On-floor coach
Point guards are supposed to be floor generals, calling plays and initiating the offense. That’s exactly what McConnell sets out to be in his game.
During summer league this year, McConnell said it was his duty to alleviate the coaches of some stress and run the floor for them on some plays.
"Coach [Brett] Brown shouldn’t have to talk every game and Coach [Billy] Lange and Coach [Lloyd] Pierce shouldn’t have to be coaching every play… That’s what the point guards are for."
We see McConnell do a great job of that. Through summer league and last year’s regular season, it was clear that McConnell typically knew what was going on, and knew what play needed to be call, often without ever having to even look over at head coach Brett Brown.
McConnell often initiated the offense, and would have had an average assist number much higher than 4.5 if the Sixers weren’t the second-worst shooting team in the NBA last year.
One could argue that Simmons can initiate the offense just as well, but I think he lacks this coach factor that McConnell exudes. Simmons is a great passer and gets the offense going, don’t get me wrong, but throughout summer league it looked as if it was more freestyle rather than set plays. Perhaps that’s just because summer league has less of a solid playbook than the regular season, but I still freestyle ball is Simmons’ game. I believe that having a coach and floor general that calls plays like McConnell is valuable.
Part of that wanting to be a coach on the floor may come from being a coaches’ kid. He played for his father in high school, and likely worked closely with him and heard his cries for wanting T.J. to be a point guard that could run things on his own, helping his coach focus on the little things that make teams solid competitors.
Run things for his dad, he did, as he averaged 34.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 9.1 assists per game in his senior season.
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