After the Indiana Pacers won their season opener in blowout fashion, the first thing head coach Rick Carlisle wanted to talk about was a player that didn’t get into the game until garbage time.
“I had one of the most difficult conversations that I’ve ever had to have with a player about the situation, the minutes, all of that stuff with T.J. [McConnell],” Carlisle stated at the start of his post-game press conference. “I was almost in tears talking to him about it. One of the reasons was that he was just so great. He was just him. He said, ‘Listen, I’m disappointed. I’ll be ready. I’ll be professional, you know that. I’ll do everything I can to set an example.’”
McConnell, now in his fifth season with the Pacers, has played at least 20 minutes per game in each of the last three years. Now, with the rotation currently set at 9 players, he’s relegated to garbage time at the moment after he looked as good as ever in the preseason averaging 8 points and 6 assists in just 16 minutes per game.
“This is one of the great competitors really in the history of this franchise,” continued Carlisle, who recently agreed to a contract extension with the team. “You know there’s 81 games to go. There’s certainly going to be opportunities for him to play but heading into this game the minutes plan didn’t shake out well for him. That was tough. … If you want to talk about the essence of NBA head coaching, it’s just a bunch of fucking hard decisions.”
The fast development of second-year point guard Andrew Nembhard, who put up 12 points and 10 assists in just 22 minutes in the win, combined with the addition of Bruce Brown is what forced this particular tough choice onto Carlisle. While Nembhard can play multiple positions, he’s deserving of the opportunity to run the offense with the second unit and one of his biggest fans is McConnell himself.
“He’s unbelievable as you saw on Wednesday,” McConnell said with a smile after practice on Friday, “When you have a guy like Tyrese who is as good as he is and then Drew coming off the bench, it’s pretty special. He’s been receptive to everything from the moment he got here. He’s always hungry for more knowledge, wants to get better, and is open to being coached by the coaches and the players. Anything I see I just try to help but he just plays way beyond his years. He doesn’t look like a second-year player. He plays at his own pace. It’s awesome and it’s even better with how good of a person he is.”
Teammates are big fans of Nembhard’s game and recognize the impact that McConnell has had on the guard.
“He’s a phenomenal point guard,” Jalen Smith said of Nembhard, “not many point guards have the strength that he has, are able to keep defenders on their toes and have the vision he has. Obviously, I credit a lot of that to T.J. He’s been helping him out a lot by being that big brother to him and by helping him see the game.”
By bringing up McConnell unprompted when asked about Nembhard, Smith showed he has a ton of respect for the veteran point guard but he also likes to give him a hard time. He told McConnell before training camp that he was going to get him a rocking chair as a present since he was the oldest player on the roster. It was a joke that the 31-year-old McConnell laughed off as “completely unnecessary.”
“Our point guard position is the absolute strength of our team right now. I don’t think anybody would deny that. The fact that T.J. McConnell is one of three is a big reason for it,” Carlisle said. “… He’s been a big Andrew Nembhard supporter. He’s been in his ear for the first year plus giving him little tidbits of advice to play the position better. Having T.J. here is a great luxury, it’s one that I don’t want to give up; I don’t think anybody in our organization wants to give up. I’m not sure his agent feels that way but day by day we just have to do what’s best for the team.”
No one is worried about McConnell staying ready for the moment when his number is eventually called. He’s highly-regarded by his teammates to the point he was the name most frequently given when the Pacers social media team asked each player which teammate’s jersey they would buy—video also features more ribbing from Stix.
“It was obviously a tough conversation as a competitor but I’m just here to do my job,” McConnell said of the talk with his coach. “Whatever he thinks is best for the team he’s got to do and I just have to stay ready. It’s disappointing for me but I’m not going to change who I am as a person because of it. I have to stay true to my character and I’m happy for every single guy on this team. I want them all to succeed. I’m not trying to do too much, just being myself.”
You could see McConnell throughout the opener being engaged and quickly hopping off the bench at timeouts and to celebrate big plays. When he did come into play with the game in hand, the home crowd gave him one of the loudest ovations of the night.
“I have a lot of love for these fans. I hope they know that,” McConnell said when asked about the moment. “It was pretty special to hear them do that. We have great fans here, great people.”
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