Tag: T.J McConnell

T.J. McConnell feels bad for Sixers star Ben Simmons amid criticism

Former Philadelphia 76ers guard T.J. McConnell feels bad for Ben Simmons amid all of the criticism he has received lately.

Things have not been pretty for Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons since the team was eliminated by the Atlanta Hawks in Round 2 of the playoffs. Simmons wrapped up a disappointing postseason by scoring only five points on four shots in Game 7 at home and he has received a lot of criticism for that.

Since then, Simmons has been involved in tons of trade talks and scenarios as the outside world has been brutal for the 3-time All-Star since that final game. A lot of the criticism is valid considering the magnitude of the game as well as the fact that this is not the first time this has happened.

Former teammate, and now Indiana Pacers guard, T.J. McConnell hopped on “The Old Man and the Three” podcast with another former Sixer, JJ Redick, and he discussed the criticism Simmons has received since they were ousted in the playoffs:

I certainly think that if they were in a smaller market where they weren’t as passionate about their sports teams, I think his life would be differnt, but I completely agree with Doc (Rivers). After having a front row seat watching Ben, he defies gravity, physics, and all the above. Like you sit there and you’re like, ‘This guy’s incredible the way he’s able to see the floor’. Out in transition, in my personal opinion, he’s one of the hardest guys to stop in the entire league, and I personally think it’s unfair what’s happening to him. Does he need to shoot more? Sure, but he’s not, to me, the single handed reason that they lost and I really feel bad for him.

McConnell hopped on “The Bell Ringer” podcast with Sixers Wire in the past and he blasted the criticism that both Simmons and Joel Embiid has received during their time in Philadelphia. While McConnell has a point, at some point, Simmons just has to be able to show more aggression on the offensive end of the floor.

It will certainly be interesting what the Sixers will do this upcoming offseason with their star guard.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Sixers Playoff Rewind: T.J. McConnell saves the day against the Celtics

We wind the clocks back to 2018 when T.J. McConnell lifted the Philadelphia 76ers past the Boston Celtics.

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We continue our playoff rewind series by taking it back to 2018 when the Philadelphia 76ers were facing elimination. After letting one slip away in Game 3 at home, the Sixers were facing the possibility of a sweep at the hands of the Boston Celtics in Round 2.

Coach Brett Brown made an interesting lineup change inserting T.J. McConnell into the starting lineup and moving Robert Covington to the bench. It was a questionable decision, to say the least, as Covington was the team’s best perimeter defender at the time, but McConnell did serve a purpose as another ball-handler.

What the team did not expect was McConnell going off for 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting, eight rebounds, and five assists and making big plays down the stretch to lead Philadelphia to a 103-92 win in Game 4. The passionate Philadelphia fan base serenaded McConnell with chants of his own name as they let him know their appreciation of him.

The win was enough to keep Philadelphia’s season going, but they could not replicate the same success on the road. Despite big games from JJ Redick and Dario Saric, they dropped a tough one 114-112 and it put an end to a terrific season for them. It was their first playoff appearance since 2012 and it gave the franchise hope that they were moving in the right direction. [lawrence-related id=38879,38867,38863]

Brett Brown upset with unacceptable defense, toughness from Sixers

Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown is upset with his team’s lack of defense or toughness against the Indiana Pacers.

The Philadelphia 76ers are a team that is built on defense, speed, and length. However, the complete opposite happened on Saturday in their restart opener as they fell to the Indiana Pacers 127-121 and they allowed T.J. Warren to score a career-high 53 points.

Warren’s heroics aside, the Sixers allowed the Pacers to score a ridiculous 46 points in the fourth quarter and that was what did them in. It was troubling considering Indiana was missing All-Star Domantas Sabonis as well as former Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon. Warren scored 19 of those 46 for Indiana.

As the team got back to practice on Sunday, that is something that must be addressed.

“For me, you look at the defensive intensity coming out in the third period. I liked what I saw,” said coach Brett Brown. “I liked watching Ben Simmons sit in a stance and get stuck into T.J. Warren at times. I liked watching J-Rich (Josh Richardson) stalk the Holiday brothers around. Then you fast forward and you say ‘A 46 point closeout period?’ That’s not acceptable. You’re not going to do anything of value unless you fix that so that’s where my head is at. You’re going to come in today and speak the truth and hold these guys’ spirit together, but the toughness question is a simple answer for me.”

Just for reference, Warren scored 24 points and shot 9-for-10 from the floor when defended by Simmons. It was an overall disappointing effort for a guy who is a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

It was a game that showed that the Sixers need to get tougher as a team. They will not go deep into the playoffs or achieve their objective if they do not become mentally tougher and figure out their issues on a regular basis, then they won’t last long in the playoffs and that’s just the facts put plainly.

“The toughness aspect is and will always be, that is the thing that allows you to put a crown on some team,” Brown continued. “There’s no team that I’ve ever been around in 20 years of this league that you say ‘Wow that was a pretty team. They just outran, outscored, and out finessed everybody and they’re the champions’. I’ve never seen that once. In fact, it’s not even close.”

The toughness factor will affect two aspects for Philadelphia and that is their work on the defensive end and the number of turnovers they committed. Shake Milton, for example, had a rough night as he was bothered by the pressure put on by Aaron Holiday and T.J. McConnell and that is something that Brown would like to see fixed.

“There were seven of them that were like a moving screen, there was an offensive foul just driving to the basket, the turnovers that most upset me are like a sloppy pass or something like trying to get Shake the ball full court and T.J. mugs him,” Brown added. “The turnovers are probably eight of them that you just say ‘that’s not good enough’.”

Their next matchup is Monday against the San Antonio Spurs and that will give the team their next shot at figuring out their issues moving forward. [lawrence-related id=36010,35999,35982]

Sixers believe Pacers will be test for Shake Milton as new point guard

The Philadelphia 76ers are expecting a lot of pressure from the Indiana Pacers on Shake Milton.

The Philadelphia 76ers are implementing a brand new lineup as they get set to resume the season in Orlando and one of those moves includes moving second-year guard Shake Milton into the starting lineup as the point guard in place of Al Horford.

For the Sixers to achieve what they want to do on offense with Milton in the lineup and Ben Simmons at the power forward spot, he will need to understand that he must be better defensively and he has to handle the pressure that other teams will throw at him.

For example, in their second scrimmage game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, waves of defenders were thrown his way and he committed a couple of bad turnovers that will need to be cleaned up. Coach Brett Brown was happy that the Thunder did that as Milton will need some experience against that and the Indiana Pacers will probably do the same thing on Saturday.

“I think it’s as good as any test that you can find,” said Brown. “I feel that it’s just imminent. It’s not if, it’s going to be when, and you’d expect that if I’m guessing, straight out the gate, they’re going to jump him. You’re going to see defensive players play a lot of run-slide-run and slide-run-slide, full-court pressure, stuff that you would think you might see more in a college game than perhaps an NBA game, I’m anticipating.”

Indiana is a smaller team that is going to do their best to force Philadelphia into a ton of turnovers so they can get out in transition. They will send active defenders such as Malcolm Brogdon, Aaron Holiday, T.J. McConnell, and others. So this will be a nice test for Milton to see what it is going to be like for them moving forward.

“If I’m wrong, well then no harm, but it’s not anything that we feel we’re going to get surprised at,” Brown added. “How we handle that, I won’t go through now, but we’ve talked about it, we’ve practiced against it, and I think it’s going to extend to other teams, not just Indiana.”

The official tipoff for the NBA restart is at 7:00 p.m. EST for the Sixers on Saturday. [lawrence-related id=35884,35874,35865]

Matisse Thybulle’s latest vlog has T.J. McConnell, boat breaking down

Philadelphia 76ers rookie Matisse Thybulle continues to show off the team’s shenanigans inside the bubble in Orlando.

Philadelphia 76ers rookie Matisse Thybulle continues to capture everybody’s attention with his video vlogs that have taken the YouTube and social media world by storm. These videos have included a peek into life inside the bubble and everything that comes with being on an NBA team in the middle of a pandemic.

So far, he has posted two videos to his rapidly growing YouTube channel and he posted his third video on Thursday evening. This latest video includes a cameo from former Sixers and current Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, a peek inside the players lounge, Thybulle’s skills with the Rubik’s cube, and some fun out on the water with Tobias Harris and Kyle O’Quinn. The unfortunate thing is, O’Quinn was driving the boat and it broke down on them in the middle of the water.

The video ends with the rookie having to work out at practice in his street clothes because they forgot his practice uniform. Nonetheless, it was another entertaining vlog from the talented and lovable Sixers rookie out of Washington. [lawrence-related id=34791,34774,34767]

T.J. McConnell blasts criticism Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid receive

Former Philadelphia 76ers guard T.J. McConnell blasts the criticisms that Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid receive.

The Philadelphia 76ers have two of the top young stars in the NBA in the form of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. The two of them are top 15 players and are so talented, but yet they get criticized on a daily basis.

Embiid continues to hear criticisms about his weight and about whether he takes the game seriously despite averaging 23.4 points and 11.8 rebounds. Simmons continues to be dogged with questions about his jump shot despite constantly stuffing the box score night in and night out.

Former 76ers guard T.J. McConnell–now with the Indiana Pacers–joined Sixers Wire on The Bell Ringer Podcast to discuss the criticisms the two young stars receive.

“I look at it as when you’re a great talent, a great player, like those two are, you’re going to face criticism,” said McConnell. “People are going to nitpick your game, no matter what it is. Do I think it’s fair? Absolutely not.”

Fans and analysts alike like to tear down Simmons simply for not taking a jump shot. It is an important aspect of the game, especially in today’s era, but he does everything else so well that maybe the jump shot concerns are maybe overblown.

“Ben gets triple-doubles like easily. He’s an All-Star. One of the best point guards in the league,” McConnell continued. “He’s got to just kind of block out the noise and keep doing what he’s doing. I think it’s unfair. He’s a great player.”

McConnell did add that Simmons constantly works on the jump shot and the criticisms are a bit nitpicky:

He does everything at such an elite level and that’s what happens. People are going to nitpick the one thing that you struggle with and he works and works and works and that’s all you can really ask for. He is elite at just about everything else. He runs a team, gets people involved, he can defend, and there’s no such thing as a perfect player. He’s been great up to this point and he’s continuing to work. That’s all you can really ask for.

As far as Embiid is concerned, people want to tear him down and try to discredit what he can do on the basketball court, but McConnell shot that down as well.

“With Joel, I think he is the most dominant big in our game today and from inside and out,” he finished with. “Like I said, do I think the criticisms are fair? No, but it comes with the territory of being a great player.”

McConnell is not wrong in that sense. The great players do get criticized on a regular basis much more than the average player and that is something that the two of them will hear for the majority of their careers. As long as they continue to work hard and develop, then they should eventually bring a championship to Philadelphia. [lawrence-related id=31398,31389,31376]

Bell Ringer Pod: T.J. McConnell talks Jimmy Butler-Brett Brown feud

Former Philadelphia 76ers guard T.J. McConnell joins The Bell Ringer Podcast to discuss various topics.

The Bell Ringer Podcast returns on Friday with another episode of Philadelphia 76ers talk hosted by Ky Carlin and Cameron Fields. There is a lot to discuss with the season begin to take some serious steps toward returning in July after not operating since March 11 due to the novel coronavirus. Joining them is former Sixers guard and current Indiana Pacers point guard T.J. McConnell to discuss all things basketball.

McConnell discusses the differences between Philadelphia and Indiana, his point of view of the infamous meeting in Portland between Jimmy Butler and former coach Brett Brown as he clears the air on what really happened, the criticisms surrounding Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, and his thoughts when Kawhi Leonard’s shot went down in 2019.

After the talk with McConnell, Ky and Cam dive into his comments, what the Sixers can do in the playoffs, and of course, video games!

As always leave your thoughts with us on Twitter and we thank you for listening. We are now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify as well so make sure you check out past episodes! We will continue to add new episodes whenever we can and when basketball does eventually return, we will ramp up our efforts to bring you basketball content. [lawrence-related id=31398,31389,31376]

Ranking the top 5 games of The Process era for the Philadelphia 76ers

We are ranking the top five games during the Process era for the Philadelphia 76ers.

The current version of the Philadelphia 76ers is a legitimate title-contending team in the Eastern Conference. However, it was not too long ago when the team was in the depths of a very long “process” where they would intentionally lose games in order to get high draft picks.

In a way, it worked as they were able to grab All-Star talents like Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid as the foundation for which they build their team. They then unearthed some gems like Robert Covington and Dario Saric which netted them talent like Jimmy Butler and, later, Tobias Harris to put around Embiid and Simmons. Still, the Process years were a very painful time.

We are here to rank the top five games of the Process era. We are categorizing the Process as anything from the 2013-14 season and the 2016-17 season. Anything before and after that was not a part of those painful years. Let’s get into it!

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Mic’d up T.J. McConnell had some fun with Furkan Korkmaz, Sixers in win

Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell had some fun with his former Philadelphia 76ers teammates on Monday.

It’s always fun to see a former teammate, but when that former teammate is mic’d up, it can add to the hijinks on the floor.

That’s what happened on Monday night when former Philadelphia 76ers guard T.J. McConnell wore the mic for his new Indiana Pacers team and decided to have some fun with his former teammates and coach.

McConnell decided to go after Furkan Korkmaz’s green shoes suggesting he lost a bet and had to wear those shoes. He also called them terrible so the scrappy point guard did not approve of the shoe choice by Korkmaz.

He also went after coach Brett Brown after he was called for a technical foul and told Mike Scott that he wasn’t “about this” and he took a shot at his Washington Redskins for having a tough season. He finally went up to LSU alum Ben Simmons and told him that he was now a Clemson fan as the two schools met up in the national championship on Monday as well. LSU came away with the win and the hardware so Simmons would be able to get the last laugh there.

It was a fun night for McConnell who got to get some jabs in at his former teammates and his team came away with the win over the Sixers on Monday. He spent four seasons in Philadelphia before moving on to sign with the Pacers in the offseason. [lawrence-related id=23436,23428,23419]

Sixers welcome back T.J. McConnell with touching tribute video

The Philadelphia 76ers honor T.J. McConnell with a tribute video in his return to the city.

The Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of players return from “The Process” over the years. Players like Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and others have all made their return to the City of Brotherly Love where they made a name for themselves.

On Saturday, T.J. McConnell was the latest to make his return where he was a beloved figure in the city due to his intensity and toughness out on the floor. The guy embodied Philly toughness and Philly grit and he was the type of player who really earned the respect from the fan base the hard way.

So, it was only right that the Sixers organization honored him with a tribute video in his return with the Indiana Pacers.

McConnell played four seasons in Philadelphia and averaged 6.4 points and 4.7 assists mostly off the bench. The Sixers won 10 games in his rookie year, but he and the organization continued to grind and play hard in order for them to grow and it culminated in them being one shot away from the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019.

The Sixers have the early lead on the Pacers in the first quarter. [lawrence-related id=20306,20297,20289]