Philadelphia 76ers: What's McConnell's role when Fultz returns?

With Markelle Fultz’s return eminent for the Philadelphia 76ers, what will happen to T.J. McConnell’s playing time in the second half of the season?

T.J. McConnell‘s emergence as a legitimate player for the Philadelphia 76ers has to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2017 season so far.

After running the point in the starting lineup for over 50 games last season, McConnell has been relegated to the bench following the emergence of Ben Simmons as a viable point guard, and luckily for the team, the 6-foot-2 guard has blossomed in his new role.

Averaging a career-high seven points per game as the leader of the second unit, McConnell has become practically indispensable for Brett Brown over the last two months and has been averaging over 24 minutes of action a night both in relief of Simmons and alongside the former number one overall pick.

Over the team’s last two games, their Christmas day victory over the New York Knicks and their eventual loss to the Portland Trail Blazers McConnell was arguably one of the team’s standout stars, with the People’s Champion scoring in double digits in both games, while also shooting threes and stealing balls with reckless abandon.

In McConnell, Coach Brown has uncovered a complementary player who’s continued to hone his offensive game in his third year as a pro, shooting a totally unsustainable 48-percent from three-point range so far this season, while continuing to be one of the leagues stingiest pickpockets on the defensive end of the court. Additionally, the team has been able to deploy the former Arizona Wildcat against smaller point guards like, say Steph Curry or John Wall, who would be tough outs for Simmons to cover for an entire game.

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While it probably won’t happen, McConnell should receive at least some consideration for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, as he has been essential to the team’s recent success, and could become even more so down the stretch.

But what will happen to McConnell’s playing time when Markelle Fultz finally returns from injury?

On the surface, it would be incredibly foolish to simply hand over the keys to the second unit to Fultz and have McConnell become an afterthought, especially if the team really wants to make a play at the postseason, but it’s not that simple.

The team invested heavily in Fultz, giving up either the Lakers‘ unprotected first-round pick in 2018 or the Kings‘ unprotected 2019 first round pick, and will likely receive incredible pressure, and scrutiny if Fultz doesn’t live up to his draft spot. While losing the former Washington Huskie for the season would look bad, having him return to the court and under perform may actually be even worse.

The Sixers obviously believe that Fultz is a huge part of their future, and want him to fill out their version of the big three, alongside Joel Embiid and Simmons, but if he can’t live up to his potential it could spell disaster for the hopes of a future 76ers dynasty.

For better or for worse, Fultz has a much higher ceiling than McConnell, but right now it’s all potential. Finding a way to capitalize on this potential will be paramount to the team’s future success, and may actually come with a little help from McConnell himself.

Playing Fultz alongside McConnell at the shooting guard position, in place of the team’s new most hated player Jerryd Bayless (seriously just check Twitter) would give Fultz an opportunity to log some much needed minutes without the added pressure of being the primary ball handler, a role he likely wouldn’t be asked to fill when lined up beside Simmons anyway.

This move would also give the team incredible flexibility to shift their starting line up around to better fit each game’s matchups, having McConnell starting at point in certain games and shifting Simmons to power forward to alleviate the stress of covering star point guard like Damian Lillard or Kyrie Irving, and thus allowing Dario Saric to come off of the bench alongside Fultz to form a solid one-two punch.

Next: The Sixers still can’t finish against the undermanned Trail Blazers

Regardless of how the 76ers decide to ease Markelle Fultz back into the team’s rotation, it definitely shouldn’t come at the expense of T.J. McConnell’s, as he’s proven to be one of the team’s best young talents.

What’s T.J. McConnell’s role with the Sixers when Markelle Fultz returns?

By Matty Breisch | Dec 29, 2017

With Markelle Fultz’s return eminent for the Philadelphia 76ers, what will happen to T.J. McConnell’s playing time in the second half of the season?

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