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Now that the Boston Celtics have acquired Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers, they intend to have him be their sixth man when the team is at full strength during the 2022-23 season. A role he is apparently willing to play.
On the day he was introduced as a Celtic on July 12, 2022, Brogdon opened up to Amanda Plugrad of Celtics.com on how he is willing to embrace his role as the sixth man for the Celtics for this upcoming season.
“I think you take your ego out of it. I think it’s easy in this league to build your ego. To let people pump you up. To let a lot of stuff distract you from what the reality is, and the reality is I’m coming into a situation where these guys have great chemistry. They’ve made it to the finals. They’ve basically been at the pinnacle of success in the NBA. My job is not to come in here and disrupt and take away. It’s to add and sacrifice and do what I can to help this team win.”
Brogdon believes there are multiple aspects to his game that should prove to be valuable to the Celtics.
“I think I can add leadership. I think I can add playmaking on the court, defensive versatility, and just another vet presence that can help close out games.”
Brogdon has played the role of the sixth man for his team before, but not since his second season in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2017-18 season. From 2018 to 2022, Brogdon started every game he played for the Bucks and Pacers.
Danilo Gallinari’s Thoughts on Adjusting to a Bench Role
During both Gallinari’s and Brogdon’s introductory press conference with the Celtics, Gallinari was asked what it was like for him to adjust to a bench role with the Atlanta Hawks after being a starter for most of his career. Gallinari relayed how hard it was knowing the minutes he was used to playing, but it was a role that he understood he had to accept.
“For a player, especially with the minutes that I was playing, it was never easy, especially mentally. But it’s something at that point that I accepted. Mentally, you’ve got to get used to it. You’ve got to accept it. I thought it was, at that point in my career, a move that I decided to accept and do. I think I did a good job in those two years as a bench player in Atlanta.”
Gallinari also emphasized that making the adjustment was imperative on his part because of his status as both a veteran and a leader.
“As a vet and as a leader of the team, it’s not just coming from the bench. You’ve got to do a lot of other stuff that comes into leadership when you play a game. When you approach the whole season and you have handle all the guys on the team. So, I had to adjust and it was a process, but it’s something that happens to the majority of the players.”
(Start at the 27:00 mark)
Gallinari is expected to play a similar bench role in Boston when the team is at full strength.
Going From Starter to Bench Role is Not Always Easy
Malcolm Brogdon is not the first high-profile guard that the Celtics acquired in the hopes of making him one of their vital bench players. During the 2008-09 season, the Celtics brought in two-time all-star Stephon Marbury to be their backup point guard after the New York Knicks waived him mid-season.
Marbury had been a starter for the majority of his NBA career, so going from a starting role to a bench role was a hard transition for him. In the 23 games he played for the Celtics, he averaged 3.8 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 34 percent from the field and 20 percent from three.
After his lone season with Boston was over, Marbury revealed the mental struggles he had adjusting to the bench role Boston gave him that very summer.
“I played in Boston for free,” Marbury said. “But I’m not sitting on no bench. That bench, it helped me. It made a man out of me because there was days when I wanted to go crazy sitting over there. Because I’m not used to being over there. But, I swallowed my pride, and (Then-Head Coach) Doc Rivers helped me tremendously.”
(Start at the 2:37 mark)
Unlike Marbury, Brogdon has come off the bench in the past, so he’s in a role that he’s familiar with. As Brogdon alluded to, making that adjustment requires taking his ego out of it because he knows what the Celtics’ goals are coming into the 2022-23 season.
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