Philadelphia 76ers: Malcolm Brogdon beat Joel Embiid, now it’s time to join him
No matter how you slice it, the Philadelphia 76ers should have brought home the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year trophy.
They had the rookie who averaged the most points, the rookie who averaged the most rebounds, and even the only rookie with a legit shot to earn the rare first-year All-Star berth, only to have his season cut woefully short due to an unfortunate knee injury. While some still argued fruitlessly that Embiid deserved the trophy because of just how impactful his 31 games of action were to Brett Brown’s squad, many resigned themselves to a world where “The Process” finished out his rookie run as a bridesmaid, not a bride.
With Joel Embiid out, Sixers fans antsy to land a second ROTY winner in four years turned their attention to getting the team’s other rookie of note, Dario Saric, recognized for his 12.8 points and 6.3 rebounds a night. For what it’s worth, Ši Ši too was deserving of being honored and was named to the first-team All-Rookie squad alongside Embiid, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be. Whether due to Anti-Process discrimination or the parallel campaigns of Embiid and Saric effectively canceling each other out, Malcolm Brogdon, the 36th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, was named rookie of the year after averaging 10.2 points and 4.2 assists on 48 percent shooting from the court and 40.4 percent from 3 due to his “on-court leadership” in a Jason Kidd system.
But hey, what’s done is done. Brogdon will forever go down as the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year, and even an Embiid trip to the Hall of Fame won’t change that. But just because Brogdon beat Embiid then doesn’t mean he couldn’t join him now in a trade that would all but surely catapult the Philadelphia 76ers into the Eastern Conference Final at minimum.
Embiid and Brogdon could form a dynamic duo for the Philadelphia 76ers.
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When Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports reported that the Indiana Pacers were “listening to pitches on Malcolm Brogdon,” it sent minor shockwaves through the Philadelphia 76ers’ fanbase.
After weeks, months, and possibly even years of pining over a small but consistent set of guards to help #CompleteTheProcess – players like Kyle Lowry, Lonzo Ball, and Victor Oladipo – suddenly there was a new name on the hypothetical market who could potentially be had by a team with a win-now philosophy, a deep asset pool, and the contracts needed to execute a trade for a player in the second year of a four-year, $85 million contract.
The Sixers fit that bill, and Brogdon fits the team’s trade needs better than quite literally any other player available at the deadline – assuming, of course, the Pacers are actually interested in executing a deal.
Now sure, some will point out that Norman Powell is a better shooter, that Lonzo Ball is a bigger name, and that Kyle Lowry is an NBA Champion (and from Philly, and went to Villanova, etc.), and all of that is certainly true, but none of those players are perfectly suited for the Sixers’ current timeline and their current needs both on and off the court.
“Seriously?”
You’d best believe it.
Measuring in at 6-foot-5, 229 pounds, Brogdon is the textbook definition of a modern-day NBA combo guard who is equally comfortable playing both on and off the ball. In his five professional seasons, Brogdon has played shooting guard alongside prototypical points like Eric Bledsoe and Jason Terry, to lead guard alongside true number twos like Victor Oladipo and Caris LeVert, and even point forwards like “The Greek Freak” himself, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Insert Brogdon onto the Sixers tomorrow, and he would be equally comfortable playing off-ball in lineups alongside Ben Simmons and Seth Curry or serving as the team’s backup point guard, where his plus-passing could help to elevate the games of everyone from Shake Milton to Ben Simmons when he moonlights at power forward.
But wait, there’s more. Through the first 40 games of the 2020-21 NBA season, Brogdon has knocked down 39.8 percent of his 6.5 3 point attempts per game, all the while scoring a career-high 21.6 points in 35.6 minutes of action a night. Assume Daryl Morey could actually pry away Brogdon from the Pacers, the 28-year-old Virginia product would instantly rank fourth on the team in 3 point shooting percentage and provide the Sixers with another three-level scorer who takes 12.6 shots per game off of two or more dribbles.
Fun fact: The Sixers don’t have a single player who takes more than 10 shots a game off of two or more dribbles, with Tobias Harris leading the team at 9.3. While that isn’t a championship dealbreaker, it is worth noting.
Factor in Brogdon’s -.08 defensive +/- and 0.097 defensive win share, which rank 25th and 30th overall among all NBA point guards, and you get the profile of a player who can score from anywhere, defend multiple positions in a switching system, and remain a factor in Doc Rivers’ gameplan regardless of the situation.
If that was all Brogdon brought to the table, he’d surely be worth whatever asking price the Pacers have in mind within reason, but fortunately, there’s a whole lot more to like about the player affectionately known as “The President” than just his on-court work.
No, at 28, Brogdon is a leader in his community, a progressive voice for equality in a very forward-facing league, and a quality locker room presence who could surely strengthen a championship contender, not come right in and quibble about his role. He’s 149 days younger than Harris and 360 days older than Embiid and could immediately assimilate in with Philly’s Big 3 in a way that may not be as easy for a 20-year-old rookie or a 35-year-old on the brink of retirement. There’s a world where those four players share the court for the better part of the 2020s and remain one of the better squads the NBA has to offer regardless of the players Morey opts to compile around them.
With no cap space to pursue free agents for the foreseeable future and only so many chances to add a player making $20-plus million a year over the next few years, cashing in expiring contracts acquired in the Al Horford trade and young players/future picks for a do-it-all guard under contract for 2.5 more years is arguably the best opportunity for Daryl Morey to build the sort of contender that largely eluded him in Houston for the Warriors-era of his tenure. While it may be hard to pass on a hometown hero like Kyle Lowry and trade away future draft picks and/or Tyrese Maxey for a 28-year-old guard, Malcolm Brogdon really is the best player potentially available at the 2021 NBA trade deadline for what this team currently needs and the Philadelphia 76ers should do everything in their power to secure the 2017 Rookie of the Year’s services once and for all… even if they already have the most valuable rookie from that season under contract.