MCKINNIE MAKES MOST OF HIS SHOT
Guard has gone from Europe to G-League to crunchtime minutes with Warriors
The “Hoop Dreams” came true for Warriors guard Alfonzo McKinnie.
He has cemented himself on the Warriors roster after the undrafted wing player played in Luxembourg, Mexico and the G-League. He already has played in crunchtime minutes. And when the Warriors played the Bulls last week in his Chicago hometown, McKinnie signed papers that would secure his mother a home and move his family out of the West Side North Lawndale neighborhood.
“She’s ecstatic. That’s all she ever talked about — she wanted a house,” McKinnie said. “I’m just happy I could do that for her.”
The Warriors are happy what they have done for McKinnie. The Warriors (9-1) enter tonight’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies (5-2) with McKinnie averaging 6.1 points while shooting 55.8 percent from the field and a team-leading 58.8 percent from 3-point range along with 4.3 rebounds in 13.3 minutes. He also played the entire fourth quarter of Friday’s win over Minnesota.
“He’s been through quite a bit trying to get to this point,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Our players have a lot of respect for his journey, but also the way he carries himself now. He’s a very professional and hard-working kid.”
The Warriors have seen McKinnie’s hard work pay off.
The Warriors signed him to their training camp roster on Sept. 5 after Kerr became intrigued with his athleticism. McKinnie soon impressed the Warriors with his offensive and defensive versatility.
As Patrick McCaw refused to accept the Warriors’ $1.7 million qualifying offer and a two-year, $5.2 million deal, McKinnie climbed the depth chart.
“I really feel like he’s earned this,” Kerr said. “He looks the part. He looks like he belongs.”
So much that Stephen Curry offered a big-picture outlook on McKinnie’s trajectory.
“It’s amazing to watch a guy that had a wild journey in terms of where he’s been to get to this point, taking this opportunity and running with it,” Curry said. “He’s not even close to scratching the surface on what type of player he’s going to be. It would not surprise me if he’s a huge, huge catalyst for us, especially in those games that matter at the end of the year.”
Only three years ago, McKinnie struggled with projecting where his path would take him. After playing collegiately in Eastern Illinois (201012) and Wisconsin-Green Bay (201315), McKinnie split the 2015-16 season playing professionally for the East Side Pirates (Luxembourg) and Heromsillo (Mexico).
McKinnie has since become amused about fielding endless questions from Warriors coaches and teammates about his time in Luxembourg. He never heard of the European country until he received an offer. McKinnie soon became comfortable with the country because of its small size and welcoming culture.
The experience became humbling, though. He was the lone American on his team. Most of his teammates went to second jobs after practice. McKinnie also had a vastly different job description than what he became accustomed to back home.
“I kind of had to play a role that I haven’t played before — that’s being the leader and go-to guy on the team,” McKinnie said. “That helped me out as a basketball player, learning how to be a leader and be more vocal and how to help guys through situations.”
Once McKinnie returned to the United States, he realized he would not be the star player again. So he accepted an invitation to try out for the Chicago Bulls’ G-League team, even though he had to pay $175 for the opportunity. McKinnie believed Randy Brown, a current Bulls assistant coach, “was the set of eyes that I needed.” McKinnie then made the team and recorded 18 double-doubles that season.
“It’s paid off big time,” McKinnie said. “I’m glad I did that. I wouldn’t even change what happened.”
That was good enough to earn McKinnie a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors the next season. Two months after the Raptors waived McKinnie, the Warriors invited him to training camp.
“Before I went to the D-League, I was uncertain about everything,” McKinnie said. “I was just questioning a lot of stuff. I had a lot of people around me who kept me focused and telling me and reminding me what the ultimate goal was. That’s to make it to this point.”
Once McKinnie made it to the Warriors, his expectations changed quickly. The longer McCaw remained absent during training camp, the more the Warriors needed McKinnie to fill his position.
“I just came in with the mindset that I needed to get a spot,” McKinnie said. “I came in thinking compete for a two-way (contract), but other things unfolded. We’re here now.”
McKinnie did not just make the Warriors regular-season roster because of McCaw’s unresolved free agency. He made the Warriors roster because he quickly impressed his coaches and teammates.
Kerr loved that McKinnie is “fearless” with his defensive intensity and willingness to take and make outside shots even with the Warriors’ All-Stars on the floor. In the last five games, McKinnie has shot 61.2 percent from the field and has averaged 6.0 rebounds.
“I love his background. I love that he’s had to scrap and claw to get where he is,” Kerr said. “He’s very comfortable in his role. He’s excited to be here and taking advantage of his opportunity.”
How has he done that? McKinnie has worked daily with Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco, who also has become the team’s director of player development. He has led daily morning sessions with the team’s young and new players about an hour before practice. Then, DeMarco has gone over the team’s concepts and terminology.
McKinnie has also relied on his own background. When he played in Chicago in high school and on the AAU circuit, coaches stressed to him how defense would both help his team and earn him minutes. As McKinnie said about that upbringing, “it definitely shaped me to be the basketball player that I am.”
What McKinnie has become: a player that the Warriors will rely increasingly on in their bench rotation.
“A lot of teams are going to put him in the scouting report now,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said. “Now defenses might stick on him a little bit more.”
When that happens, McKinnie pledged he will be ready.
After all, McKinnie has already followed through on his own story. After speaking about the need to stay resilient during his basketball camp here last summer, McKinnie has backed up those words with results.
“I tell them my story and they’re seeing it,” McKinnie said. “I just tell them you have to keep pushing and keep trying to do the right things. Eventually somebody will see you and give you a chance. When you get that chance, you have to take advantage of it and go from there.”
McKinnie has done that. He has made his Hoops Dream into a reality.