It feels like just yesterday T.J. McConnell cracked the Sixers roster and got his NBA chance. Now he’s showing the world what he can do on the league’s biggest stage.
Think of all the second-round picks and undrafted free agents signed to Hinkie specials, all with the hopes of creating “violence at the rim” as Brett Brown used to say. Ten seasons later, and it’s the 6-foot-2 guard with no wingspan, no vertical, and no outside shot swinging NBA Finals games.
Even after all this time, T.J. McConnell is still underestimated. As the Indiana Pacers have gone on deeper and deeper playoff runs, there’s skepticism on if you can get away with having McConnell on the floor in high leverage situations against elite competition. In spite of the that underestimation, maybe even because of it, McConnell keeps on succeeding.
This uphill battle started the day he entered the league. He was given an unguaranteed roster spot in 2015 for a Sixers team actively trying to lose as many games as possible. He showed he can be a scrappy guard for a bad team, but could he contribute to winning either way?
McConnell cleared that hurdle. He provided some of the earliest fond memories in this era of Sixers basketball with multiple buzzer-beating game-winners during the 2016-17 season.
The next season the team was suddenly good and looking to contend in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Not only was McConnell able to remain a key contributor of the bench rotation, but he was pretty much the sole reason they won a game in their second round series against the Boston Celtics.
With the Indiana Pacers he hasn’t just shown that he can contribute to winning basketball, but that he can do so at the highest level. While they are currently down 3-2 in the Finals to the OKC Thunder, McConnell has had two game-swinging type of performances off the bench in this series.
He went for 10 points and five crucial steals, three of which were his signature inbounds interceptions, to help the Pacers come away with a win in Game 3. He was an offensive spark in Game 5, putting up 13 of his 18 points in the third quarter though the Pacers’ comeback efforts came up short.
For as much time has passed, McConnell is still punishing teams in the same way — he’s making them pay for that underestimation. He is never going to give you a break, and will always pick you up full-court. He’ll hardly take any three-pointers, but when he does make them, he’ll be sure to talk an earful of shit on the way back down the court.
McConnell has embodied Sam Hinkie’s Process on so many levels. It doesn’t look like it should be working. It looks weird. Someone with more experience will eventually come and stop this. He shouldn’t even be here in the first place.
He is here, though, in this league because of The Process. In the time since he’s shown the whole league why that wasn’t a mistake or a fluke. McConnell is right where he’s supposed to be.
T.J. McConnell about when told today he made NBA’s 76ers: “I almost teared up in the coach’s office. I had to sit down.”
— Mike White (@mwhiteburgh) October 26, 2015