Philadelphia 76ers backup point guard T.J. McConnell is a shining example of how undrafted players can still make it.

Including two-way contract players, there are 100 undrafted players on NBA roster right now, out of a total of 494. Excluding two-way contract players, that number drops to 70. Not all of those 70 players are in their team’s rotation when that team is at full health; anecdotally and subjectively, that number drops further to 37. And of those 37, even fewer played in big college programmes before being undrafted and making it anyway.

Big programme college players are, theoretically, better understood from an NBA point of view on account of two key factors. Firstly, they have played against better opposition and more athletic opponents, including more NBA opponents, itself a test of their abilities against whether they will be able to succeed at whatever they are good at once at the next level. Secondly, they are more regularly televised, leading to more opportunities to scout them. Both of these things are especially true of four-year players, who, by the end, are in no way off the radar.

By the time a four-year major college player has completed his collegiate career, they should be as close to a known commodity as it is possible to be. Teams should be fairly sure as to whether that player can be an NBA player or not. And after two years at Duquesne and two years at Arizona, every single team decided that McConnell couldn’t be.

But he is. And he is a good one.

The scouting report out of college said that McConnell would struggle to succeed at the NBA level on account of his physical profile. Undersized for a point guard, without a great wingspan, not explosive and nor especially fast with or without the ball, no one aspect of McConnell’s physical profile worked in his favour – he is not even especially strong.

He still is those things, of course. Yet he has overcome.

To overcome and achieve in the NBA given such physical limitations is supposed to rely upon a tremendous level of skill. A solid ball handler with good vision, who tried hard defensively and had good hands, yet a poor outside shooter who relied upon guile and good decision to create angles to finish at the rim rather than any great shotmaking ability from anywhere on the court, McConnell was deemed not to have that.

Arguably, and with respect, he still doesn’t. Yet again, he has overcome.

He has done through a combination of traits that most NBA players have but almost none have to rely on quite as much. McConnell is a gritty, hustling player, who masks a lack of athleticism and speed (although he is sneaky quick with the ball) through being willing to mix it up with whoever he is against.

There is a reason why he ranked 16th amongst all players 6’3 and lower (minimum 500 minutes played) in defensive rebounding percentage last year – ahead of Mike Conley, Kemba Walker, George Hill, Derrick Rose, C.J. McCollum and 40 others – and it wasn’t because of any physical advantages. McConnell, simply, just wanted to go get the ball more.

The guile and decision-making skills that he showed Arizona are of course still there. McConnell is never going to explode to the rim or create much space through his handle or speed alone, but a well-placed screen can be enough for him to turn a corner and get into the mid-range area. From there, he is a good kick-out passer, and he also shoots a surprisingly good mid-range pull-up. It is ‘surprising’ consider that his slow and methodical three-point stroke looks like hard work, lacks rhythm, lacks accuracy, and probably always will. Add another limitation to his game (20.0% three-point shooting last season). But it is just another thing he has overcome.

Somehow – despite the fact he cannot drive past people without a screen, despite the fact he is a substandard shooter, despite the fact he cannot finish at the rim unless someone truly left the door wide open, despite the fact that he almost almost almost always drives to his right, and despite the fact that there should be no favourable defensive match-ups for him – McConnell finds enough in the angles and reading of the play to get by. And to get by when so limited relies upon a combination of smarts and bloody-mindedness.

These are best evident through his defensive play. With a particular knack for stealing inbounds passes, McConnell’s steals rate of 3.1% last season ranked joint third in the league, a negligible 0.1% behind league leaders Manu Ginobili and Raul Neto. He did this via his always-good reads of passes and driving angles, and his even-better hands, perhaps the only physical advantage he enjoys.

Opponents can outrun McConnell on the break, shoot over him, drive around him as long as their screener doesn’t let them down, and back him down if necessary. But they had better not lose their concentration around him.

Clichés are often used lazily, and are certainly by their very definition overused. They are all too easily cited instead of original thought; in the realm of basketball, clichés are freely used to pigeon-hole players and to put unpleasant realities back into the subtext. ‘Gritty’ players who ‘hustle’ and have ‘basketball IQ’ are generally described as cover-up comments for the reality – “I like this player and I want to play him, but others are better. He’s not got enough talent.”

In McConnell’s case, others aren’t better, and he is good enough. Other players will have the flair, the highlights, the big nights and the acclaim. They also will have the potential. This may be the highest level that McConnell ever reaches; his margins for success are so small that it is on a knife edge. Any injury that takes even 10% off of his speed will be a problem. Eventually, he will stop overcoming. But even with their bigger margins, many other players won’t have the instincts that McConnell does.

Despite starting 51 games last year, McConnell is not a particularly well-known commodity in the public discourse. But rest assured that opposing coaches certainly know.