Malcolm Brogdon’s trade brings a lot of excitement to Boston. It also carries a couple of question marks.
The obvious question as a result of Friday’s deal is, what does this mean for Marcus Smart? The Celtics back line suddenly boasts impressive depth with Brogdon, Smart, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard in the game, but head coach Ime Udoka will have to decide whether to roll with Brogdon or Smart in the lineup holder.
Celtics Talk: What does the addition of Malcolm Brogdon to the Celtics, Marcus Smart, mean? | Listen and subscribe | Watch YouTube
Of course, this is a good issue for the 2022-23 campaign. If Brogdon is healthy, a big “yes” so far in his career, he will be a great addition to Smart with his scoring ability. Also, in today’s NBA, we can’t rule out Udoka being small with lineups that include both Brogdon and Smart. Former Celtic Eddie House believes we will see a lot of it next season.
“I think they could both be out there,” House said Friday in the initial edition of NBC Sports Boston. “I think we live in a positionless situation right now in the NBA where you don’t necessarily have to be a base and have a reserve base. You can have two guys who play basketball and make plays.
“I think what Marcus Smart does on the defensive side is invaluable, so you can’t have him on the bench at the time of the crisis because he will have to protect the other team’s best perimeter player. So I think you have Brogdon “Out there, you have Jaylen Brown, you have Jayson Tatum. And then you have Rob Williams or Al Horford depending on how you want the game to work. I think that’s the flexibility, that’s what other teams want to be able to be able to. this depth.
“I think that’s what was missing in those playoffs. We had depth, but they just didn’t show up. I think by adding these pieces, you have a chance for these guys to show up. And these are vets. That’s the difference. These are vets. that we will depend on getting off the bench instead of some real young players we had last year. “
Brogdon averaged 19.1 points, 5.9 assists and 5.1 rebounds in 36 games last season with Indiana. Another question mark will be the health of the 29-year-old, who has not played more than 60 games since the 2018-19 injury campaign.
Regardless of how Udoka chooses to proceed with his starting lineup, Smart is fired for having Brogdon as a teammate. On Friday he welcomed Brogdon and striker Danilo Gallinari to the squad via Twitter.
Listen to everything House said about Brogdon and Smart in the video above, plus what he had to say later in the following show:
“I don’t think he has any problem with that. He wants to win … he’ll be welcome not to have all the responsibilities of handling the ball.” @EddieHouse_50 continues discussion on how Brogdon will affect the role of Smart # Celtics pic.twitter.com / PjPvgI3mkm
– Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) July 1, 2022