Are Limited Minutes Stunting K.J. McDaniels’ Growth?
By Evan Massey
Is a lack of consistent playing time stunting rookie shooting guard K.J. McDaniels’ growth?
The Philadelphia 76ers selected former Clemson Tigers’ shooting guard K.J. McDaniels with the 32nd overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, and were very excited to be able to snag him. He was the ACC conference Defensive Player of the Year award winner, and has shown quite a bit of potential in the limited minutes that he has seen with the 76ers so far this year.
Take a look at the McDaniels’ numbers from this season so far:
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/21/2014.
He has taken his scoring to a new level from what the expectations were, and he is a very good defender at the NBA level as expected. The 76ers have a very talented two-way player on the roster, but for some reason they continue to cut his minutes. Being the worst team in the NBA by far should make Philadelphia want to play their young players more to get them more experience.
McDaniels talked about the frustration about getting his minutes cut by the 76ers.
"“It’s frustrating, but I’ve just got to deal with the minutes I do get and play as hard as I can. I can’t determine the playing time. It’s happening. I have to deal with it. I’ve just got to stay humble about it and keep grinding.”"
Head coach Brett Brown talked about knowing that McDaniels deserves to get more playing time.
"“At times, it is hard. In the light of day, in hindsight, statistically, there is some truth to that (McDaniels merits more minutes). But as the game’s playing out, you’re going with, at times, your senior players or gut feel.”"
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At 21 years of age, the future is incredibly bright for McDaniels if he can fit into the the 76ers’ system. There is no question that they could use a player with his defensive prowess, and they need to begin fitting him into the rotation more. It would be a waste to continue cutting his minutes rather than allowing him to improve his game consistently on the court.
It will be intriguing to see what ends up happening over the next few weeks and whether or not McDaniels begins seeing his playing time rise. The 76ers are obviously trying to tank and get a high draft pick, but McDaniels has plenty of potential of his own moving forward.