogdon stated. “We want to win it all this year, so we’re trying to build for that. We’re not really concerned about statistics and all that. We know JT and JB are going to lead us every night on the offensive end. It’s up to the rest of us to play our roles and to support them but to also play to the best of our abilities every night.”
Brown – who scored a game-high 24 factors on Sunday – definitely welcomes the addition of Brogdon.
“Malcolm is really good at basketball,” Brown stated. “I think that’s an obvious one. Makes the right plays, he’s just a threat out there at all times. And he’s definitely just going to make us better overall. He’s more than capable of being a go-to player in this league, so for him, being able to come in and run things and also get himself going as you saw tonight, he had a well-balanced game.”
There could also be some questions on how Brogdon and Marcus Smart will coexist with the Celtics, a yr after Smart bought the keys as the start line guard. But early indicators level to the 2 having a productive partnership. Brogdon is greater than keen to sacrifice and are available off the bench, and his presence provides much more versatility and one other veteran, regular hand to the backcourt, which is able to profit Smart. They even performed collectively throughout one stretch on Sunday, and even in these moments, they perceive their roles.
“The only thing I think we try to figure out is who brings the ball up,” Brogdon stated. “Right now, when we’re on the floor, it’s predominantly going to be him. Then once we get past half-court, we’re both creating for each other and our teammates. There isn’t a lot of confusion or trying to figure anything out. Just bring the ball up. He knows this team better than I do being here for as long as he has. The team relies on him to run the show right now.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com