Milwaukee Bucks: Malcolm Brogdon’s defensive struggles
By Max Carlin
Malcolm Brogdon was an elite defender in college, but for the Milwaukee Bucks, he’s been a detriment.
Malcolm Brogdon looks like a good defender. He’s big and long and imposing. His track record is sterling, twice having won the ACC Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Why, then, does the Milwaukee Bucks‘ defense absolutely crater as soon as Brogdon takes the floor?
Let’s take a step back. Brogdon was a defensive force in college. In their scouting report on Brogdon, DraftExpress lauded Brogdon’s positional versatility—he guarded four positions at the University of Virginia. Defensively, he was a complete package of ability, intelligence and willingness.
But NBA defense is completely different from college defense. 5’10” Phoenix Suns point guard Tyler Ulis, after all, was an imposing defender in college, claiming an SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2016. DraftExpress acknowledged as much, conceding that Brogdon might struggle containing NBA athletes. He has.
In a team concept, Brogdon generally looks fine; he didn’t suddenly stop being a smart player with a good motor. While that all sounds well and good, for the Bucks, it’s actually terrifying.
Most bad defenders lack for effort or intelligence. For the most part, the obstacle between them and success is correctable. Brogdon is the inverse.
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He’s not going to get caught out of position. He’s not going to gamble for a steal and leave his team out to dry. But he will get relentlessly picked on like that nerd in every single late-90s teen movie.
Like that nerd, Brogdon is physically outmatched. Athletically, NBA players are too much for him to contain.
Defending isolation situations, Brogdon allows 1.06 points per 100 possessions. For context, Kevin Durant scores 1.06 points per 100 possessions in isolation.
It’s not just that Brogdon turns all his opponents into one of the greatest perimeter scorers of all time, he gets attacked incessantly. Brogdon defends isolations on 16.9 percent of his defensive possessions. Just 10 players (minimum 20 possessions) defend isolations more often, and among them are some of the league’s most notoriously terrible defenders: Julius Randle, Ryan Anderson, Chandler Parsons, Kyle Kuzma, Paul Zipser — not exactly All-Defense Team candidates.
At the rim, Brogdon allows opponents to shoot 67.7 percent. James Harden shoots 64 percent at the rim.
Brogdon’s struggles to contain individually prove beyond detrimental to the Bucks and their 19th-ranked defense. With Brogdon on the floor, they are 8.0 points per 100 possessions worse on that end. Some of that can certainly be attributed to Brogdon’s new role as a reserve, but it is the worst differential of any Buck.
Next: 2017-18 Week 10 NBA Power Rankings
To get by defensively in the NCAA, effort is enough; intelligence is enough; size is enough. A combination of the three makes a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. In the NBA, you need all three and then some just to get by. Malcolm Brogdon is learning that the hard way, as the world’s greatest athletes continue to target the proverbial nerd who doesn’t have what it takes to fight back.