T.J. McConnell has been through a lot in his four seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. He went undrafted, endured a 10-72 season as a rookie, and then played out The Process until the Sixers suddenly became relevant last year. And according to what he wrote in the Players' Tribune, he has some thoughts on when, exactly, The Process ended.
When we traded for Jimmy (Butler), a lot of experts went out of their way to say The Process was over. And that’s cool of them, I guess.
But they were six months late.
The Process ended last season, in the locker room, after our elimination game against Boston.
Not a lot of people realized it — because the perception after that game, and after that series, was that we’d done ourselves proud. We’d won a playoff series against a good Miami team, and then we’d given the Celtics, one of the best teams in the league, a competitive run for five games. Nice little result for a group that was losing by 51 to the Spurs only two years ago, right??
Wrong. No way, man. F*ck that. We were DISGUSTED with ourselves after that Boston series ended. Disgusted. There was no locker room speech, no comforting words, no we can build on this vibes. The media wanted that from us, I think, but I’m telling you — that just wasn’t how we felt, on our end … And that’s how I knew The Process was over.
The 76ers were just 25-25 through 50 games played in 2017-18, but they finished the year 27-5 and on a 16-game winning streak. They beat the Miami Heat in five games in the first round of the playoffs, with guard J.J. Redick leading the way. The sharp-shooting veteran averaged 20 points per game while point guard Ben Simmons averaged 18.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per game.
Against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, however, it was center Joel Embiid taking center stage. Although the Sixers lost the series, 4-1, Embiid averaged 23.0 points and 14.0 rebounds per game. Entering play on Thursday, Philadelphia is 21-12 and in third place in the Eastern Conference. They acquired star guard Jimmy Butler from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a trade in mid-November, and the Sixers are 12-4 in games that Butler has played.
Follow Us
Subscribe