McDaniels makes case to be Sixers starter

A growing portion of 76ers fans are wondering why K.J. McDaniels isn't in the starting lineup.

Understandably so.

The rookie guard has been the team's most exciting player. Yes, even more exciting than Tony Wroten, who averages a team-best 21.9 points.  McDaniels, a former Clemson standout, is posterizing opponents will alley-oop dunks (ask Orlando Magic's Moe Harkless) and swatting shots into the third row (ask the poor lady sitting in the stands in Toronto after McDaniels' volleyball spike of Greivis Vasquez shot nearly gave her a concussion). He's also the team's best three-point shooter at 42.1 percent.

"It would mean  a lot," McDaniels said of being in the starting lineup. "But I still have to go in there and do my job,  you know coming in here, bring excitement either coming off the bench or starting."

McDaniels  is averaging  9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists and has a total of 12 blocked shots through seven games.   The 6-foot-6, 205-pounder had a career-high four blocks in Sunday's setback to the Toronto Raptors.

His 1.7 blocks per game rank second behind teammate Nerlens Noel amongst NBA rookies.  Vince Carter, in the 1998-99 season, was  last player listed 6-6 or shorter  to average  at least 1.50 blocks for the season.

"He gets away with almost everything, because he's so athletic," Brown said. "And he has a desire to defend. And he has a discipline to work on his shot and stay in his form when you watch him shoot threes."

It's obvious that McDaniels is a very disciplined and prepared shooter. It's also obvious that he's a rookie who's far from a finished product.

"He's just a young man, trying to figure out a whole different whole," Brown said. "And so studying opponents, understanding NBA rules, understanding schemes, understanding my language, understanding pace and flow, learning how to play 48 minutes, navigating for 82 games, and how do you deal with recovering and rehabilitation. Where do you start?"

This is all part of the road map young guys have to follow.

Right now, Brown has been nitpicking about McDaniels' footwork. He wants him to perfect that in order to become a better on-the-ball defender.

At the same time, Brown relies heavily on the second round pick.  McDaniels has averaged around 28 minutes off the bench in the past four games.  For the season, he's averaging 23.6 minutes.

"I feel like has enough trust in me to put me out there and let me play that amount of minutes,"  McDaniels said. "So I'm going to keep doing what I am doing and just go out there and play hard."

But what about cracking the starting lineup?

"That's not really my focus right now," he  said. "I'm just trying to do what I need to do to help my teammates out. "

Follow and contact Inquirer 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter @PompeyOnSixers and Instagram at PompeyOnSixers