Bear Down Wildcats

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Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star
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T.J. McConnell's workouts for the Suns and 14 other NBA teams paid off Thursday.
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Former Arizona Wildcats guard T.J. McConnell agreed to a partially guaranteed contract with the Philadelphia 76ers just after the draft ended, his agent, Chris Emens, told the Star early Friday morning.

Arizona’s other undrafted prospect, Brandon Ashley, meanwhile has reportedly agreed to a summer league invite from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Emens said McConnell would probably have been drafted had he been willing to be a second-round “stash” pick who would only be assigned to a D-League team with no chance to make the NBA club while it kept his rights.

Instead, Emens said, McConnell held out and the Sixers offered him an NBA minimum contract that includes a “six figure” amount even if McConnell doesn’t make the team.

“We didn’t want to do that (take a stash offer) and we knew we had a lot of demand, so we were able to parlay that into a significant deal,” Emens said.

As a free-agent signee, McConnell will probably play for both the Sixers’ summer league teams, in Utah and Las Vegas, while he will also have a chance to make the team next fall.

If McConnell doesn’t make the Sixers, he will receive his guaranteed pay and be free to sign elsewhere, or go to the D-League with the ability to be called up by any team.

While McConnell was unavailable for comment, his father, Tim, said Sixers coach Brett Brown called T.J. just after the draft. Emens, communicating with Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie at the same time, said an agreement was reached in just five minutes.

McConnell did a total of 16 workouts for NBA teams after a late invite to the NBA combine, and Emens said all 15 teams (he went to San Antonio twice) offered him a chance to play for their summer league teams. But the Sixers offered much more.

“T.J. said he had a good feeling about a couple of teams, and Philadelphia was one of them,” Tim McConnell said. “He’s going to give it a shot and see what happens. The worst thing that can happen is he goes to the D-League.”

After the draft wrapped up – and after our print editions were finished – the deal shipping Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to Brooklyn was completed.

The Nets said they acquired the draft rights to Hollis-Jefferson and guard Steve Blake from Portland in exchange for center Mason Plumlee and the draft rights to guard/forward Pat Connaughton.

"We are very excited to add Rondae to our roster," Nets GM Billy King said. "He is the type of athletic wing we were looking for, and we felt he was the best defensive player in the draft."

We had a main story on the selections of Hollis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson, along with a seen-and-heard notebook if you missed it.

Johnson, meanwhile, is scheduled for an introductory news conference at Detroit at 11 a.m., which will be streamed live on pistons.com.

At a draft-night news conference in Detroit, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said his longtime relationship with UA coach Sean Miller convinced him of Johnson's makeup.

"His shooting will only get better, but what really sets him apart was his mentality," Van Gundy said. "This guy is a winner. He’s got incredible toughness and really gets after it on the defensive end of the floor. I said to somebody today, for our fans that go back to the Bad Boys era, this is their guy.

"This guy is physical, he’s tough and obviously wants to be the best player in the NBA; and he’ll work at it. ... Sean Miller, who I worked with years ago, is one of my closest friends so I know the intel we got on him is accurate. I think he’s the kind of player we wanted and more so he’s the kind of person we need here. We got the guy we wanted tonight.”

TJ will play in the NBA at some point next year. I think he sticks on that roster. Those bigs will be impressed at how he can get them the ball

Philly is still a smoking pit of suck with a few highly picked bigs. It's a decent landing spot for TJ. Even if they don't think he's good enough, 50/50 they keep him around as part of the tanking effort.

Philly as a smoking pit is at least a smoking pick by design. Sixers still not as miserable as the Phillies. Welcome back to your home state TJ.

I didn't think he had a chance before his senior season, but at this point I would be surprised if this kid isn't and 11-15 guy on an NBA roster and get some minutes when needed. I mean, Nick Johnson played 28 games this year, has only two inches on TJ, didn't even shoot 35 percent from the floor or 24 percent from 3. And this was on one of the best teams in the Western Conference. TJ obviously is the more pure point guard, better passer, better leader, has better court vision, and will make the other 4 guys on the floor better. You know TJ is going to get after it on defense. You know TJ is going to bust his a** and make coaches fall in love with him. I don't follow the NBA as closely as I used to and I certainly do not follow the 76ers, but it doesn't seem like their backcourt is super loaded anyhow.

And while some may think I am crazy drawing this comp here, think of Andre Miller. Almost same build as TJ. I think TJ is at worst as good of a shooter as Miller was as a college senior. Comp his shooting numbers at Arizona, as well as his shooting and scoring while in the A10, with Millers numbers in the WAC. Miller was never elite athletically. While Miller possessed some other tools that give him an advantage that TJ doesn't quite have, I don't think any of those tools are significantly more than what TJ has. Miller has virtually no range from outside and used his brains, guile and an adequate midrange game to score. TJ can play well off the pick and roll, has what I feel is a respectable midrange game and can shoot off the dribble. While I do not think TJ will have anything close to the career Andre Miller has, I do think Miller's career shows TJ can have a job in the league for a while.

I will be shocked if TJ isn't point for Philadelphia at some point this next season. He might not blow you away with scoring, but he does all the little things, and he can beautifully run an offense. He's definitely someone they can keep building with.