T.J. McConnell
Indiana Pacers

Player Facts

Height: 6'1"
Weight: 190lbs.

Wingspan: 6'2"

Date of Birth: Mar. 25, 1992
College Experience: Duquesne (2 years), Arizona (3 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 7
Physical Strength: 5
Positional Size: 5
Positional Wingspan: 3
Paint Scoring: 7
Midrange Scoring: 7
Three-Point Scoring: 2
Dribbling: 8
Passing: 8
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 5
Rebounding: 5

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Distinctive Guard

> Sinking Short-Range Jumpers

> Playmaking Package

> Backcourt Steals Collector

> Pressuring Half-Court D

> Screen Navigation

> Charge-Taking + Rebounding

> Physical Limitations

> Poor 3pt Shooter

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of NF Highlights, Smart Highlights & Z.Highlights (YouTube)

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

T.J. is a hard-nosed, cerebral guard at 6-foot-1. He's excelled in a unique way compared to other guards. McConnell has a particular penchant for back-court steals and offers intense ball-pressuring disruptiveness in general.

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Distinctive Guard

The unconventional positive contributor begins with an interesting offensive profile. While not an elite athlete, he does have great balance and the ability to decelerate well. He's steady with what he does as a smart lead guard. He brought a gleaming 4.52 AST/TO ratio to the table in 2021-2022.

Sinking Short-Range Jumpers

The Pittsburgh native doesn't have a fancy dribbling package, but it's not lacking in functionality. His crossovers and behind-the-backs are tight enough to beat players on a consistent basis. T.J.'s real ball skills come into play as he spins into one of his short jump shots.

His paint scoring value skyrockets when you bake in those short-range jumpers. Not to be overlooked though, he is more than fine right at the rim, albeit he isn't the highest volume guy there. He earns some rim shots via timely basket cuts.

McConnell gets to that trademark ten-footer in a few different ways. For one, he will use a ball screen often courtesy of Myles Turner or (in the past) Domantas Sabonis to attack. Alternatively, he will cut into that area off-ball or arrive there on a broken play.

T.J. is an expert at that short-range pull-up and loves vaulting up for it along the baseline. It serves as his most potent means of scoring the rock. He squares himself up in mid-air, more than willing to use the glass depending on his angle.

Between these short jumpers and some floaters/runners, T.J. made 66 non-restricted area paint shots in 2019-2020. That bested Joel Embiid, Russell Westbrook, Brandon Ingram, and even the push-shot king Richaun Holmes. More importantly, his 57.9% efficiency in this zone is extremely impressive.

Playmaking Package

Due to his size, he's not a prolific lob-thrower in pick-and-roll sets. This doesn't stop him from being a deft pocket passer though. The Arizona product has both great timing and accuracy on these narrow-window dimes.

He cultivates great synergy with seemingly all of his roll men. McConnell has a high level of awareness on the floor, rapidly processing the positions of both teammates and opponents. He manipulates very well and is just a talented on-ball passer on the whole.

He'll garner the attention of multiple defenders before setting up his big man. T.J. will even "Nash Dribble" along the baseline before circling back out to size up a passing angle.

T.J. can also make all the other reads you expect in a point guard. He keeps his eyes open to cutters away from the play. McConnell found guys like T.J. Warren, Caris LeVert, and Malcolm Brogdon this way.

With the Pacers, McConnell notched a 9.6 assists per-36 season in 2019-2020 then a 9.1 one in 2020-2021. He totaled 925 points generated for his teammates in the former year. The team-first T.J. edged out guys like De'Aaron Fox, Donovan Mitchell, D'Angelo Russell, and Jamal Murray here despite playing far fewer minutes (2019-2020).

He also takes care of the ball commendably at the one-guard spot. The 6'1" guard is an intuitive playmaker and rarely goes for the "homerun play". His AST/TO ratios tend to be pristine, posting an incredible 3.38 figure in 2020-2021.

Backcourt Steals Collector

On defense, McConnell carries his grittiness over and makes routine things more difficult for his assignments. He pesters ball-handlers, denies like crazy, plays with his feet first, and pursues fervently when beat. Nearly all of the advanced all-encompassing metrics paint T.J. as a high-end perimeter defender.

Whether he gets 15 minutes or 35, McConnell never takes a possession off on defense. He often picks up full court, pressuring his opponent and making them expend that much more energy to bring it up. This is where he collects his back-court steals, a skill he is probably the best in the league at.

The undrafted guard will also simply hang back to give himself a shot at the backcourt pluck. He starts by baiting in-bounders by pretending he's going to trot back up-court. What ends up happening is he'll pounce towards the ball after they often nonchalantly toss it in to their guard.

Pressuring Half-Court D

Getting into the half-court, T.J. remains an elite and energetic defensive playmaker with superb anticipation and reaction time.

Per-36, he is a perennial mainstay in the upper portion of the steals/deflections leaderboards. From 2016-2017 to 2020-2021, he never dipped below 3.4 deflections per-36.

The turnover-forcing fiend can speedily lay it in on the other end. Conversely, he's a skillful transition facilitator for his running mates. McConnell can without a doubt be your point guard when playing an up-tempo style.

Screen Navigation

Screen-circumventing is also a plus for the hustling guard. Even when hit squarely, he fights to get back in the play. The 79th percentile was where he finished with his defense on P-N-R initiators in 2019-2020.

Charge-Taking + Rebounding

T.J. does about as well as he can do given his size on the defensive backline. If there's middle penetration, he's willing to leave his man and step in. His 5 charges taken in backup PG minutes is a nice little value-add (2019-2020).

The gap-filling McConnell also rebounds the basketball well at his size. His per-36 rebounding rates have been strong since he entered the league out of college. Both 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 had him at a rock-solid 5.1 boards per-36 minutes.

WEAKNESSES

Physical Limitations

Size and athletic limitations hamstring McConnell in certain unavoidable ways. For one, his defensive counterparts cannot be a bigger guard or wing player. T.J. will get up into their jersey still, but they can overpower him and/or shoot over top.

In each season from 2017-2018 to 2020-2021, McConnell spent at least 76% of his time on opposing guards. Against forwards, he did not fare well. Generally speaking, his man defense can pale in comparison to his actual stealing capabilities.

This lack of positional versatility on D is through no fault of T.J.'s, it's simply the reality that comes with his measurables. Besides non-elite speed, lateral quicks, strength, or bounce, he's small at 6'1" with short arms (6'2" wingspan).

On offense, the athletic-based problems persist. He's not the kind of guard that puts true downhill pressure on the defense. When T.J. gets the angle to attack, he's likely stopping shy of the rim for a patented close jumper. This is partly by choice, but also out of necessity.

Parsing his shot-type splits illustrates quite a bit. In 2019-2020 he made 89 layups compared to 195 other field goals. It must be kept in mind that he's a low-volume perimeter shooter, so he ends up taking many traditionally less efficient shots that are not layups.

Poor 3pt Shooter

One pitfall that is unrelated to his stature is the three-point shooting. He's in a minuscule group of guards who are essentially total non-shooters. The difference is, a Ben Simmons brings plenty of other elite things to the table.

McConnell is abysmal as a pull-up shooter from downtown. This means that opposing teams constantly go under and clog up the lanes. Moreover, he's not a spot-up weapon either which dampens his impact away from the ball.

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T.J. spent two college years as a Duquesne Duke, then red-shirted 2012-2013 at the University of Arizona prior to playing another pair of seasons there