Malcolm Brogdon
Portland Trail Blazers

Player Facts

Height: 6'4"
Weight: 229lbs.

Wingspan: 6'10.5"

Date of Birth: Dec. 11, 1992
College Experience: Virginia (4 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 7
Physical Strength: 9
Positional Size: 9
Positional Wingspan: 8
Paint Scoring: 6
Midrange Scoring: 8
Three-Point Scoring: 9
Dribbling: 7
Passing: 8
Perimeter Defense: 7
Interior Defense: 5
Rebounding: 6

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Sturdy Guard

> Pick-and-Roll Scoring

> Taking it to the Rack

> Calculated Passing

> Off-Ball Toolkit

> Defensive Physicality

> Rebound-Tracking

> Mediocre Shot Creation

> Mediocre Center Rebounding

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Malcolm Brogdon is a steady, cerebral player with good size and strength at combo guard. He's firmly above average on both sides of the floor. Malcolm makes consistently positive contributions to his squad and rarely detracts from their play on the whole.

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Sturdy Guard

Brogdon is a very physical guard with a powerful 229-pound frame. He utilizes his functional strength to be a tough slasher and generally gets to his sweet spots on the floor. Malcolm is strong with the ball and ordinarily keeps his turnovers in check.

Malcolm almost always has the upper hand over his defender from a strength standpoint. He collects and-ones as he barrels through these lighter players. Additionally, he posts up here and there to capitalize on his power advantage.

He plays under control and at his own pace with the basketball. Brogdon doesn't allow pesky defenders to hurry him up. This patient, deliberate style of play is prominent within the screen-and-roll.

Pick-and-Roll Scoring

Malcolm will use a skip when coming off the screen to assess his options. This hesitation is sometimes enough to freeze the big on its own. He's an ambidextrous finisher at the basket, frequently extending past the outstretched arm of the help man.

Brogdon exploits whatever hole he identifies in the opposing pick-and-roll coverage. Capable at all three levels, he utilizes the midrange more often than most guards. Malcolm also has a reliable push shot from around the free-throw line to counter paint-bound bigs.

Malcolm was proficient within the midrange in 2022-2023. He drained an impressive 48.8% of his total attempts in this area. Brogdon also scored at a reasonable volume here, with more made midrange buckets than Immanual Quickley, Tyrese Haliburton, and Domantas Sabonis that season.

Malcolm can also confidently pull up from beyond the arc in these same screen-and-roll actions. He reads when the big is sagging into the paint and uses a strong big man's screen to obtain an open triple. Brogdon can get his shot off without issue despite a relatively low set point.

He finished up 2022-2023 averaging 4.5 points per contest as the pick-and-roll ball-handler. His 1.01 points per possession figure was good enough to land him in the 81st percentile here. Noting important context, he was part of a very skilled Celtics offensive team that season.

Taking it to the Rack

Brogdon is a fiery slasher. He shifts his weight beautifully to attack the top foot of his man and get to the hole. Malcolm gets his shoulder into his defender and uses his burst to maintain the angle along straight-line drives.

The inside hand finish is a way for Malcolm to surprise rim protectors. By flipping it up quickly, the timing of the shot blockers can get thrown off. Brogdon draws some fouls this way, where he is an elite shooter. 2021-2022 saw him nail 85.6% of his free throws, followed by 87% in 2022-2023.

Calculated Passing

Brogdon's high basketball IQ is on display through his passing game. He has refined playmaking abilities for a player who spends significant minutes at off-guard. Malcolm repeatedly makes the correct next pass without letting the ball stick in his hands.

He just has a good overall feel for the game and makes high-quality decisions as a passer. Brogdon has nice give-and-go chemistry with his bigs. In actions such as dribble handoffs, he both makes and receives some pretty dimes.

Malcolm drives hard to the iron but remains aware of open teammates. Through dump-offs and interior shovel passes, he compiles several assists this way. His 5.1 assists per-36 minutes in 2022-2023 translated to 10 average assist points created for his team as their sixth man.

Off-Ball Toolkit

He has been a robust drive-and-kick target over his career. Malcolm has spaced the floor for teammates like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown to break down the defense. In 2022-2023, he drained 44.2% of his catch-and-shoot threes.

Malcolm also attacks closeouts aggressively and decisively to manufacture points for himself. One of the game's better cutters, Brogdon also moves without the ball intelligently to stimulate positive things for his team - he cuts for himself and for his teammates. He finished in the solid 62nd percentile for scoring off of cuts in 20222-2023.

Defensive Physicality

He is an astute positional defender at 6'4" and 229 pounds. With this bulk, he forcefully fronts taller players in the post to bother the post-entry feed. Malcolm can hold his own here with such a powerful base. He allowed a decent 1.00 point per chance while defending post-ups in 2022-2023 - effective for a guard.

Brogdon has the lateral quickness to keep his men in front of him. That 6'10.5" wingspan of his proves useful on the perimeter as well. However, traditional counting stats can fail to capture his beyond-the-box score defensive impact.

Malcolm can legitimately guard three positions and bother all sorts of shooters. Back in the 2019-2020 season, he held opposing three-point shooters to 2.8% below their normal perimeter clip. Fred VanVleet, another talented defensive guard, only had a mark of -1.8% that year.

He budgets his energy efficiently on defense. Brogdon only darts into passing lanes when he forecasts an obvious pass such as the wing-to-point delivery. He also pounces towards the basketball when opponents expose it in front of him.

The strength of Brogdon lets him rip the ball away from weaker ball-handlers and spark a fast break chance. He is skillful in all facets of transition, from leading it to filling the lane. He offered 2.8 transition points nightly in the 2022-2023 regular season.

Rebound-Tracking

Quality positional rebounding is another valuable component of Brogdon's game. He averages solid defensive rebounds per 36 minutes figures. Malcolm blocks out in addition to tracking down boards after his bigs do the job of boxing out their assignments.

WEAKNESSES

Mediocre Shot Creation

Malcolm fails to be a dynamic shot-creator like most perimeter stars. Kyrie Irving and other creative guards are able to shed defenders with awe-inspiring dribbling sequences. This is simply not Brogdon's game, and his team suffers in spots because of it.

At-Cup Inefficiencies

Brogdon is not always as efficient as several like-sized guards at the cup. He managed only 56.9% in the restricted area through 2022-2023. Devin Booker's figure was 68.3% here, and Bradley Beal's 71.6%.

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bacon
Beacon Bacon

Brogdon joined the exclusive 50-40-90 club in 2018-2019 after posting averages of 50.5% from the field, 42.6% from deep, and 92.8% at the stripe