T.J. McConnell: Arizona Wildcat may go from Undrafted to NBA starter in one year
It’s that time again, time for the media to speculate or doubt if T.J. McConnell will be getting a roster spot in the NBA.
Ben Simmons and fellow former Wildcat Jerryd Bayless were set to take the most minutes for the Philadelphia 76ers, but now Simmons is injured and out indefinitely after a successful surgery, and Bayless has an injured wrist, what are the Sixers going to do? They need a solution, and T.J. McConnell may be that solution now having played in the league last season
Sixers fans were devastated by the news of the number one draft picks injury, but now what? According to Jonathan Kelly (Fansided’s Sixers Sense Expert), former Arizona Wildcat Bayless was the better fit, “One of the reasons Bayless is a better fit with Simmons is because he’s primarily a shooter and can work off Simmons without the ball in his hands.”
Watching McConnell play in the NBA Las Vegas Summer League, you would think he made his case convincingly once again to win a place on an NBA roster. For some reason, the media projected that T.J. McConnell was back on the bubble what with the talent that was drafted, picked up or traded for.
For some athletes, proving yourself over and over again seems to be a consistent theme in their young NBA careers. McConnell is one of these athletes, just like Austin Hill and Scooby Wright III now in the NFL. These athletes can teach us a lot about how to be successful: just keep giving it your all, play with heart and silence the critics.
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Multiple media sources have alluded that T.J. McConnell has become the leading candidate to fill in the floor general duties while Simmons and Bayless are out of commission.
McConnell, the now crafty and savvy veteran, can make things happen, he can get a team charged up with his play and words, and he wants to win more than anyone on the court.
In the Sixers preseason opener against Boston, T.J. led the team in minutes and finished with 13 points, four assists, four rebounds and two steals. Against the Wizards T.J. played for 35 minutes in a double overtime loss. He finished with 12 points, seven assists, one rebound and two steals.
Keith Pompey of the Locked on 76ers podcast, called McConnell the “Unheralded guy – he will go full throttle on every play and run through brick walls and just win.” He maintains that T.J. wouldn’t have been a Sixer without Brett Brown who fell in love with him and McConnell reminded Brown of himself; a blue-collar type of player with a father who is a coach.
Wildcats fans know how tenacious McConnell is on the floor and Coach Brown preaches ‘Defense, Defense, Defense.” According to Pompey, Coach Brown said T.J. would start instead of the former first round pick, Sergio Rodriguez.
We would like to remind you what a great season McConnell had in 2015/16. He racked up as many stats in assists and steals than his rookie counterparts in the NBA in fewer minutes (note: This is taken from an earlier post).
This Arizona Wildcat NBA rookie held 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.
| Totals | Shooting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Age | Tm | AST | STL ▾ | PTS | FG% | 2P% | 3P% | WS |
| 1 | T.J. McConnell | 23 | PHI | 367 | 95 | 493 | .470 | .499 | .348 | 1.9 |
| 2 | D’Angelo Russell | 19 | LAL | 266 | 93 | 1054 | .410 | .447 | .351 | 0.0 |
| 3 | Nikola Jokic | 20 | DEN | 189 | 79 | 796 | .512 | .541 | .333 | 6.7 |
| 4 | Justise Winslow | 19 | MIA | 117 | 68 | 502 | .422 | .471 | .276 | 2.5 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Mudiay | 19 | DEN | 372 | 65 | 872 | .364 | .379 | .319 | -2.1 |
| 6 | Raul Neto | 23 | UTA | 174 | 62 | 476 | .431 | .453 | .395 | 1.8 |
| 7 | Karl-Anthony Towns | 20 | MIN | 161 | 58 | 1503 | .543 | .559 | .341 | 8.3 |
| 8 | Stanley Johnson | 19 | DET | 118 | 55 | 593 | .375 | .410 | .307 | 0.6 |
| 9 | Larry Nance Jr. | 23 | LAL | 44 | 54 | 349 | .527 | .541 | .100 | 2.2 |
| 10 | Kristaps Porzingis | 20 | NYK | 93 | 53 | 1028 | .421 | .454 | .333 | 4.3 |
| 11 | Jerian Grant | 23 | NYK | 177 | 50 | 426 | .394 | .454 | .220 | 0.8 |
| 12 | Willie Cauley-Stein | 22 | SAC | 37 | 48 | 463 | .563 | .567 | .000 | 3.8 |
| 13 | Devin Booker | 19 | PHO | 200 | 44 | 1048 | .423 | .464 | .343 | 1.9 |
| 14 | Mario Hezonja | 20 | ORL | 109 | 39 | 478 | .433 | .504 | .349 | 0.9 |
| 15 | Frank Kaminsky | 22 | CHO | 98 | 38 | 606 | .410 | .455 | .337 | 3.3 |
| 16 | Josh Richardson | 22 | MIA | 73 | 36 | 341 | .452 | .446 | .461 | 2.5 |
| 17 | Rashad Vaughn | 19 | MIL | 39 | 29 | 217 | .305 | .319 | .293 | -0.8 |
| 18 | Marcelo Huertas | 32 | LAL | 182 | 26 | 237 | .422 | .479 | .262 | -0.1 |
| 19 | Nemanja Bjelica | 27 | MIN | 83 | 26 | 308 | .468 | .564 | .384 | 1.9 |
| 20 | Trey Lyles | 20 | UTA | 59 | 26 | 488 | .438 | .461 | .383 | 2.3 |
| 21 | Bobby Portis | 20 | CHI | 52 | 25 | 436 | .427 | .443 | .308 | 1.5 |
| 22 | Myles Turner | 19 | IND | 41 | 25 | 619 | .498 | .506 | .214 | 3.1 |
| 23 | Jonathon Simmons | 26 | SAS | 58 | 24 | 331 | .504 | .533 | .383 | 2.0 |
| 24 | Jahlil Okafor | 20 | PHI | 65 | 22 | 928 | .508 | .511 | .167 | 1.2 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/19/2016.
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.
| Totals | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Age | Tm | G | GS | MP | AST ▾ |
| 1 | Emmanuel Mudiay | 19 | DEN | 68 | 66 | 2068 | 372 |
| 2 | T.J. McConnell | 23 | PHI | 81 | 17 | 1606 | 367 |
| 3 | D’Angelo Russell | 19 | LAL | 80 | 48 | 2259 | 266 |
| 4 | Devin Booker | 19 | PHO | 76 | 51 | 2108 | 200 |
| 5 | Nikola Jokic | 20 | DEN | 80 | 55 | 1733 | 189 |
| 6 | Marcelo Huertas | 32 | LAL | 53 | 0 | 869 | 182 |
| 7 | Jerian Grant | 23 | NYK | 76 | 6 | 1265 | 177 |
| 8 | Raul Neto | 23 | UTA | 81 | 53 | 1499 | 174 |
| 9 | Karl-Anthony Towns | 20 | MIN | 82 | 82 | 2626 | 161 |
| 10 | Stanley Johnson | 19 | DET | 73 | 6 | 1687 | 118 |
| 11 | Justise Winslow | 19 | MIA | 78 | 8 | 2232 | 117 |
| 12 | Mario Hezonja | 20 | ORL | 79 | 9 | 1413 | 109 |
| 13 | Frank Kaminsky | 22 | CHO | 81 | 3 | 1708 | 98 |
| 14 | Kristaps Porzingis | 20 | NYK | 72 | 72 | 2047 | 93 |
| 15 | Nemanja Bjelica | 27 | MIN | 60 | 0 | 1075 | 83 |
| 16 | Josh Richardson | 22 | MIA | 52 | 2 | 1107 | 73 |
| 17 | Jahlil Okafor | 20 | PHI | 53 | 48 | 1591 | 65 |
| 18 | Trey Lyles | 20 | UTA | 80 | 33 | 1382 | 59 |
| 19 | Jonathon Simmons | 26 | SAS | 55 | 2 | 813 | 58 |
| 20 | Bobby Portis | 20 | CHI | 62 | 4 | 1102 | 52 |
| 21 | Larry Nance Jr. | 23 | LAL | 63 | 22 | 1266 | 44 |
| 22 | Myles Turner | 19 | IND | 60 | 30 | 1367 | 41 |
| 23 | Rashad Vaughn | 19 | MIL | 70 | 6 | 1001 | 39 |
| 24 | Willie Cauley-Stein | 22 | SAC | 66 | 39 | 1412 | 37 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/19/2016.
What makes this feat so impressive is that Mudiay started in 66 games and dished 372 assists playing 2,068 minutes. In contrast, McConnell started in just 17 games and played only 1,606 minutes. The two players recorded almost the same amount of assists, but if you consider their playing minutes, McConnell ends up with the sweeter and more meaningful stat. He was clearly more efficient.
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So in T.J.’s first two games of the preseason, he averaged 12.5 points per game, 2.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and two steals. On top of that, he is shooting about 50 percent from the field and 100 percent from the free-throw line. Why does coach Brown need any excuse to play T.J.? As Nike says, JUST DO IT! BearDown T.J.!