Philadelphia 76ers T.J. McConnell Nearly Had Triple Double

While the Philadelphia 76ers fan base continues to find reason to feed optimism, T.J. McConnell shows up in huge way against Detroit Pistons

Coming off a road win against the New Orleans Pelicans, there was little reason to feel optimistic. After all, the team traveled to face the Detroit Pistons. And more than that, the team scheduled to face the Pistons without center sensation Joel Embiid. Furthermore by game time, the team learned that their starting point guard Sergio Rodriguez would sit out. Rodriguez was out with flu like symptoms.

When the going gets tough, T.J. gets going.

Recently, McConnell was the odd man out. When Jerryd Bayless was healthy enough to play, McConnell’s playing time plummeted. Always averaging nearly at 20 minutes a game, he fell to an unheard of 11 minutes / game average.

Average players wilt under these conditions. But T.J. McConnell is anything but average. He has a basketball pedigree, and his presence as an unheralded point guard role player may have given the Philadelphia 76ers courage enough to select Ben Simmons in the 2016 NBA Draft.

While so much is made of the team’s new wave of rookies, few talk about all that latent potential in last year’s crop of youth. Jahlil Okafor and Jerami Grant (since traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder) were named to the 2016 USA Team Select. In similar fashion, Jahlil Okafor made the 2016 All-Star Rookie 1st team, while McConnell received votes to the same all star team. In fact, last year’s crop of rookie point guards was often led by McConnell on any number of statistics, despite being undrafted.

McConnell is a talented young man whose day never seems to arrive. He is a “mudder”, a term used to describe horses that run well in muddy conditions. The sloppier, the better. But it’s the marine-like mentality that has always stood out in head coach Brett Brown’s mind.

Coach Brown says T.J. McConnell will start in place of Sergio Rodriguez, and that Nik Stauskas will get some at point guard as well.

— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) December 11, 2016

Timothy John McConnell does not want the bar lowered. In fact, he seems to welcome competition, as he rises to meet the challenge. His short but storied NBA career has been the epitome of the “Eye of the Tiger“. Scrappy players perform their best when the chips seem down.

And so, it was a limping Philadelphia 76ers team that faced the better than .500 Detroit Pistons. When the smoke cleared, the 76ers had demolished the Pistons in Detroit, 97-79. In the game, T.J. had delivered 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists. Without any true point guard option, the Philadelphia 76ers delivered the ball to T.J. In turn, he delivered the game of the year.

Sometimes, loyalty must count for something. A young man who is working hard to make an NBA impact has succeeded in making that impact. That young man from Pennsylvania nearly had an NBA triple double, and he was undrafted.

But going forward, he needn’t be unheralded.