In a season where there was no dominant player coming off the bench, Malcolm Brogdon was a steady force for the Boston Celtics, someone they could count on nightly.
That was enough to earn him the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, the league announced on Thursday.
“From day one, Malcolm has eagerly embraced his role as a game changer off the bench,” Celtics’ president Brad Stevens told NBC Sports Boston. “His emphasis on winning has been reflected daily in his work, his play, and his selflessness. Malcolm winning the award named after John Havlicek, an all-time Celtic, could not be more appropriate.”
Brogdon averaged 14.9 points a night shooting 44.4% from 3, while pitching in 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists a game. He had more drives this season than Jayson Tatum, he had the ball in his hands to create with the second unit but could work off the ball as well, hitting 44.2% on catch-and-shoot 3s. Last season the Celtics struggled when Tatum or Jaylen Brown were not on the court, this season Brogdon helped fix that.
Brogdon garnered 60 of the 100 first-place votes, but he did not beat out the Knicks’ Immanuel Quickley by that much, with Quickley grabbing 34 first-place votes and coming within 100 total points of Brogdon. Quickley had a legitimate case for the award as he drove the win for the Knicks and his role increased over the course of the season. The Bucks’ Bobby Portis was third. Here is the voting breakdown:
Brogdon and the Celtics are up 2-0 on the Hawks in the first round.
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Celtics’ Malcom Brogdon wins NBA Sixth Man of the Year award originally appeared on NBCSports.com