'Coach's dream': What LeBron James sees in Pacers bench star T.J. McConnell

Indiana Pacers fans know how important T.J. McConnell is.

In his ninth season overall, and fifth with the Pacers, he averaged a career-high 10.2 points as well as 5.5 assists per game in the regular season. This after he started the season out of the playing rotation.

He has been even more valuable in the playoffs, sparking the reserve unit and also playing with starters. He has averaged 10.9 points and 5.2 assists in 19.8 minutes per game, always pushing the pace.

Basketball legend LeBron James has noticed how bench players are making larger contributions than in the past, mentioning McConnell, Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid of Minnesota and Dallas' P.J. Washington.

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From an episode of the "Mind the Game" podcast with J.J. Redick: "(McConnell) is a coach's dream. To have a guy who can come in and knows exactly what he's doing, push the tempo, always going to be high in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.2-to-1.2), and he's just a dog."

"We know the narrative is always going to go to the start guys, but, to honest, these games have been won by the MVPs of the role players," James added.

When is Pacers vs. Celtics Game 2 start time, TV

Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Radio: 93.5 and 107.5 FM in Indianapolis

Streaming: SiriusXM Channels 86, 212, 891

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: LeBron James says T.J. McConnell is a coach's dream for Pacers