A decade in the NBA later, former Sixer, current Pacer TJ McConnell just keeps going

Oh, and by the way, TJ McConnell was also back in town on Friday.

It was very next door on a night where Joel Embiid was knocked out of the Sixers-Pacers game after taking an accidental punch to the face. That this happened on Friday the 13th might seem significant, except for the fact that the Sixers haven’t had much luck on very many other days this season either.

Meanwhile, McConnell continues to live a charmed life. He is 10 years into a career that began when the Sixers brought him aboard as an undrafted free agent in 2015, at the heart of The Process. He finds it hard to believe that so much time has passed, while also understanding that the same approach that served him well is serving him well now that he’s become one of the NBA’s most prized backup points guards.

“It’s one of those things where (you) just imagine that you’re still the rookie that hasn’t made it and a guy that’s still fighting for everything,” he said. “That’s my way of thinking. Every game I’m out there scratching and scratching, itching for everything. And I haven’t lost that mindset.”

At age 32, he is in his sixth year with Indiana, after four in Philadelphia. The Pacers rewarded him with a four-year, $45 million contract extension in August, and while the team as a whole has struggled — Indiana remains just 11-15 despite Friday’s 121-107 win — he’s averaging 11.5 points per game. match of 57.4. percent shooting, both career highs.

Last Sunday, he put up 30 points, another career best, in a loss to Charlotte, and on Friday, he posted 11 points and four assists in 18:22. But as always, his value is best measured in the energy he generates, in the chaos he creates. That was the word his coach, Rick Carlisleused during discussion of McConnell – chaos. Especially remembered how dramatic his impact was when he was still with the Sixers.

“You’d come in here and you’d have 14 turnovers at halftime and be down eight or 10 points,” Carlisle said.

Mainly because of TJ, he claimed.

“The guy has had a great career so far,” Carlisle said. “It’s been 10 years. He’s got quite a few years left on his contract. Who knows how long he can keep this up?”

Indefinitely, it would appear. McConnell has been durable, playing 69 or more games in all but one of his first nine seasons, and he has clearly improved his offensive game. During his time with the Sixers, he averaged 6.4 points per game. game on 48.7 percent shooting. With the Pacers, he has increased that to 8.7 points a game on 54.3 percent shooting.

While he enjoyed a productive college career — first at Duquesne and later at Arizona, which will induct him into its Ring of Honor next Wednesday — he was not selected in the 2015 draft. And when he arrived at his first training camp in Philadelphia, there were five other point guards on the roster. He was only too happy to name them when asked on Friday.

“Pierre Jackson, Scottie Wilbekin, Kendall Marshall, Tony Wroten and… Ish (Smith)?” he asked. “No, Isaiah’s Canaan.”

Genuine. Three of those guys — Wroten, Marshall and Jackson — were injured early on, giving McConnell a longer look than he otherwise would have. He remembered that there wasn’t an a-ha moment, that there wasn’t a single instance where he thought things fell into place.

“It was definitely more gradual,” he said.

But one day coach Brett Brown called him into his office to tell him he’d made the team — “a surreal moment,” McConnell said.

While Canaan and later Smith, who was acquired midstream, saw most of the action at the time for a team that finished 10-72, McConnell averaged 6.1 points and 4.5 assists in just under 20 minutes a night. And of the 18 players to toil for that ragtag outfit, he’s one of three still in the league; the others are Jeremy Grant (Portland) and Richaun Holmes (Washington). (Two others – Smith and Christian Wood – played through last season.)

“I felt like I went out and earned what I’ve been given and just put my head down and (went) to work and let the chips fall,” McConnell said. “And sort of don’t regret it.”

He offered a special tip of the cap to former Sixers assistant Chris Babcock, who spent countless hours working with him. And while McConnell wasn’t sure what kind of reception he’d receive Friday night — there were a few boos when he entered the game, but they were offset by appreciative applause — he’ll always cherish his time in Philadelphia.

“I mean, this place gave me an opportunity,” he said, “so I’m forever grateful and the city embraced me. So I have a lot of love for this place. I have a lot of love for the fans. And it was four great years. I think we have achieved a lot.”

After Friday’s game, some teenage guys hung out in the stands overlooking the tunnel leading to the visitors’ locker room, talking trash about the Pacers as they passed. (They could very well have been the same knuckleheads who chastised the Orlando guard Jalen suggests about his bald spot after the Magic beat the Sixers last week. Suggs took two steps into the locker room and then jumped back out. “That’s a sign of wisdom,” cried Suggs.)

There was more high-level discourse on this occasion.

Children (to forward Pascal Siakam): “You’re a bum, Siakam!”

Siakam: “Your mother is a bum!”

But when McConnell passed away, the teenagers simply chanted his name. He responded with a thumbs up. (And yes, that was the finger he was flashing.)

As far as he’s concerned, things always seem to be looking up. And they have been for a solid decade now. That was even the case this Friday the 13th, something the home team would just as quickly forget.