Malcolm Brogdon embracing sixth man role with Celtics, believes he and Marcus Smart will play 'really well together'
BOSTON – After coming up short in the NBA Finals, Brad Stevens knew that he had to address the depth issues with the Boston Celtics this summer. He's made one of the biggest splashes yet this offseason, acquiring guard Malcolm Brogdon from the Pacers to bolster Boston's bench and give the Celtics another playmaker in the backcourt.
Adding Brogdon, along with sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari, will give the Celtics plenty of scoring punch off the pine. Brogdon is no slouch on defense either, and along with Marcus Smart and Derrick White, gives the Celtics a rotation of guards to send at their opposition.
The Celtics now have an embarrassment of riches in the backcourt, with three players capable of starting at point guard. The plan is that Smart will remain the starter while Brogdon and White are set to do their thing off the bench, but the two reserves should still get plenty of run with starters throughout the regular season.
Brogdon has said all the right things since being acquired by Boston, and that continued Tuesday during his introduction by the team. The 29-year-old he once again said that he's willing to sacrifice his personal stats in order to help the Celtics win a title.
"I want to come here and sacrifice to win," Brogdon said when Tuesday when asked about coming off the bench. "I think everybody on a great team, everybody sacrifices. [Jayson] Tatum, [Jaylen] Brown, all of us have to take things off our plate and sacrifice a few things."
Many are wondering if Smart, who spent all of last season proving that he can be a starting point guard on a winning team, will be willing to do the same. And if shots are falling for one player, will the other be willing to give up their own looks for the guy with the hot hand?
Brogdon doesn't think that sharing the court -- or ball -- with Smart will be an issue going forward. In fact, he believes that he and Smart will make each other better.
"Marcus is one of the biggest winners that we've seen in this league. I think that's why Boston loves him. I think that's why this organization loves him," he said Tuesday. "I think bringing me here actually helps him.
"I'm going to push Marcus. I'm going to embrace him. He's going to embrace me. We're going to push each other," he added. "I really think we're actually gonna play really well together. I think we have different skillsets, but I think we both want to win so bad that it doesn't matter. All of the other stuff is distraction and noise. I think we're going to come together and really make this thing work."
Stevens said that he spoke to his core group -- Tatum, Brown, and Smart -- shortly after pulling off the Brogdon swap and that they are all "jacked" and "excited" about the addition.
"This is about winning," said Stevens.
And that is all that should matter for a team that came up just two wins short of a title last month. Not how many points they average a game or how many minutes they play each night -- just wins. So far, Brogdon is completely on board with the plan in place.
"I just want to win, whatever it takes," he said. "This team already has something special. I want to add to that recipe, not subtract from it."
