The 2019/20 season will only be his fourth NBA campaign and his first with the Pacers, but 26-year-old guard Malcolm Brogdon is Indiana’s bona fide team leader in his inaugural season in Indianapolis, writes Mark Montieth of Pacers.com.
At least one assistant coach has already gone as far as comparing Brogdon to perhaps the greatest player in Pacers’ history, five-time NBA All-Star Reggie Miller. “I haven’t seen anybody like that in practice since Reggie,” said assistant coach Dan Burke, who has been with the Pacers for nearly 20 seasons.
Likewise, head coach Nate McMillan sees an extension of himself on the court with Brogdon, something every coach longs for in a point guard.
“He’s doing a good job of coming in and competing and getting the guys to compete,” McMillan said “He understands the position he’s in and what’s required of that. He’s communicating with all of our guys. He communicates with the guys he’s playing with and the guys he’s playing against (in practice)… it just comes natural for him.”
There’s more tonight out of Indianapolis:
- A versatile player, offseason free agent acquisition T.J. Warren has the ability to line up as a power forward in a small-ball lineup, but the Pacers’ focus for him is to excel at small forward, reports J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star.
- Scott Agness of The Athletic writes that the Pacers have elevated their emphasis on the international game and its players since president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard, who played professionally in Spain, Italy, and Germany, was promoted to run the front office back in 2017. “I like the way Europe does it,” Pritchard said. “They put the emphasis early on learning the game versus playing and winning immediately.”
- As we relayed earlier today and yesterday, the Pacers have made several roster moves in the past 48 hours. In addition to exercising rookie scale options on both Aaron Holiday and T.J. Leaf, the club replaced forward Jakeenan Gant with guard Walt Lemon Jr. on its 20-man roster.
Can’t understand why Bucks let Brogdon leave. I’d bet Gianni’s can’t understand it either.
It’s not as if they wanted to. If they signed Brogdon they would not have been able to pay Giannis what he has coming. It was either Brogdon, Brook Lopez, Khris Middleton, or Eric Bledsoe not being re-signed. Brogdon just happened to be the odd man out in the scenario.
Can’t keep everyone. Bled and George Hill are fine players at the 1, Korver/Matthews play the 2.
It’s not a hard cap – ownership could have kept Brogdon and paid the tax.
I get that they didn’t want to, and that Milwaukee is a small market, but Brogdon is a very good player. It’s cheaper to pay the tax and have a good team than to be under the cap with a bad team. Fans won’t buy tickets and merch if Giannis leaves and they go back to being mediocre.
Not to mention, they don’t have to pay taxes forever. If they don’t win it all, they can trade somebody to get under the cap.
Buddy it’s the salary cap. They decided to keep khris Middleton the year before and so they’re handicapped. There’s not an endless stream of money with these teams.
Unfortunately Milwaukee is a small market team and it isnt like we have another business that could have given him an add endorsement to make u the difference
Jason, the Bucks wanted to resign him, Brogdon was the one who didn’t want to return because of his desire to play point guard and knowing he would be forced to compete with Bledsoe for playing time in Milwaukee. People need to realize this wasn’t something the Bucks had control over. It was solely about Malcolm’s desire to be a starting PG in a playoff contender.
Any reporting on that? Bucks ownership told Eric Nehm of the athletic it was about the tax not even a week ago. Not to mention, Brogdon couldn’t have left if they didn’t work the sign and trade.
If Giannis leaves, this will be one of the reasons why. Penny wise and pound foolish, as they say.
So Brogdon says to the team,
This is how we should have done it on the Bucks, except Bledsoe rolled in and pushed me over. Thad, I mean Bogs, I mean TJ, you play Giannis”
Milwaukee should have kept Brogdon ahead of Bledsoe, is a much better player overall & is younger.
The problem is that to compete & win you must be over the lux tax, if Milwaukee are unwilling… then they will never win & Giannis should leave.
If I was Giannis I would be worried just now thinking that despite the tremendous success of last season the team rather save $$$ than push hard & walk the last step to the finals, disappointing counting the amount of money Milwaukee earns, they put their owners profit ahead of championships.
Brogdon is younger, doesn’t demand as many touches as Bledsoe does, is a more versatile defender, he’s Amore efficient shooter and is probably a better team mate. It’s a hard decision but looking at it now Brogdon looks a much better player than Bledsoe.
The Pacers look quite nice right now Brogdon and Olidipo will be solid together plus Tj Warren is a nice player on a good deal. Then that have Tuner and Sabonis.