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Having large hands is a huge help for NBA players, as gripping the ball and controlling it becomes easier for those with bigger hands than those with smaller ones. As such, hand size is measured at the annual NBA Draft Combine, and guess what? Not …
Having large hands is a huge help for NBA players, as gripping the ball and controlling it becomes easier for those with bigger hands than those with smaller ones.
As such, hand size is measured at the annual NBA Draft Combine, and guess what? Not everyone measures in as impressively as Kawhi Leonard did when he was a prospect.
Below, check out the smallest hands ever measured at the NBA Draft Combine.
Former Philadelphia 76ers guard TJ McConnell helps the Indiana Pacers eliminate the New York Knicks.
While the Philadelphia 76ers have begun looking ahead to next season, the NBA playoffs are still going on. It’s time to take a look around the playoffs and check in on any former Sixers.
TJ McConnell, who spent the first four seasons of his career in Philadelphia, had an impact performance on Sunday for the Indiana Pacers in a 130-109 Game 7 win over the New York Knicks on the road.
He had 12 points, seven assists and two rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. He was a plus-21 in those minutes to help the Pacers advance to the Eastern Conference finals to take on the Boston Celtics.
TJ McConnell this series:
11.9 PPG
6.0 APG
51.3% FG
20.6 MPGThe 5th player in NBA history to average 10p/5a on 50% FG off the bench for a series. pic.twitter.com/NKZ4gjhpSg
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) May 19, 2024
McConnell and the Pacers now look to get the job done against the Celtics and advance to the NBA Finals. Game 1 of that series will be on Tuesday from the TD Garden. He has been a high-impact player in this series.
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Former Philadelphia 76ers guard TJ McConnell helps the Indiana Pacers blow out the New York Knicks in Game 4 of their series.
The Philadelphia 76ers were ousted from the NBA playoffs, leaving us time to check on the action from the teams still participating in the postseason.
The New York Knicks, who ousted the Sixers in first round in a tough six games, had a chance to go up 3-1 on the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, but they didn’t give themselves much of a chance.
The Pacers were up 23 in the first quarter and raced to a rather easy, 121-89, win over the Knicks in Game 4. The series is tied at 2 as it shifts back to New York.
Former Sixers guard TJ McConnell hopped off the bench and had 15 points and 10 assists. He knocked down two 3s as well and gave Indiana a big boost on both ends of the floor with his toughness and high basketball IQ.
TJ McConnell has 7 points in his first 3 minutes. pic.twitter.com/kqYf2RQ5vV
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) May 12, 2024
While McConnell and the Pacers are still alive, the Sixers are getting back to work to try to make a deep playoff run in the 2024-25 season.
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Indiana Pacers guard TJ McConnell saw greatness early from Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid.
PHILADELPHIA — When Joel Embiid took the floor for the Philadelphia 76ers to open the 2016-17 season, there was much anticipation for the big fella’s debut. The No. 3 pick in the 2014 NBA draft had missed the first two full seasons of his career due to injury, and everybody wanted to see him on the floor.
Embiid delivered on the hype. He scored 20 points and had seven rebounds in a close loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It wasn’t the result the Sixers wanted, but it was a night where it felt like the franchise had won.
Fast forward to the present day and Embiid is one of the top five players in the league after winning the MVP award in the 2022-23 season. He has led the league in scoring two seasons in a row and is continuously adding to his game.
“When he played his first game, I think it was my second year, you saw glimpses of greatness,” said former Sixers and current Indiana Pacers guard TJ McConnell. “He wasn’t really able to stay healthy that whole year, but everyone in the arena and the organization saw greatness. He just took it to another level.”
Embiid only played 31 games in his rookie season, but it was obvious he was going to be the one to lead the Sixers back into relevance and contention in the Eastern Conference. He continued to work on his body and continued to make sure he was in a good spot to lead Philadelphia to succeed.
McConnell got a front-row seat of it all before leaving for the Pacers in free agency in 2019.
“He really got serious about his body,” McConnell added. “About how he was in the gym. He has always been a great worker, but taking it to another level, and I mean, you guys see it. MVP-type, he could’ve been MVP two years ago as well. It’s amazing to see the jumps he’s made, too because from Day 1, you saw how great he can be.”
Embiid has a new star running mate, Tyrese Maxey, who has taken some immediate steps forward within the offense. McConnell has been impressed with Maxey taking the keys to the offense from James Harden and thriving.
“This league is really just about opportunity and timing,” McConnell explained. “I think the timing of James leaving and him getting the ball and the keys to the car with Joel and just being that starting point guard has really opened up stuff for him to unlock his full potential and he’s proving how valuable of a player he is.”
As long as Maxey can continue to take steps forward, the Sixers will be in a good spot in the East. Embiid and Maxey have meshed rather quickly and been able to grow their partnership.
“Everybody knew how great of a player he was, but at the end of the day, James was still here,” McConnell finished. “There was Joel, I mean Joel’s still here, but they have more of a two-man game where that was James and Joel last year.”
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Indiana Pacers guard TJ McConnell is thankful for the Philadelphia 76ers and he loves Tyrese Maxey.
PHILADELPHIA — In 2015, the Philadelphia 76ers brought in a scrappy guard out of Arizona and gave him a chance to play in the NBA. For four seasons, T.J. McConnell battled adversity and doubt as he chased an NBA dream. He overcame the challenges and has become a fixture in the league.
During his four years with the Sixers, McConnell averaged 6.4 points and 4.7 assists and he became a vital piece of their success. He even saved the Sixers in Game 4 of the 2018 playoffs against the Boston Celtics when he scored 19 points in a start. He joined the Indiana Pacers in the 2019 offseason.
As he made another return to Philadelphia on Wednesday night, McConnell was thankful for his time with the Sixers as they gave him his opportunity in the league.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here and talking to you guys without my opportunity playing here,” he said. “So I’m forever grateful for this place and its fans, the organization so it’s always a special, special moment when I come back and take it all in again.”
Tyrese Maxey, who was drafted after McConnell was gone, is continuing to climb the ladder toward being a perennial All-Star. As he continues to work his way back from injury, Maxey had 17 points, six assists and five rebounds in the win over the Pacers.
“He’s really good,” McConnell said of Maxey. “That’s all I can really say. He’s come here and has performed at a high level since he’s gotten here, and they got a really good one in him.”
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Former Philadelphia 76ers guard TJ McConnell is upset that the Joel Embiid-Ben Simmons duo didn’t work out.
PHILADELPHIA — For four seasons, the Philadelphia 76ers built their team around Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. The Sixers were hoping to build the team around those two as the fulcrum of “The Process.”
Embiid was the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NBA draft while Simmons was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA draft. The two had regular-season success, but they were unable to go deep into the playoffs. They kept losing in the second round.
Simmons asked for a trade before the 2021-22 season, and he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets for James Harden at the ensuing trade deadline. The trade ended the Embiid-Simmons era, which brings up numerous what if questions.
T.J. McConnell, who was a big part of Philadelphia’s playoff teams in 2018 and 2019, spent his first four seasons with the Sixers. He was upset to see the Embiid-Simmons duo end the way it did.
“Yeah, I mean, kind of building this thing from ground zero and having Joel here when I got here they drafted him and then Ben, the whole process,” McConnell said. “I kind of just wanted to see that that thing come full circle and the fact that it didn’t, that’s life in sports, but, yeah, it was disappointing for sure, but they’re both great guys.”
Obviously, the Embiid and Simmons duo is done and over with, but the what ifs will follow the two for the rest of their respective careers.
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Here is a list of all 30 players who have worn the No. 12 uniform in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers.
It’s summertime in the NBA, so it’s time to learn some history. The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the older franchises in the NBA. Their history dates to the 1949-50 season.
With that longevity, the team has had hundreds of players come through the City of Brotherly Love. Sixers Wire looks at the No. 13, which has been worn by 30 of those players in the history of the franchise.
This running series will go through all of the uniform numbers worn in franchise history. The previous edition of this series was a list compiling the five players who have worn the No. 13.
Here is the list of the 30 who have worn No. 12 in Sixers history:
Turner is one of the most credible stretch bigs in the NBA. As someone who is far more likely to pop than roll after picking for his ball-handler, maybe the only better fit next to Simmons is Karl-Anthony Towns.
The NBA is quiet right now, so it’s the perfect time to get creative. Over at Bleacher Report, that creative process manifests in mock trades. One new mock trade has the Brooklyn Nets acquiring Myles Turner from the Indiana Pacers.
The deeper that we get into the regular season, the more indications we get about what the free agency market will look like this offseason.
The deeper that we get into the regular season, the more indications we get about what the free agency market will look like this offseason.
Of course, executives around the league always have tough decisions to make about who they plan to re-sign as well as who they plan to pursue or let walk during free agency. But as the season progresses, it becomes a bit easier to evaluate who would be a good fit for their franchise and who might not be.
As part of our ongoing series at HoopsHype, we are looking at whose free agency stock has gone up – and down – over the last several games.
Note: All statistics are accurate as of games before April 16, 2021.
Some still think the Brooklyn Nets need to make a move for a third star.
Even though Kevin Durant thinks the era of the Big 3 is over, some feel the Brooklyn Nets will still try to add a third star this offseason.
Spencer Dinwiddie — who had an All-Star worthy 2019-20 campaign — would argue the Nets already have a third star in Caris LeVert, who was named NBA All-Seeding Games Second Team.
Well, Greg Schwartz of Bleacher Report feels the Nets “should probably begin the season with LeVert and Dinwiddie,” but he also recognizes “going on a star search now may be too tempting to pass up” — which could rob both guards of taking part in the Durant-Kyrie Irving-Steve Nash era in Brooklyn.
Schwartz has the Nets trading Dinwiddie, LeVert and both of their 2020 picks (No. 19 and 55) to Indiana for star guard Victor Oladipo, along with fellow Pacers guard T.J. McConnell:
Oladipo would fit nicely between the two All-Stars, a two-way shooting guard capable of playing on or off the ball. … [He] would get a tremendous number of open looks with defenses focusing on Durant. If Irving or Durant were to miss time due to injury, the 28-year-old would be perfectly capable of carrying an offense at times, as well.
Oladipo is a great player. He makes a significant impact on both ends of the floor.
If not for his injury early in 2019, the Pacers might’ve had a deeper postseason run last year and in the Disney bubble.
Any team would be lucky to add Oladipo at full strength.
But, Durant and Irving are going to have a say in any move made. If Durant truly thinks the era of the Big 3 is at an end — and he likes LeVert as much as he says — then there’s no way Brooklyn makes this move.
Also, as much as Oladipo could be an improvement from LeVert if his injury is no longer an issue, Dinwiddie to McConnell is a step backward. Even in a smaller role, Dinwiddie is among the best backup point guards in the league — and someone who can help close games.
