Boston Celtics: 2 possible veteran point guard additions to pursue

Boston Celtics veteran free agent point guard option #2: T.J. McConnell

We have heard a lot of people push for the Celtics to bring Pacers point guard Malcom Brogdon, and for good reason. Brogdon would clearly make the Celtics a better team, but as a recent Bleacher Report piece pointed out Brogdon’s backup from last season could be a great option for the Celtics to consider.

T.J. McConnell is a veteran point guard from the University of Arizona who really made a name for himself as a backup for the 76ers. Clearly McConnell is not as good as Malcom Brogdon, but McConnell does bring a lot to the table.

First of all he is a free agent that I wouldn’t expect to be extremely costly for the cash strapped Celtics, Secondly, while is not the shooter or scorer that Patty Mills is, he is an old school pass first point guard who is also a very good defender.

If you look at the 2020-21 Boston Celtics one clear weakness was defense at the point guard position. Brad Stevens was often forced to try to hide Kemba Walker and his suspect defense, which is very hard to do in today’s NBA.

McConnell doesn’t need to be hidden on defense he is a hard-nosed scrappy defender who won’t back down on the defensive end. Better yet, McConnell would provide the Celtics with something that coach Ime Udoka has already said the C’s need, and that is passing. One of the many things Udoka said in his introductory press conference was that the Celtics desperately needed to improve was their ball movement, and even took a playful shot at Brad Stevens for the Celtics finishing last season ranked 27th in the NBA in assist at just 23.5 per game.

The Celtics leader in assist per game last season was Marcus Smart at 5.7 assist per game.  McConnell averaged 6.6 assists per game last season in only 26 minutes per game.

Many have lamented that McConnell can’t be a starting point guard in this league, but I question that sentiment.  He has never been given that opportunity, but he has proven that he has the ability to effectively get his team into the offense and make plays when necessary.

No, he won’t average 20 points, but with an increase in minutes I certainly believe that averages of 10 points and eight assists are realistic.

He isn’t a big name, and he isn’t flashy, but if your the Boston Celtics you can do a lot worse than T.J. McConnell.