The "annoying" certified by the donkey team, ten years after 19cm small hand entering the NBA alone

His palm is only 19 cm long, not as big as the commentator Zhang Weiping, and is called "little hand". The smallest palm of the NBA, Pacers guard T.J. McConnell is not easy to stand on the stage of the finals.

He was the best high school student in Pennsylvania, but few colleges recruited him. He led the team to the quarterfinals of the United States for two consecutive years, but failed in the NBA draft. With such talent level and career starting point, it is hard to imagine that McConnell, who is only 1.85 meters tall, has been playing in the NBA for ten years and is 33 years old. He only believes in one sentence, "Never let others work harder than you."

NBA Minimal Palm

McConnell grew up in a basketball family and his father, Tim, was the most successful middle school coach in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League history. His aunt Susi was a member of the All-American team during her college years. She was selected for the first time of the WNBA career. After retiring, she coached and won the WNBA Coach of the Year Award and won gold medals in the Olympics, World Championships and World College Games in international competitions.

When McConnell was in high school, his head coach was his father Tim. In his senior year, McConnell averaged 34 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists per game, was selected as the state Player of the Year.

However, there are very few universities that are interested in McConnell because he is too short, only 1.73 meters tall, and looks thin and small in front of his teammates and opponents. Because of his insufficient height, McConnell did not even have a national ranking for a long time. It was not until he was about to graduate from high school that he barely made it on the list and ranked 349th among the same high school students.

McConnell went to Duquesne University, one of the few universities that were optimistic about McConnell. After two years of playing at Duquesne, McConnell transferred to the University of Arizona, a prestigious school for basketball. McConnell was very unconfident when he first came. He asked his assistant coach: "Am I really qualified to play here?"

McConnell, who grew to 1.85 meters tall, quickly proved that he could become the ace of the University of Arizona. In the two years of playing for the team, McConnell helped the University of Arizona achieve a record of 67 wins and 9 losses. He won the regular season championship of the Pacific 12 College League for two consecutive seasons and entered the quarterfinals of the United States in March Madness. During college season, McConnell was selected for the Pacific 12 League team and the defensive team.

and Aaron Gordon were teammates

At that time, McConnell had a programmer's hairstyle, and his face always had a customer service staff-style smile, looking uncontested. But in fact, his game style is quite tough. Trash talk, muscle confrontation, excellent shooting and excellent assist-and-turnover ratios have become McConnell's game logo.

McConnell is not only not polite to the opponent's players, but also mercilessly to the opponent's fans. Once, when he challenged the University of Texas at El Paso away, a fan sitting behind the bench swearing swearing at the University of Arizona head coach Sean Miller and his players.

During a timeout, McConnell was drinking Gatorade. The fan yelled in a provocative tone: "McConnell, how does TMD Gatorade taste like?"

McConnell glanced at the fan, and then threw Gatorade over with lightning speed, hitting the bull's-eye like his shot, and pouring it on the man's chest. "Now, tell me what Gatorade tastes like," McConnell said.

McConnell admitted that he had "road rage" on the court because he was always looked down upon during his basketball journey. In the 2015 NBA Draft, McConnell waited from beginning to end and did not hear his name. Later, a kind-hearted scout told McConnell, "They just think you are short."

McConnell's body size is the type that you can't find if you throw it into the crowd, and it is not something that NBA teams like. When he fell into disorientation, his personal trainer Chris Babcock made a suggestion.

"He said that the NBA team was worried that I was short and could not defend my opponent, so I should start with defense and develop physical fitness and physical confrontation that could lead the defense in the whole game for 48 minutes, and make this a game card." McConnell said.

McConnell went to the gym three times a day, working hard to achieve an elite body shape and lay a physical foundation for defense. McConnell sets himself a goal to make the opponent's players suffer as if they are in hell when facing his defense.

Believe in the process

With this momentum, McConnell stayed with the 76ers through the summer league. The 76ers were rebuilding at that time, with a very bleak record. McConnell was also worried, until one day he met the 76ers star Allen Iverson.

At that time, McConnell was doing a pre-match warm-up. Iverson came to watch the game and chatted with several familiar 76ers. McConnell did not dare to come forward to disturb him, but Iverson saw him and walked over to say hello.

"That feeling was so crazy. He really walked towards me, asked me how I was doing recently, told me to keep working hard and keep being myself," McConnell recalled. "Then he hugged me and said to me quietly, 'Brother, believe me, everything will be fine.'"

Everything really got better, and the Sixers survived that reconstruction period and gradually became a competitive team. McConnell's NBA career is also getting better. He switched to the Pacers in 2019, becoming the offensive commander of the team's second team, and was also a defensive gate. The record of 10 steals for active players in a single game is McConnell and Zhu Meng jointly maintained.

McConnell has not experienced a difficult adjustment period in the Pacers. Since last season, his playing time has decreased compared to before.. Because the Pacers are full of talents in the backcourt, head coach Carlisle hopes McConnell can spend some time to give his teammates, but Carlisle is worried that McConnell will not accept such an arrangement, so he specifically talks with McConnell, which is beyond his expectations.

"That was the toughest conversation between me and the player because I was going to tell him that he wouldn't get enough playing time and he was almost crying, but he told me that he was disappointed, but he would be ready to keep his professionalism and set an example for his teammates," Carlisle said.

The second team in his career has reduced their playing time and their efficiency has not decreased. McConnell averaged 11.8 points and 5.1 assists in the playoffs last season, with only 1.2 turnovers per game, helping the Pacers break into the Eastern Conference Finals.

This season, McConnell, as Halliburton's chief substitute, helped the Pacers dominate the East and enter the finals. During the Eastern Conference Finals, McConnell beat the Knicks with a strong defense, and Knicks players collectively lamented that McConnell was too "annoying".

"He's just annoying guy, creating chaos everywhere for you, and being able to defend from one end to the other," Knicks guard Hart said. "He's too annoying, but you have to admit that he has a very high basketball level and a strong sense of competition. We finally waited until Halliburton got off the court and he came up, and didn't give us any breath. Players like him can be the starting point guard in any team in the league."

During this year's playoffs, McConnell experienced the death of his loved ones and his grandmother left.

Because the game schedule was too tight, McConnell failed to be with her grandmother when she left and could only say goodbye via video call. McConnell's father Tim said the old man left with a smile and she was proud of the achievements of the young people in her family.

and her sister were both undrafted

Just as McConnell was in the finals, his sister Megan McConnell signed with WNBA team Phoenix Mercury. McConnell arrived in his sister's WNBA jersey before the first game of the finals.

Megan, like McConnell, lost the draft and got the Mercury contract through trial training. The brother and sister passed the baton on the road of struggle. "I am extremely proud of her achievements. When I learned about her signing, I was so excited that I couldn't speak," McConnell said.

Now, McConnell has the opportunity to accomplish what makes his family prouder, which is to be crowned the NBA championship, and he is still three games away from this goal.

Of course, the Thunder is strong, and it is not easy for the Pacers to win three more games from the Thunder, but McConnell's basketball career has not had the word "easy". During the decade in the NBA, his life creed has never changed, regardless of peaks or troughs.

"Never let others work harder than you!"