The Best of Brogdon
There are so many good things to say about Brogdon’s play this year, but I think the one word that sums it all up is poise. Under any situation, it seemed like the President could hold his own. He never hit the rookie wall and was consistently solid throughout the entire year.
Coming out of college, the arc of Brogdon’s shot was worrisome. Even though he shot 39.1 percent from the college three-point line in his senior year, the extra distance to the NBA line could have posed a problem. However, Malcolm’s three-point shooting was nothing to worry about.
He ended up making 78 of his 193 (40.4 percent) attempts this season and was a huge contributor as the Bucks became a better three-point shooting team on the whole. Because of his ability to be a primary ball handler and shoot the three-ball, Brogdon gave Jason Kidd the ability to run a lineup that maximized placing shooting around superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With Brogdon keeping his defender honest from deep, he was able to open up holes for Giannis to drive and kick to either the wing or corner where Brogdon would be waiting.
As a facilitator, the guard was very solid as well. For the season, he posted an assist/turnover ratio of 2.81, which was the best mark on the team. This also placed him 15th in the entire NBA in that category, which was truly a testament to how well he took care of the ball.
Brogdon’s steady play also made the Milwaukee rotations much more stable. Without Khris Middleton for the majority of the regular season, Brogdon, Dellavedova, and Snell were called on to play a lot of big minutes. As a rookie, being able to play almost 2000 total minutes in the regular season is a remarkable feat considering there was no drop-off in his play.