At this point, T.J. McConnell has officially carved out his niche in the NBA. The undrafted free agent who came into training camp two seasons ago as a longshot to make the roster is now playing a shade under 25 minutes per game for a Sixers team currently on track to make the playoffs.
He’s also a popular player in the Sixers’ locker room. Like we did with Dario Saric a few months ago, we caught up with McConnell to ask him questions on a whole bunch of topics. The conversation has been edited for length.
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The Athletic: Let’s get to the important stuff first. Who was it that poured the chocolate milk on you?
T.J. McConnell: Trevor Booker. And I got him back, don’t worry.
Great win tonight pic.twitter.com/QLIfW8vJ7L
— Robert Covington (@Holla_At_Rob33) February 13, 2018
How so?
When we played Miami, I got a milkshake and threw it on him. I told him I’d get even.
You seemed none too pleased about it.
No, it was all fun. It was just crazy, it was all water and then you get a taste of chocolate milk. You just don’t know what happens after that.
All right, what did you do over the All-Star break?
I went to Pittsburgh. Spent time with my family, my wife’s family, some friends, got some workouts in, and came back. Nothing crazy.
There was a good story a few years ago when after a game you went to a bar and it was free admission for everyone with a ticket stub. You obviously didn’t have a ticket stub because you play for the team, except they didn’t believe you. I assume that was Xfinity Live.
Yup.
Has that changed at all? Walking around the city now, do you get noticed more?
Yeah, I definitely think I get noticed more. But it was just a funny situation with the ticket stub — me and my friends just laugh about it today. Walking around the city, it’s nothing crazy getting noticed but there are people that know me when I walk around so it’s a pretty cool feeling.
You’ve been here for three years now. What is a difference between Philly and Pittsburgh?
Philly is definitely bigger. There’s more to do in the city of Philadelphia, but Pittsburgh is my home and always near and dear to my heart.
Let’s get a real basketball question in. You’re 13-21 from corner three this season. How much of an emphasis did you put on that shot?
Me and [assistant coach] Chris Babcock have just came in and worked relentlessly over the summer and we’re still working relentlessly now. It’s been something I knew I was going to have to get a lot better at knowing that I’m probably going to have to play off the ball more with Ben. And that’s all right, he’s a special talent and I got to do whatever it takes to just play and help this team. And that was a big thing for me.
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In the offseason, what does a regular workout look like?
Coming in, getting as many jump shots as I can up from midrange and three, lift, shoot some more, and then go home.
Were you trying to speed up your shot? I know J.J. [Redick] was having a little bit of fun with you about that last week.
I was just trying to get the same rep every time. I’m going to worry about different shots. Like, we’re worrying about the speed right now, trying to get it quicker and quicker. And this summer I’ll obviously focus in more on that. … Just working on everything with my shot is pretty much what I’m trying to do.
There is one really small thing that I think you do better than anyone in the NBA. Do you have any idea what that is?
No.
It’s when the Sixers score a basket and you either hang out behind the three-point line or even hide behind a player and then sneak in for a steal on the inbounds pass when the guy doesn’t realize you’re there. How long have you been perfecting that?
It’s just kind of a feel thing, you know? You see a guy kind of not paying attention throwing the ball in and I just step in and jump in front of it and get a steal. And it’s big momentum for us, which is what I’m trying to do, just change the game when I do it. And I’m going to continue to do it as long as it’s working.
Well, it is working. I bet you get 10 or 15 of those a year at least.
Yeah, so I’m going to continue to do it for sure.
Brett said on Christmas that he coaches you harder than any player. Obviously you guys are good, but you can yell at each other in the heat of the moment. Are there any memorable times when you guys got heated?
It was the Christmas Day game [in New York]. Something happened, and we’re both competitors. We both lost our cool, and two seconds later we were fine. We’ll say [stuff] and then “Sorry, love ya,” and then that’s it. That’s pretty much the extent of it. He just coaches me like my dad coached me. I’m a competitor and lose my cool here and there just like everyone else does. And it’s a relationship that’s great. We can be competitors and then two seconds later take a step back and say, “You were right, you were right, love ya” and it’s over with.
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Do you think that coaching style gets the best out of you?
That’s how everyone has coached me my whole life.
So you don’t know anything different?
No, I don’t know anything different. It started with my dad and onto college at Arizona and here, everyone has coached me the same.
What does the idea of culture mean to you? Two years ago, you guys lose 72 games and that’s all anybody can talk about. And now that you’re winning, I feel like it doesn’t get mentioned much.
For me, culture is how hard we work every day, what kind of people we have here which are great people, and the way we play. And I think that’s all been instilled by Coach Brown just by how good of a person he is, and our staff has great people, and our players are great people. We all come in and work hard every day and we play hard. What else can you ask for?
You have some older players on the team now. Do you not think the culture was a problem a few years ago?
No, it wasn’t. I honestly just think obviously we didn’t have talented-enough players to win games. Everyone still wanted to come in and work hard every day. Even though we won 10 games, it was still fun to be around the guys and play for Coach Brown. And I think everybody will agree with that.
Can I bring up the Aaron Rodgers story you were talking about a while ago in the locker room? I believe it was an Elite Eight game against Wisconsin, he was talking some trash.
He wasn’t really talking trash, but I just saw him cheering really loud for a school he didn’t really have any affiliation with. I know he plays for the Packers and is in Wisconsin, but not really any affiliation with the university. So it kind of caught me off guard, and I was pretty pissed about it.
Speaking of football, was it easy to root for the Eagles in the Super Bowl? I imagine being a Pittsburgh sports fan …
As a Pittsburgh fan, if New England is in the Super Bowl, it’s anyone but them to win. So I was rooting for the Eagles really hard.
Last one. I kind of sensed this on the podcast with J.J., but do you ever get tired of people calling you “gritty”?
No, I feel like as long as I play hard, people will call me gritty. It’s not a bad compliment to have, but it is what it is.
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I mean, you do play hard but you’re obviously …
Good enough.
Yeah. You’re the first player off the bench for a team that’s currently in the playoffs.
I mean, it’s cool that people like to call me gritty. But in the back of my mind, I think I’ve worked hard to get where I’m at and just got to continue what I’m doing.
Top photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images