TJ McConnell is the Sixers best player, it's true. Sure, we are the world's biggest Embiid and Simmons fans, probably the best two guys drafted in the last 5 drafts, in the conversation with Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony. But these guys are younger larger talents who haven't quite figured out how to be efficient at the NBA level yet and yet are still fantastic NBA players in their rookie seasons (Embiid has still prolly played less minutes in 4 years of being a 76ers than Towns played in his rookie season-- so sorry JoJo but you a rook and that's a complement). Embiid has barely played the game of basketball (he's probably STILL got more hours on a soccer field than a bball court) compared to all his peers and likely needs to spend the entire offseason with Charles Barkley learning how to big-boy dribble. Simmons is greatness in raw form, just an unbelievable player for the modern game, a jumpshot away from being the GOAT. But right now, in 2018, all things being equal, TJ McConnell plays perfect WINNING basketball right down the the second, everytime he's on the court, and it shows every time his moronic organization gives him minutes-- it shows in the win column. Let's go thru the Sixers since the Eagles won the Super Bowl.
Using Eagles as inspiration, the Sixers decided for 7.75 games to look like the best team in the East....
Here's all the games since the all-star break, including the Sixers 7-game win streak, listing the minutes played by TJ McConnell as well as the score differential:
Wash, won by 13: 24 min
Pelicans, won by 18: 24 min
Clippers, won by 14: 26 min, 17 pts, 8 assists
Knicks, won by 16: 37 minutes, triple-double
You'd think maybe that game would be pretty obvious that playing McConnell > 30 minutes is a GOOD thing, but no.
Miami, won by 2: 20 minutes, McConnell demoted for being too good, Sixers NEARLY lose the game.
@Bulls, won by 1: 24 minutes
Magic, won by 11: 31 minutes, more proof, do the Sixers mgt draw the corellation yet?
nope. McConnell demoted again for increasing win-differential too much. 7-game win streak ends when dolty Brett Bwown keeps TJ on the bench, 21 minutes.
@Wash, LOSS by 15: 21 min. Somehow some guy named Marco Bellineli is getting 27 min per game even tho he should have been kicked out of the NBA like 3 years ago. He was on a roster this year bc the team was tanking, so Colangelo being the genius he is snapped him up as soon as he was on waivers and is now giving him starter's minutes.
@Heat, LOSS by 1: 24 min, when grand wizard Bwett Bwown takes him out with 7:59 left in 4th, the Sixers were leading 86-79. Yeah, 1 point loss, Dwayne Wade just ate up his defender. Belinelli stayed in tho until 4:57 and the lead was gone.
@Cleve, won by 11: 19 min (Belinelli 23). Don't get excited, Cleve still trying to figure out whole roster change at this point, started Cedi Osman, Rodney Hood, and Tristan Thompson who've never played together.
Charlotte, won by 11: 21 min. Charlotte's an absolute mess, they just lost to hapless Brooklyn last night and it wasn't close. No idea what's going wrong in THAT organization.
@Milwaukee, LOSS by 8: 22 min. A real team, another loss, Belinelli 24 min.
@Hornets, WIN by 14: 24 min. Prolly bc Hornets stink, they give TJ some extra minutes and voila his extra 3 minutes results in a 6 point gambler's differential (accounting for home win by 11 vs away win by 14 is actually a 6 point differential on nuetral court) vs last Hornets game.
OBVIOUSLY the Suxers mgt is asleep at the wheel again, Bwett Bwown plays TJ 20 minutes in the next game, and voila!
another loss, this time to the Heat, by decisive 9 points. Belinelli somehow gets 30 minutes at -12 plus minus, we guess bc Bwown once again traded defense and good overall play for Belinelli'e "sexy" 3-7 3pt shooting?
Did we mention the brilliant Colangelo traded Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, a draft pick, and Trevor Booker for Ersan Ilyasova? Don't forget he traded Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic (or insert your OWN #2 draft pick in 2018) to the Celtics for Markelle Fultz?
Because Philly is born and bred for confirmation bias, expect the Sixers to somehow get into the playoffs and probably even win a series or two. The Sports God is a wierd dude, he loves to sometimes reward bad behavior, or maybe it's just the LAST GUY set this team up so well, even with the sports world's worst GM they're still able to win? You Decide.
As an avid sixers fan, I do love TJ. The guy hustles his a$$ off and does everything he can to get a W for his team. My only defense of Brett Brown and his ridiculous accent (his interviews are brutal) is he obviously has an idea in his head of how he wants their system to work.
TJ and Bellinelli are completely different players. One runs a true point, can dart to the basket, plays good defense, and for the most part is a poor shooter (last 10 games = 38% from the field). The other is a perimeter guy who will help you spread the floor and make 3s (although looking at his shooting percentage, he isn't all that great). This does makes sense since whenever Ben Simmons is on the floor you have someone who can drive the lane out there and need as many guys on the wing as possible.
The only other real defense of Bellinelli is size. The guy has 3 inches and definite wingspan to hang with some of these freak NBA players, whereas TJ is more of a bump and grind defender but you can shoot over him.
..... even after all of this I still love TJ and think he is a great energy guy off the bench. Hopefully Brown can figure it out.
JCP, love the comments, thanks.
Yep, we'll spot you Brown "has a plan", and we'll raise you that Brown was pretty decent at development (TJ prolly didn't need any, but Covington and Noel advanced nicely under Brown) so long as you weren't a 99 percentile traditional center (eh hem OK4); BUT we also haven't even mentioned Brown's "Oh-fur" in last-play playcalling, it's almost comical how badly his "final shot" plays have become, like a parody of a good coach.
Also hear you on the 3 pointer spread, but Since Ersan and Belinelli (vs Booker, Amir, Richuan and TJ) were signed the Sixers have been awful. So it makes sense if your shooter is also playing defense Covington-style, but getting Ersan/Redick/Belinelli defense along with your shooter is only good if your shooter is elite like Redick (and for the money, we'd take Stauskas' cheap contract and upside vs Redick's $25mm and not going-to-get-any-better status). Even Carmelo's superior shot can't overcome what an absolute load of crap he's always been on the defensive end.
TJ might not have the height, but you can bet he's disrupting those shots with swipes and deflections and general pest-ness. Remember the biathlon, if you're being forced to run around with high heart rate, your shooting goes downhill fast.
Back to Stauskas, sure he was slow developing, probably bc he's a immature personality, but he WAS improving on both sides, and Brown actually managed to get him to care about defense enough that his offense was awful. Brown actually did this with Covington too, and now look at Covington after he finally got a real offense around him. Stauskas was probably the right guy to give one more half-year of reserve sG status, and if not satisfied we're sure the Sixers could've found something about the same as Redick and for cheaper at the deadline. Christ, it's not like Colangeloser doesn't know how to overpay for stuff!!
So we aren't terribly anti-Brett as this article would seem, we're more anti-philly-owner. Brett isn't the best, and it's true the accent drives stakes thru our brains, but he's the least of the evils which is the Sixers pathetic organization. It starts at the top, and Joshie is a born loser who's probably going to luck-himself into a Finals appearance despite being a total bozo. That's what really hurts. The ghost of Sam Hinkie 2 years removed is still on par with the Ainge's of the world, and that's saying something as the team slowly deteriorates from the dynastic power it COULD have been had Joshie grew a set. for Brown, sure, we'll spot him the playoff appearance and see what he can do, accent and all. If he can outperform expectations, sure, give him another year. But we'd have him on a much shorter timer than the love-affair which is taking place in Philly with the guy.
In depth analysis. Love it. Would be happy to have Stauskas back, agreed there as well. Regardless, Sixers are a fun squad to watch even if they can be annoying / aggravating at times!
Imagine if the 76ers had even come remotely close to hitting on there pick. Totally pathetic. The reality is they drafted Fultz to replace T.J.
If Fultz didn't have that shoulder injury, T.J would be getting less than 10 minutes a game. It wouldn't matter how awful Fultz was playing, because are they really going to give minutes to T.J over there #1 pick?
Very true. also speaks volumes about how important the draft# is vs reality.