Why is T.J. McConnell so darn clutch?

With 11.2 seconds left, the Philadelphia 76ers trailed by one in what amounts to an extremely inconsequential basketball contest against the Orlando Magic. C.J. Watson guarded T.J. McConnell, who brought the ball up the court, jabbed right, crossed over left and pounded all the way to the to the paint before stopping, popping and unloading the go-ahead basket. Game over. 76ers win.

The 76ers don’t have many wins–just 19 all season–but McConnell game-winners are responsible for two of them. That was good enough for Joel Embiid to call him “the clutchest player in NBA history.”

McConnell probably–okay, definitely–doesn’t get the chance to hit a game-winner if he was on any other team. Even on the league-worst Nets, that’s probably Jeremy Lin’s job. Or Sean Kilpatrick’s. But on the 76ers, McConnell gets the ball in the waning seconds.

What’s amazing about this is that if you saw McConnell on the street, you wouldn’t think he was a basketball player. A straight-out-of-high-school auto-mechanic, sure, but not an employed hoops getter of the National Basketball Association.

McConnell doesn’t have great athleticism or even an average shot. He doesn’t really do anything well at all. He’s the generic create-a-player you start out with on NBA2K. By all statistics and measurements, he shouldn’t be in the league.

However, there’s a reason he is, even if he went undrafted. DraftExpress had this to say about the former Arizona guard:

"At 6’1.5” with a below average 6’0” wingspan, McConnell will be undersized relative to other NBA point guards. None of his physical tools leap off the page, as he isn’t exceptionally fast with the ball or explosive off the dribble. He does have a solid frame for his size and doesn’t get pushed around, as he has great toughness to go along with his excellent strength. Since he doesn’t have great athletic tools, he will need to find other ways to impact the game."

The only positive from this paragraph is that McConnell has toughness. You know, that thing that steaks from Walmart have.

So how do we understand why McConnell is the league and, more importantly, how he’s hit two game-winners and is on Embiid’s Mount Rushmore of clutch players? Let’s go to the chart:

As you can see, McConnell lacks in the so-called “measurable” attributes that “matter.” But he doesn’t care for your advanced stats like “shooting” and “height.” McConnell is old school. A player of the old guard. Someone Charles Oakley would be proud of. Someone Charles Oakley might bring along next time he goes at James Dolan at The Garden. McConnell is like Chris Paul, in that he plays point guard. He’s like Michael Jordan, in that he’s hit multiple game-winning shots. That’s esteemed company.

When McConnell was asked about Embiid’s compliment, he said “I don’t know. This is my second so-called game winner in how many years of playing basketball so I can’t be that clutch. I heard Joel [Embiid] had different words to say. I’ll let him be the judge.”

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Shoot, I forgot to include “humble” and “gamer” in the chart. The legend of McConnell keeps growing.