TJ McConnell's 'MAGIC' Numbers

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:55 am

KaibabKat wrote:Numbers from Utah Summer League (3 games, 1 win, 2 losses):

28.7 MPG
6.7 PPG
37.5 FG% (9/24)
14.3 3P% (1/7)
50.0 FT% (1/2)
3.0 APG
1.00 A/TO (9/9)
5.7 RPG
0.7 SPG
1.0 BPG

Perhaps he does make the 76er's roster - but those are not numbers that one would usually expect from an NBA point guard.

It's a good thing the people who matter don't make decisions based on box scores from summer league games

Spaceman Spiff · Post by **Spaceman Spiff** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:05 am

TJ has never been a given to make the NBA. That FG% freaks me out a bit, though. He has to be at least a threat to score to open up his playmaking. The D will be there, but if he can't shoot it, it's hard to see him sticking.

Jefe · Post by **Jefe** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:57 pm

Did anyone catch the D'Angelo Russell rematch? TJ only played 14 minutes against him Saturday but forced 2 turnovers and allowed 0 pts when he guarded him. They were having a friendly chat when TJ checked in late in the 1st quarter. Russell knows whats up

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:12 am

Spaceman Spiff wrote:TJ has never been a given to make the NBA. That FG% freaks me out a bit, though. He has to be at least a threat to score to open up his playmaking. The D will be there, but if he can't shoot it, it's hard to see him sticking.

I went and looked, and the majority of the rookie points were in the 30's in FG percentage for the 2014-2015 season. Not saying I disagree with you at all though.

Spaceman Spiff · Post by **Spaceman Spiff** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:11 am

rgdeuce wrote:
Spaceman Spiff wrote:TJ has never been a given to make the NBA. That FG% freaks me out a bit, though. He has to be at least a threat to score to open up his playmaking. The D will be there, but if he can't shoot it, it's hard to see him sticking.
I went and looked, and the majority of the rookie points were in the 30's in FG percentage for the 2014-2015 season. Not saying I disagree with you at all though.

It's more my thoughts on TJ. He's not really big or quick. He is a good distributor, but he needs to be able to get into the D for that to happen. To enable that, he needs to force the defender to guard him beyond the arc. Since he won't beat people with pure athleticism, he can't play his game without drawing people to him and creating lanes.

His D is very solid, and that will get him a look, but if he can't shoot and the D lays off, I worry he just becomes ineffective on offense.

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:39 am

Nah, I get what you mean and I completely agree with it. I guess what I am trying to get at with looking at and posting the shooting numbers is, 37.5 right now, in the preseason, or even his rookie season isn't necessarily the end of the world or a deal breaker for him. I just don't see the 76ers looking at that and telling themselves, nevermind. I think you would have to expect these shooting numbers from TJ right now.

But like you said, if he doesn't improve, it's hard to see him sticking, which I completely agree with as well.

Spaceman Spiff · Post by **Spaceman Spiff** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:00 pm

rgdeuce wrote:Nah, I get what you mean and I completely agree with it. I guess what I am trying to get at with looking at and posting the shooting numbers is, 37.5 right now, in the preseason, or even his rookie season isn't necessarily the end of the world or a deal breaker for him. I just don't see the 76ers looking at that and telling themselves, nevermind. I think you would have to expect these shooting numbers from TJ right now.

But like you said, if he doesn't improve, it's hard to see him sticking, which I completely agree with as well.

I don't disagree with that. The Sixers suck, so I think he'll get a chance to show that he can do better than that going forward. I just think he has to do better or it'll be the D league or Europe bc he has less margin for error in making a team.

He's too solid on D and as a teammate for them to cash it in based on summer league, but the knock on him was that he wouldn't be able to handle the increase in athleticism and speed the NBA brings. If he keeps shooting poorly, the knock will be right.

His numbers from 3 aren't as important as making the D guard him so he can get to 12-17 feet. That's where TJ can make things happen, via a floater for himself, or by distributing to others.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:47 pm

For the second time this summer, bad point guard play by TJ McConnell turned what should have been an easy Sixers win into a come-from-behind loss. Tonight was TJ's worst game yet, and quite a few times he didn't even bother to pass the ball to his teammates. McConnell's atrocious performance in all aspects offensively -other than the handful of shots he made- ruined an amazing offensive performance by Scotty Welbekin and solid offensive performances by Charles Jackson and JP Tokoto. There is no way any sane person could argue that TJ did not cost the Sixers this game tonight. It was plain as day. With that said, let's get into the individual performances against the Knicks.
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DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN AS BAD POINT GUARD PLAY BY TJ MCCONNELL COSTS THE SIXERS ANOTHER CLOSE GAME
July 14, 2015image descriptionby phillyfansince88

TJ runs the offense the right way?
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
For the second time this summer, bad point guard play by TJ McConnell turned what should have been an easy Sixers win into a come-from-behind loss. Tonight was TJ's worst game yet, and quite a few times he didn't even bother to pass the ball to his teammates. McConnell's atrocious performance in all aspects offensively -other than the handful of shots he made- ruined an amazing offensive performance by Scotty Welbekin and solid offensive performances by Charles Jackson and JP Tokoto. There is no way any sane person could argue that TJ did not cost the Sixers this game tonight. It was plain as day. With that said, let's get into the individual performances against the Knicks.

floor and made some on-point passes off of dribble penetration. You really can't ask for more than that from this kid but at the same time you shouldn't accept less. This is exactly what Scotty is capable of.

Ugly

TJ McConnell- The Sixers' first offensive possession of the game pretty much made it clear how TJ was going to play tonight. He threw a bad lob to JaKarr Sampson that could have easily injured him rather than passing him the ball as he was diving to the hoop. I can tell you for a fact that pretty much every single decent player I have ever played with in pickup games in the Philadelphia area can easily throw that pass on a laser exactly when it's supposed to be thrown rather than settling for throwing a lob. If you can't do that, you do not belong in the NBA. Period. If you are 6'4" and yet pretty much always throw the kind of bounce passes undersized point guards throw, you do not belong in the NBA. It is not the least bit difficult to throw one handed passes on target whether they are in the air or bounce passes. Any decent player can do that in his sleep. I have yet to see TJ do that even once. There is no way a 6'4" player is physically incapable of making passes off the standing dribble or of changing direction without over-dribbling or all of these things TJ should be able to do yet doesn't. On another play, he basically rolled a pass to Jahlil Okafor that Okafor luckily was able to get control of. You never, ever roll a pass to a big man with other players around, and if you're throwing a bounce pass into the paint it better be strong and on target. That's Basketball 101. TJ drove into the paint for his own offense for a large part of the game and when he couldn't score, either dribbled back out or threw a completely unnecessarily difficult and off-the-mark pass. He was the reason some of his teammates were "off" offensively tonight. There is no way it can be argued that he did not cost the Sixers this game.

Conclusion: For the second straight game he started, TJ McConnell cost the Sixers a close game with bad point guard play. Not just bad. Atrocious. He put his own offense and his own numbers ahead of his team and got his whole team out of rhythm from the beginning. Scotty Welbekin, Jahlil Okafor, and Charles Jackson bailed him out early but even a red-hot Welbekin couldn't save the Sixers from McConnell's selfish and stupid play in the second half. Though Okafor had another solid game, Charles Jackson really played very well offensively early on, and JP Tokoto even had a decent game offensively, pretty much no non-guard for the Sixers was in rhythm the entire game because either McConnell's passes to them were off-target or he didn't even bother passing to them at all. It was one of the most disgraceful performances by a point guard that I have ever seen, and I watched years of Allen Iverson running the Sixers' offense. Worst of all, it ruined another great game by Charles Jackson, a much improved game offensively from JP Tokoto, and an incredible offensive performance by Scotty Welbekin. I'm not sure I can sit through another game where TJ is running the offense.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 2:19 pm

Philly "fans" are the fucking worst.

Airizona · Post by **Airizona** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 2:32 pm

That guy must know what he is talking about he plays in pickup games in the philly area

PieceOfMeat · Post by **PieceOfMeat** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 4:09 pm

Should just let the "quality" of that writing speak for itself.

But...yeah Chi, they pretty much are.

thenewazcats · Post by **thenewazcats** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:07 pm

6'4"? Is that his listed height?

ghostwhitehorse · Post by **ghostwhitehorse** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:08 pm

dudes handle should be "bitteraboutiggysinceforever"

Spaceman Spiff · Post by **Spaceman Spiff** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:47 pm

Misspelling Scottie Wilbekin's first and last name is the hallmark of a real Sixers insider.

Jefe · Post by **Jefe** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 10:20 am

thenewazcats wrote:6'4"? Is that his listed height?

Not even close. 6' 0.5" without shoes, 6'2" with

Zona_Soccer10 · Post by **Zona_Soccer10** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 10:01 pm

The worst market for sports "writers" or "fans" is probably Philadelphia, I mean they would boo a kid with down syndrome if they had the chance. Only time will tell about TJ.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:26 am

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:59 am

What a moron.

My head nearly exploded when he critiqued TJ's passing abilities in comparison to what he sees in "pickup games." I am guessing this dude has never played a minute of organized basketball. I also cannot imagine TJ ever being selfish, and the fact he only took 7 shots...... yeah.

Gato Salvaje · Post by **Gato Salvaje** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:04 am

Airizona wrote:That guy must know what he is talking about he plays in pickup games in the philly area

He mostly plays against the guys the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" got in trouble with, so he's definitely legit.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:58 pm

Chicat wrote:Philly "fans" are the fucking worst.

Just to illustrate my point, there was a Canadian effort to dress up a garbage can and an iPhone as a robot (Hitch-Bot) and have it hitchhike across North America. It made it to Philadelphia where some assfuck in a Randall Cunningham jersey kicked it to death.

Fuck you Philly.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:12 pm

I think Nick Foles can agree with that sentiment.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 4:11 pm

Chicat wrote:
Chicat wrote:Philly "fans" are the fucking worst.
Just to illustrate my point, there was a Canadian effort to dress up a garbage can and an iPhone as a robot (Hitch-Bot) and have it hitchhike across North America. It made it to Philadelphia where some assfuck in a Randall Cunningham jersey kicked it to death.

Fuck you Philly.

Hitchbot previously hitchhiked all over canada and Europe without any issues.

Gets to Philly....game over. No surprise.

Jefe · Post by **Jefe** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:04 am

TJs first game last night. Didnt start but played a lot and looked great. 76ers coach said they have to narrow down their PG list from 6 to 3 and the announcers said all game that TJ needs to be in that top 3. They loved him, talked about Miller, AZ, SJ, AG and how he completely changed our program. Guarded Dellavedova for a few possessions and stopped him on a fast break layup. Jumped into the crowd twice to save balls he had no chance of saving

Pure hustle and leadership all game.

21mins 6pts 4asts 3rebs 0 TOs

2-5 FGs
1-3 3PTs
1-1 FTs

At the end of the 1Q he went to the bench and got high fives. One of which came from Assistant Coach, Sean Rooks

Then Richard Jefferson checked in for the Cavs.

Cunningham put up 31...

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 11:20 am

Saw his numbers and kicked myself for passing the game in favor of the baseball game. I saw he didn't play in the first preseason game so I figured he had a minor injury or something. Just need to start DVRing all these games so I can fast forward and watch when they are on the floor.

Jefe · Post by **Jefe** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 11:27 am

Ya sprained ankle last game so he sat out. This was an incredible game. Sixers were down 10+ most of the game, 19 at one point and wind up going up with 1 second left.

TJ at 1:15 with the assist to Okafor

He came in with 5 mins left in the 1Q and then started the 2Q and hit his first three

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 4:47 pm

TJ

19 min, 7 pts, 4 boards, 6 assists, 4 stl, 1 blk, 4 to, 3-5 fg, and the game winning shot w 7 seconds left (pullup 10 foot jumper).

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 4:56 pm

in preseason? AWESOME!

Harvey Specter · Post by **Harvey Specter** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:18 pm

HOT DAMN... TJ made the final roster.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/10/26/six ... n-aldemir/" target="_blank

Dr. J is now my 2nd favorite all-time 76er!

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:36 am

Atta boy TJ!

Spaceman Spiff · Post by **Spaceman Spiff** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:33 am

He got a lot of playing time last night. Yes the Sixers suck, but it's still cool to see that happen.

Dwill, Gordon and Rondae all looked impressive. Stanley struggled with his shot a little, but looks like a rotation guy at minimum. Keeping up with ex-Cat box scores is going to get time consuming this year.

HiCat · Post by **HiCat** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 2:18 pm

TJ! Great news.

carolinacat · Post by **carolinacat** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:44 pm

In just 23 minutes of playing time vs. the Cavs, McConnell was 3-4 FG for six points, 7 rebounds and a stunning 12 assists! Impressive. Most impressive.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:54 pm

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 8:13 pm

Even if his run in the NBA is short, tj has to be happy tonight despite the loss. How many people can say they played in an NBA game against lebron James and out assisted and out rebounded him?

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 8:18 pm

There's no reason he shouldn't be able to learn how to shoot, and once he does, I'm still hoping he can make a career in the NBA. Very promising.

carolinacat · Post by **carolinacat** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 8:44 pm

Longhorned wrote:There's no reason he shouldn't be able to learn how to shoot, and once he does, I'm still hoping he can make a career in the NBA. Very promising.

If he can extend the range on his jump shot by a few feet, he can definitely stick in the league. McConnell is a John Stockton type. He doesn't force bad shots and he's constantly looking to set up his teammates for good looks. Every player who plays with TJ loves being on the court with him because he gets them good shots.

Harvey Specter · Post by **Harvey Specter** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:41 am

Catstatic · Post by **Catstatic** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:36 am

Who wouldn't want to have a pg who plays incredible defense (which disrupts the opposing team's offense), loves to pass, pushes the ball, and only shoots when absolutely necessary? (Sound a bit like PJC?

)

The NBA is filled with pg's who are constantly looking for their own shots. That gets pretty old for the rest of the guys who would probably like to shoot once in a while!
The Sixers got the steal of the entire rookie class when they signed undrafted TJ. He is the ideal pg, and I believe he will have a very long NBA career.

Go Cats!!

rgdeuce · Post by **rgdeuce** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:46 am

Caught the whole game, those were great numbers, but they still dont fully illustrate how he looked last night and for most of the early season in general, absent a few hitches. He took Delladova, a great pesky defender, off the dribble to the basket twice. It's vintage TJ, its what we have all seen countless times, yet its crazy to see it translate to the NBA, especially this quickly. It's nuts really and he is doing it without much around him. I find myself glued to 76ers games at the expense of missing Rondae, AG, Stanley, etc., lol.

Right now hes playing great D and his hands are very active, in great rebounding position for a point, pushing the ball up the floor and playing at a high tempo. His passes have been great and he has shown he knows how to get the right guys the ball in the right spots. His hustle and intangibles have been off the charts. His dribble driving has been very effective, I dont know if part of that is him being an unknown and deceiving guys w his athletic ability (kind of sneaky, smart, knows how to get from point A to B efficiently). He has made some rookie blunders but they are limited, very often he looks like the smartest guy on the floor and he doesnt look lost, he looks like he belongs. He's been very good off the dribble with that midrange pullup that we saw a lot of. I think if he sticks with his bread and butter, he buys himself time in the league to improve his shooting range and release.

One of the all time greatest points had a nasty shot when he got into the league, Jason Kidd. Not saying TJ will be anything close to Kidd, but it demonstrates how if you do everything else right and work hard, the shot will improve. At the start of the preseason i would have just been conte

nt w TJ getting a spot on the roster and that NBA contract. But watching him over the preseason and early in the regular season, I truly think TJ is going to have a fairly long career in the league as a solid backup point. No BS, he's more than holding his own with the "elite" athletes and doing a lot of things they cannot or will not do.

Main Event · Post by **Main Event** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:22 pm

threenumberones · Post by **threenumberones** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:40 pm

rgdeuce wrote:Caught the whole game, those were great numbers, but they still dont fully illustrate how he looked last night and for most of the early season in general, absent a few hitches. He took Delladova, a great pesky defender, off the dribble to the basket twice. It's vintage TJ, its what we have all seen countless times, yet its crazy to see it translate to the NBA, especially this quickly. It's nuts really and he is doing it without much around him. I find myself glued to 76ers games at the expense of missing Rondae, AG, Stanley, etc., lol.

Right now hes playing great D and his hands are very active, in great rebounding position for a point, pushing the ball up the floor and playing at a high tempo. His passes have been great and he has shown he knows how to get the right guys the ball in the right spots. His hustle and intangibles have been off the charts. His dribble driving has been very effective, I dont know if part of that is him being an unknown and deceiving guys w his athletic ability (kind of sneaky, smart, knows how to get from point A to B efficiently). He has made some rookie blunders but they are limited, very often he looks like the smartest guy on the floor and he doesnt look lost, he looks like he belongs. He's been very good off the dribble with that midrange pullup that we saw a lot of. I think if he sticks with his bread and butter, he buys himself time in the league to improve his shooting range and release.

One of the all time greatest points had a nasty shot when he got into the league, Jason Kidd. Not saying TJ will be anything close to Kidd, but it demonstrates how if you do everything else right and work hard, the shot will improve. At the start of the preseason i would have just been conte nt w TJ getting a spot on the roster and that NBA contract. But watching him over the preseason and early in the regular season, I truly think TJ is going to have a fairly long career in the league as a solid backup point. No BS, he's more than holding his own with the "elite" athletes and doing a lot of things they cannot or will not do.

Thanks for posting.

gumby · Post by **gumby** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:41 pm

Main Event wrote:

Big smile here. Love how he talks to the guys, too. Leader.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:58 pm

After TJ has a nice 10 year NBA career he'll come back to Tucson to apprentice under CSM with the intention to take over the program eventually.

Alieberman · Post by **Alieberman** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:42 pm

Chicat wrote:After TJ has a nice 10 year NBA career he'll come back to Tucson to apprentice under CSM with the intention to take over the program eventually.

I may have posted it before, but I was at an event last May, I think, where CSM was the guest of honor and he answered questions for about 20 minutes or so. The highlight of the night was when someone asked if he would like to have TJ as an assistant coach. I have never seen CSM so fired up as when he answered that question. Basically he answered that he would love to have TJ as an assistant but it won't happen for a long while because TJ is going to have a very long career playing basketball. He emphasized... not oversees somewhere... in the NBA. This wasn't coach speak propping up his guy.... he was practically guaranteeing that it was going to happen.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:46 pm

Tj in the league 2015-2025...apprentices under Miller 2025-2029, takes over after Miller retires after his 20th season in 2029...

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:47 pm

You have to think that of all the players CSM has coached, TJMC is the closest to what he was as a player himself. So that might be a guy rooting on a kid a whole lot like himself to achieve what he never did . . . or it could be a guy who sees all the things he wasn't physically in a kid who is just like him mentally.

I think it's the latter...

Jefe · Post by **Jefe** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 2:43 pm

I watched the whole game as well, he is getting extremely comfortable and it is fun to watch. Had they played him the entire 4Q they might have won that game. They were down 20 when he checked back in and 3 minutes later it was a 6pt game.

Heres the whole game, TJ time:

1Q 7:03 - 2:46
2Q 10:14 - 3:48
3Q 6:43 - 0:22
4Q 8:45 - 7:45 & 4:39 - end

http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/ ... QQ8FidFaP2" target="_blank

http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/ ... lfRHudFbdt" target="_blank

threenumberones · Post by **threenumberones** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:04 pm

http://www.csnphilly.com/basketball-phi ... ocid=yahoo

More importantly, McConnell has developed a rapport with Noel and Okafor. The rookie guard texts videos of Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire running the pick-and-roll to Noel with the implied message of, “That could be us.” McConnell also watches film with Noel and has been able to run some pick-and-rolls with both big men.

I like what he's doing..it's smart. No surprise.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:21 pm

Talked to a buddy who is a lifelong Sixers fan (since the Moses Malone years) and fashions himself an insider because a few media types and people in the organization follow him on Twitter.

Anyway, he told me tonight that the front office LOVES McConnell and there are some who see him as the perfect PG for the team not only today but as the lynchpin of a future Eastern Conference champ.

In re UofA · Post by **In re UofA** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:37 pm

McConnell feeds the post better than any guard on their roster. He has a great rapport with Okafor on the floor. I also like how he sets up jump shooters at the arc, and leads Noel when he is crashing the lane after rolling off the pick with good bounce passes.

It will be interesting 1) to see if teams adjust in the coming weeks, and 2) whether McConnell gets more floor time when the starters are more often on the floor. I think his minutes were primarily logged against the Cavs' second squad with a bit of overlap.

As an aside, I wonder what convos he had with Richard Jefferson. Two eras converging.

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