Blazers Player Profile: Pat Connaughton (R)

Another day, another profile, another rookie. On Wednesday we took a look at Luis Montero, a Dominican-born shooting guard with a very tremulous path to the NBA. Today we look at a Pat Connaughton, whose path to the league was seemingly much more straightforward than Montero’s, but when you look closer, you’ll find a different story.

Pre NBA

Anyone that followed Notre Dame basketball the past few years knows Connaughton and his story. But before playing in 139 games for the Fighting Irish, averaging 10.5 PPG and 5.9 RPG over four years, Connaughton was working his way to get notice by anyone.

Hailing from Arlington, MA, the 6’5, 215 pound guard only had one offer: Bentley University, a D2 school not far from his hometown. Though he would have liked to have more offers, Connaughton was never in a situation where he would have been stuck anywhere: he was also a baseball prospect, and a good one at that. While he struggled to get much attention in basketball, he had no problem with that on the diamond. North Carolina, Virgina, and Boston College are just some of the D1 offers he got as a pitching prospect.

Mar 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard/forward Pat Connaughton (24) dunks against the Kentucky Wildcats in the finals of the midwest regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Just when it was looking like baseball might be the best route for him, Connaughton went off at the perfect time. During the summer heading into his senior year (as a former college basketball coach I can tell you, THAT is the most important summer for any recruit, and its not close), Connaughton showed out at the AAU Nationals in Orlando, Florida. Playing well all week, Connaughton sealed the deal when he went for 33 points and 20 rebounds in one of his final games. Suddenly, that one lowly offer multiplied ten times over. UCLA. Vanderbilt. Miami. These are just some of the schools that came offering that summer, but ultimately Notre Dame got the 2011 Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Basketball Player of the Year to join their program.

Once in an Irish uniform, Connaughton just kept the momentum going. Averaging a gaudy 32 minutes per game over his entire career, Connaughton helped lead ND back to national relevancy on the hardwood. In fact, it looked like last season, his senior year and as the captain, Connaughton would take his team to the Final Four for only the second time in program history, but it was all for naught.

Taking on the then-unbeaten Kentucky Wildcats, Connaughton and ND gave John Calipari’s squad all they could handle in a game that saw 20 (!) lead changes. The video below shows the last few minutes of the game when Jerian Grant apparently forgot he had teammates and decided to take some of the worst shots you’ll ever see as UK edged ND 68-66. Grant was drafted in the first round of the draft this season by Washington, but now he is on the Knicks, so karma wins again and the joke is on him.

NBA/What he can do for Portland

Connaughton had to wait a while to hear his name called, but eventually, with the 41st overall pick, the Brooklyn Nets took him then packaged him in a trade along with Mason Plumlee for Steve Blake and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Since landing in Portland, Connaughton has really impressed a lot of people. Though he only scored two points in the first preseason game against Sacramento, he scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting (2-for-3 from three) last night in a high scoring win over Golden State.

Fortunately for the opponents, this is simply Connaughton keeping a ball in play, not him chucking a 96-MPH heater at their heads. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s be very clear: Connaughton will never be an All-Star. He will never score 40 in a game and he will never sign a max deal. What he can be, however, is an extremely valuable sixth man/role player, the type you need to win championships. You saw the guy’s stats from ND. Nothing about his numbers will blow you way (except his 44-inch vert. Dude is springy). He is an athlete in every sense of the word. That baseball career I mentioned? Yeah, I failed to tell you that he is also currently a pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles farm system and last season, in an appearance for Baltimore’s Single-A affiliate, Connaughton hit 96-MPH on the gun.

Connaughton was a huge get for Portland. A workhorse and someone obsessed with getting better, this guy is going to be extremely valuable down the road. Though his contributions may be lost a bit on the NBA as a whole while the Blazers rebuild, I predict that Connaughton will be one of the keys to this team down the road.