11:35am: McKinnie has signed a 10-day contract, the Bulls announced (via Twitter).
8:34am: The Bulls will use a hardship exception to add veteran swingman Alfonzo McKinnie, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
McKinnie, 29, played for the Lakers last season, but was waived in August with two non-guaranteed years left on his contract. He got into 39 games for L.A. and averaged 3.1 points and 1.4 rebounds in 6.6 minutes per night.
He is currently in the G League, where he’s playing for the Mexico City Capitanes and scoring 24.1 PPG while shooting 43.3% from three-point range.
After going undrafted out of Green Bay in 2015, McKinnie played overseas and in the G League before signing with the Raptors in 2017. He also spent a season with the Warriors and one with the Cavaliers.
The Bulls are dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that has sapped their roster. They added Stanley Johnson under the hardship exemption earlier this week, but have since had a fifth player, Derrick Jones Jr. enter the league’s health and safety protocols.
This is a great reminder of how exceptional NBA players are. Especially guys at the guard or Wing positions. Alonzo McKinney is averaging 24 points a game playing against other professional basketball players in the G League. That’s nothing to sneeze at. That’s an accomplished Pro. That’s a gifted scorer. Yet he is fighting and clawing for a position on an NBA roster. Its truly amazing the caliber of NBA player today. Such outstanding skilled guys.
I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard a pretty good rec league dude say to me, “if I was 6-6 I’d be in the NBA right now.” At the same time I’m saying to myself, that shyt you’re throwing up would get swatted every time if you got even into a summer league game. Heck, I almost blocked your shot !!
Well here’s Alonzo McKinney, who’s amazing as a pro against other G league guys and he barely sniffs an NBA roster. I truly appreciate the skill level of an NBA player.
Great comment. Comparable to “AAAA” guys in baseball. Dominant at the highest level of the minors, overmatched in the bigs. I wonder if in many of these cases, that the difference maker is something mental, as there is likely very little athletically separating guys from being a 15th man/G league guy, and being a quality rotation player?
There’s a huge difference between the 15th man on an nba roster and the majority of a gleague roster.
3/4 of a gleague roster are not even good enough to be making big money overseas – they’re in the gleague because they think being there might put them in the nba, when the reality is that very few of them will get there (save for the top 2 of each roster legitimately having a chance).
But, you gotta have x-amount of guys to field a team!
The g-league really isn’t to develop guys for the nba. It’s merely a vehicle to send young players (already on nba teams) down to to get some work, playing time, and rehab. In order to do that, you gotta have 8 other guys willing to be on the team.
Sure, there’s occassions where guys play well enough to get “called up”. But it’s still not the norm.
I disagree with your initial statement about the difference between a 15th man in the NBA and the “majority” of a G League team’s roster. Many of the top 6 on a G League team have been that 15th man on an NBA roster at one time or another, or will be in the future. Sure, there are guys in the G League who will never come close to playing in the NBA, but not the majority. On another point, the G League serves more than one purpose: it can be 1) a place to send young NBA roster players to get more reps, 2) a place for fringe NBA roster types to prove they deserve a shot, and 3) a way to grow the sport of basketball in the United States in other than NBA markets. It can be and is all of these things, and more.
Agree with you. Every NBA team has about fifteen players on their roster. Actually more. The Bulls had 17 players before this recent outbreak of Covid on the team. There isn’t much difference between the 10th through the 17th player on an NBA roster and the upper echelon of G league players. McKinnie is just as good as the ‘end of the bench’ players on just about every NBA team.
Scott, I think you’re right. A lot of it is mental as far as separation.
I often cite as examples many of the Supreme first baseman of the last 20 years who signed major astronomical contracts.., and then slipped into average production.
There could be other factors I’m sure and maybe a little aging but why do Adrian Gonzalez and Mark Teixeira and Albert Pujols go from hitting .330 every year and plenty of home runs, to signing the monster contracts and becoming .260 hitters?
I don’t think they do anything different in preparation or approach but it’s a slight mental step backwards that separates at 330 hitter from a 260 hitter. It’s the exact same guy at the plate but there is a not as much urgency to succeed perhaps and chasing the potential big contract. I don’t know.., I think that maybe supports the mental aspect of who makes it and who doesn’t ?
The case against this guy is age and experience. Not old but not young either. He’s 29 so teams might pass on him for a younger guy that they think has higher upside but is clearly not there yet or they would get an older vet that is a bigger name and they think can still play. He should probably be on the Lakers instead of washed up Ariza.
Ironmonger, great point.
His age isn’t that much of a deterrent.
His trouble more is that he is easily enough defended by most NBA players and then even worse is that he can not offer much to defend most NBA players. His game can work, and he can get some buckets. He just doesn’t offer enough that most other players in the marketplace will rank ahead of him for what they can do.
His athleticism to do more is holding him back, not his age. His age isn’t preventing him from being faster, stronger or reacting quicker and more sharply. Not yet. He just is what he is. A very good player that doesn’t stand out as exceptionally talented in any particular way.
Good take! Every dude at the YMCA says if I was taller I’d be in the NBA. Not so much…
How true. There isn’t much difference between the ‘end of the bench’ players and some of the G league players. McKinnie played in 72 games for the great Golden State team of 2018-2019.
It’s as much about getting the right opportunity as it is the player.
He’s an excellent rebounder at his position and I thought he was great at Golden State – he just didn’t survive the budget/roster crunch at the end of that year and then joined the Cavs during LeBron’s second stint and so wasn’t given chance to show what he had to offer.
McKinney is in no way a replacement for DJJr., who has been playing really well for the Bulls on both sides of the ball, but maybe he can provide energy. The defense is really suffering right now, as the Bulls made the Cavs look like the Harlem Globetrotters without Caruso et. al. guarding them.