Getty Marcus Smart and other members of the Boston Celtics.
The Athletic’s writing staff wrote an article detailing what player(s) from each NBA team will be playing with the most to prove for the upcoming NBA season. This list included players commonly recognized around the league as superstars like Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers and James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers. However, when the Boston Celtics came up, the player who fits the article’s premise was not Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown or even Marcus Smart. It was one of the Celtics’ newest additions, Malcolm Brogdon.
Sam Amick explained that because Brogdon is expected to improve a team coming off a finals run, and his addition to the Celtics was widely regarded as one of the best moves of the offseason, he’s got the most to prove on his new team.
It’s never easy being the new guy on the team — especially when it’s a group that was two wins away from winning it all. And while the Celtics’ Malcolm Brogdon deal with Indiana was widely celebrated as one of the best of the entire offseason, he still has to make good on all this enthusiasm that surrounds him. Add in the fact that reigning Defensive Player of the Year/point guard incumbent Marcus Smart is coming off a career year, and it’s easy to understand why there will be a fair amount of pressure on the 29-year-old Brogdon to elevate this already-elite program.
Keep in mind that Brogdon is also coming from a team that has missed the playoffs the last two years and has advanced past the first round only once in his entire career. If Brogdon manages to stay on the court, he may very well live up to the hype.
Analyst Predicts Brogdon Will Play Third-Most Minutes on the Celtics
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report made several bold predictions for the Celtics on August 18, 2022. Chief among them was his prediction that Brogdon will play the third-most minutes out of all the players on the roster behind the usual suspects.
“In each of the past three seasons, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have respectively ranked first and second in minutes per game for the Celtics. There is zero reason to believe that changes in 2022-23. What could be different, though, is the emergence of a new face in the No. 3 spot: Malcolm Brogdon.”
Buckley also acknowledged that his prediction is not based on anything factual.
“The one major issue is health, as he played just 36 games last season and hasn’t made 60-plus appearances in a single campaign since 2018-19. Nothing other than optimism suggests he can bury those medical maladies, but the offseason is a time of maximum optimism, so let’s expect the best here.”
While the Celtics would stand to benefit from a healthy Brogdon, they know his injury history all too well, which is why they plan to handle him with care during the 2022-23 season.
Brogdon to be ‘Load Managed’
Jared Weiss of the Athletic reported that, along with Al Horford, Brogdon will be load managed this season.
“There are several players projected to get significant rest throughout the regular season, particularly with Al Horford and Malcolm Brogdon expected to load manage on plenty of back-to-backs,” Weiss reported.
The Celtics evidently do not want to lose any of their valuable rotation players who could be at risk for injury. Because he’s shown himself to be injury-prone – having played 54, 56, and 36 games due to recurring injuries he’s suffered – the Celtics do not want to take any chances with Brogdon.