Philadelphia 76ers: This will be T.J. McConnell’s make-or-break season

T.J. McConnell’s future with the Philadelphia 76ers is riding on this upcoming season.

Point guard will be one of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ most interesting positional battles next season. With Ben Simmons looking to take the next step and Markelle Fultz stepping into a bigger role, there are questions about how Brett Brown will structure the rotation.

There are also questions about T.J. McConnell‘s future with the team.

McConnell was an important asset last season, spending the first half of the season in Sixth Man of the Year contention then re-establishing his value in the playoffs. There’s a good chance that McConnell is the only reason Boston didn’t sweep the Sixers.

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In between, however, McConnell’s value fluctuated. There was a solid chunk of time after the All-Star break when T.J. lost confidence, avoiding the three-point line and losing his effectiveness as a slasher.

McConnell is at his best when he’s probing the interior, carving out mid-range jumpers and finding open teammates on the perimeter. He was also shooting 50 percent from deep on 0.9 attempts per game through Christmas, a 28-game sample size.

If McConnell is hitting spot-up threes — even in small doses — his value skyrockets. That something he lost toward the end of last season. For a brief time after Fultz’s return, McConnell’s minutes were fading altogether.

Now we enter the 2018-19 campaign, with the Sixers looking to compete with Boston and Toronto for the Eastern Conference crown. We don’t know where Fultz’s jumper stands, but he will presumably see increased minutes next season. Where does that leave T.J.?

In the aftermath of Zhaire Smith‘s injury, the Sixers are a tad short on perimeter depth. That means we might see Fultz and McConnell sharing the floor with the second unit, something that could have unforeseen benefits.

Spacing will be crucial to making those rotations work. At least one of them needs to pose a threat from deep. Fultz might get there, but we haven’t seen any tangible evidence that he’s back to Washington form. McConnell becoming more confident in his spot-up threes would be ideal.

Once Smith returns (or if the Sixers sign another guard, like Jamal Crawford), however, McConnell’s role will be limited. He’ll need to prove his worth as an undersized point guard who doesn’t shoot threes at a high clip, which will only get more challenging as his career progresses.

Even without a jumper, Fultz showed flashes of brilliance last season. He’s already one of the best young passers in the league, whipping on-target passes through tight windows and making advanced reads with the ball in his hands.

As he becomes more comfortable with the speed and physicality of NBA basketball, Fultz will become one of the best bench facilitators in the league. If he can add to his scoring profile (i.e. shooting), he’ll probably move into the starting five before the season ends.

If Fultz moves into the starting five, that would re-open McConnell’s window of opportunity. Until that happens, though, Fultz will be looking to control the backup point guard minutes and expand upon last season’s role.

That leaves McConnell without a clear path toward minutes, whether it be this upcoming season or beyond. This is also the last year of McConnell’s Hinkie Special, meaning he’ll hit restricted free agency next summer.

If McConnell can’t consistently prove his value as a slasher and spot-up shooter, his one-position defense won’t be enough to retain playing time. He needs to take another step forward, or the Sixers’ two No. 1 picks will slowly consume most of the available minutes.

T.J. essentially needs to prove that he can survive next to Fultz and Simmons, to the point where giving him minutes is Brett Brown’s best option. We’ll see if the former undrafted free agent can make that leap.