Despite the Philadelphia 76ers struggles in the 2015-2016, Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell earned NBA respect. Now, he deserves a chance to earn more
Some people look better on the basketball court than they ought to. Whether it’s their height, wingspan, physique, or light experience in the game, some players simply are holding onto their dream of playing in the NBA much tighter than other players.
Point guard T.J. McConnell is one such “kid”. I use the term deliberately, because next to the giants of Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, and Joel Embiid, the 6’2″ 200 pound baby-faced point guard from the University of Arizona looks younger than the others. He reminds me of the scrappy younger brother who is told to go home when a pick up game is forming, only to earn his way onto a team by impressing all of the older boys. He’s scrappy, and that gives him enough to overcome daily challenges that almost always seem to single him out.
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He’s Pennsylvanian, a son of Tim McConnell – a very successful high school basketball coach who we had discussed at mid season. Despite a great basketball background, and an impressive college career split between the Duquesne Dukes and the Arizona Wildcats, the four year college grad did not garner enough interest from NBA teams to hear his name called in the 2015 NBA draft. He was not the “ideal” measurable in terms of height and weight. His scouting reports reflected the only detractors as the items he could never fix in the NBA through coaching:
“He’s Not The Ideal Height Or Weight”
And so, his NBA scouting reports did what they do – they constructed a ceiling because heart, desire, courage, audacity are simply not quantifiable. His highest upside, according to the reports, were that he might attain a solid backup role. And that was enough to ward off basketball minds.
Next: Gut Instinct
Gut Instinct
But there was another mind in the room, one described as looking further into the future than others, who noticed the young hopeful from Arizona., The man was Sam Hinkie, who many claim was never a “basketball mind”. And yet, despite the critics who decried his reliance on basketball analytics, his willingness to trade cap space for future draft picks, he was the only man in the NBA with the courage to go with his gut instinct and offer McConnell an opportunity to join an NBA team.
For all this vices and faults, the most damning evidence of those who would burn Hinkie at the stake charge immediately to the point guard position of the 2015-2016 Philadelphia 76ers as the evidence of why he had to be excused from the NBA.
But lost in the discussion is the fact that Hinkie took short term risks for long term payoffs routinely. Where others sought quick impact guys by reviewing the short list of ten or so names, Hinkie considered a hundred names for their long term upside.
T.J. McConnell was one such long term payoff. In offering him the opportunity, Hinkie delivered something no other team was willing to do – a chance for McConnell to earn a spot on the roster by impressing the daylights out of the coaches.
An interview of our own Joshua Wilson by our Arizona Wildcats FanSided affiliate documented the surprise of McConnell outlasting so many others at the point guard position to earn a roster spot.
And so, he arrived and took the NBA by storm, in part. He is an instinctive distributor of the ball, but on a team just developing shooters, and his own reluctance to dive to the hoop, stymied the team. Someone had to show McConnell when to pass, and when to shoot.
And then this happened…
Next: Mentored
Mentored
The team was ill-prepared to allow an undrafted rookie to jump out to be the lead dog of the franchise. Even players with huge pedigrees are given a mentor, a veteran point guard to play behind and learn the psychological aspects of the NBA game by watching, asking, listening, and then executing.
No such mentor existed for McConnell, until the Philadelphia 76ers determined that former point guard Ish Smith was needed and traded two second round picks to the New Orleans Pelicans for his services.
Before Smith arrived, McConnell had plenty of minutes on the court, averaging nearly 26 minutes per game, but only translated that playing time into assists and not points: averaging six assists per game and seven points per game.
After Ish Smith arrived, the minutes dropped significantly, averaging about 17 minutes per game, but the assists dropped to four assists per game while the points held steady at six points per game. But it was McConnell’s feisty attitude that turned what many could have viewed as a demotion into an opportunity to improve. It is the same attitude that you find in the bleachers of any Sixers game, the “never say quit, we want to earn it” mantra that resonates in blue collar reality.
Eventually, the lessons of “shoot it if you can” began to take hold.
The confidence was tangent in the young man in his first season. After several years, he will truly be able to command the team whether at the starting spot or in a key reserve role. Don’t take my word for it, simply read the reactions of the NBA experts
Next: Lauded
Lauded
McConnell was under the radar of everyone, and that includes even Philly beat writers. Some took note that an undrafted rookie had made the team at a position of need, but in the world created by Hinkie, that in itself was no more news worthy than a thunderstorm rolling in.
But his play became noticed. In the first month or two of play, he was picked up on the radar of the rookie power rankings, coming in higher than the second pick of the NBA draft, D’Angelo Russell.
As the season progressed, so did T.J. McConnell. In fact, the undrafted rookie played in more games last year than any other player. He missed just one game in an 82 game season, and the workaholic point guard had a tremendous year.
His year was so notable, that the reserve undrafted rookie point guard received two first team votes for the NBA All-Star Rookie team. If the truth be known, had T.J. McConnell been select in the top five, his numbers warranted an NBA All-Star Rookie Team second team role.
Next: Work Ethic
Work Ethic
If you want to know what a quality player we have in T.J. McConnell, I heartily recommend you give a few moments to read an excellent piece by Shereen Ryan over at FanSided’s Zonazealots.com. She breaks down some key stats from McConnell’s first year:
"This Arizona Wildcat NBA rookie (McConnell) holds the top spot in recorded steals in the 2015-16 regular season at 95. Second place went to D’Angelo Russell who stole the ball two times less than T.J., but he did it in twice as many playing minutes! The next man down is Nikola Jokic with 79 in 796 playing minutes….McConnell earned the No. 2 ranking in assists with 367, only five behind No. 1 Emmanuel Mudiay, and 101 more than No. 3 D’Angelo Russell. – per Shereen Ryan at Zonazealots.com"
And the results were not given, but earned the old fashioned way – by hard work. That’s the stuff that make any sports fan from Philadelphia sit up and take notice. That’s the stuff we love – the guts and glory attitude we know and love in our sports legends like Brian Dawkins, Steve Carlton, Bernie Parent…
Bob Cooney of Philly.com caught up to McConnell at the end of the season for a recap of how he felt about his first year in the NBA:
"“Some days were hard but most of the days we were just happy to be here and come in and work. I just tried to get better each day, just go out and play as hard as you can and try to get a win. I’ve been going since my senior year. Right after the season, I did 16 workouts (with NBA teams). I went from the Elite Eight to immediately working out. Then came summer leagues, preseason and then the regular season. It’s just been a really long year. I’ll take about a month off and then get back to work.” – T.J. McConnell discusses his first year in the NBA"
And so, while the Philadelphia 76ers front office heats up, the young point guard drifts away from basketball for a month or so.
Next: Future
Future
And so, here we are, trying to pick out who stays and who doesn’t. In fact, so much of our time currently is spent on who will shine the brightest in a Sixers jersey in the years ahead, that we’ve overlooked one very important item.
For every pyramid, it’s the foundation that is the most important. The burden of carrying the team is not at the uppermost point, but at the ground level. The team of champions is only as strong as the entire roster. While the debate of Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram wages on, there is plenty of solid reasons to consider who comes in for relief off the bench.
Good teams have good benches. Great teams have great benches. Right now, the Philadelphia 76ers are a team trying to find a way to form a cohesive and effective NBA team. The Sixers are not just about adding stars or veterans, but about keeping the tough minded gritty players who love a challenge.
We know that the Philadelphia 76ers will be shopping for a veteran point guard, and that one of the roles discussed in top NBA draft prospect Ben Simmons is his ability to act as field general from a forward position.
But it’s not as simple as all of that. While Simmons has incredible basketball intelligence, and an amazing arsenal of passes and moves to generate unequivocal ball distribution on the basketball court, he will need a reserve. Simmons is unique to the NBA, but even as the team builds a roster to his strengths, the Sixers will need other players to match optimally what their opponents will bring.
McConnell brings assists, steals, and rebounds. Shooting will come, but that is the same “issue” with Ben Simmons, so the philosophy of either player as ball distributor needn’t change whatsoever. When Simmons is in the game, the Sixers can switch in a shooter like Isaiah Canaan at point guard, a role Canaan is familiar with. When Simmons rests, the team can rotate in T.J. McConnell at point guard for Canaan, and Robert Covington for Simmons.
The other major component right now is the salary cost. Our recent past of austerity has ruined us going forward, as we never consider it. The other 29 NBA teams certainly must factor in the wages, and we need to prepare to do so as well. Economically, McConnell has no equal in the NBA for what he delivers. None. His biggest vulnerability, the audacity to shoot, will come over time just as it has to many point guards with true upside. Now that the Philadelphia 76ers are truly building the roster, they can look to the attic, but they had better ensure the foundation is well constructed.
Next: The Philadelphia 76ers Should Take Simmons Over Ingram
McConnell deserves a Philadelphia 76er role.