Does Brett Brown Have An Attachment To TJ McConnell?

In Tuesday Night's loss to the Pistons in Overtime, Markelle Fultz only received 21 Minutes of playing time and was not on the floor in critical situations at the end of the game.  Despite shooting 6-9 from the floor with 13 Points, Six Rebounds, and One Blocked Shot it was not Fultz on the floor for long stretches of the second half while TJ McConnell (32 Minutes) and Landry Shamet (24 Minutes) played more minutes in Detroit.  The First Overall Pick of the 2017 NBA Draft is averaging just 25 Minutes Per Game despite starting all four games for the Sixers this season as Head Coach Brett Brown continues to give crunch time minutes to fourth year veteran TJ McConnell.

The Sporting News NBA Writer Sean Deveney joined The Sports Bash on Wednesday and talked about why Brett Brown continues to give TJ McConnell critical game situation minutes over Markelle Fultz:

"It goes beyond trust, I think (Brett Brown) has a sort of attachment to TJ (McConnell). During the worst times of the rebuild, (TJ and Robert Covington) were the guys who kind of were the byproducts of 'The Process' by just finding guys and giving them a chance and them cashing in on that and Brett put in a lot of work to develop those guys, and I think he loathes to just turn his back on them at this point - When you look at the talent that they have, what they need in crunch time, they need guys who can make plays but more than that just not make mistakes. You gotta get the ball to Joel (Embiid) obviously and in the meantime, don’t make a mistake and I think (Brown) has that factor with TJ at this point and obviously, despite the way the game ended (Tuesday) night, with Robert Covington as well.”

Checkout what Deveney had to say about Markelle Fultz playing Point Guard in Ben Simmons absence, how Brett Brown is calling plays to setup Joel Embiid on Offense, along with perspective on Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks