TORONTO – As he appeared on the biggest stage of his young basketball career, Alfonzo McKinnie’s mind wandered.

He had the unenviable task of guarding Toronto forward Kawhi Leonard, a far cry from when he played in Luxembourg, Mexico and in the G-League. So after closing out on Leonard in a recent NBA Finals game, McKinnie kept repeating a phrase to himself internally.

“Stick hands!!” McKinnie said to himself. “Stick hands!!”

What does ‘stick hands’ mean? McKinnie learned the term from Jerry Stackhouse, a former NBA pro and coach with Toronto’s G-League team that told his players never to let their hands down during a closeout. That would minimize the chance of committing a foul and maximizing the chance of contesting a shot.

So when he failed to follow that concept on Leonard, McKinnie thought of his former coach immediately.

“As soon as I brought my hand down, Stack probably watched that,” McKinnie said, laughing. “He probably was going crazy.”

McKinnie presumed correctly. Stackhouse, who has since become the head coach at Vanderbilt, has watched McKinnie’s first year with the Warriors with both a supportive and critical eye.

“Anybody who has ever played for me should be able to repeat those words,” Stackhouse said, laughing. “They can hear it in their sleep sometimes.”

Or in McKinnie’s case, he can hear it whenever he either thrives or fails defensively. Granted, the Warriors enter Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors on Monday with bigger subplots than McKinnie’s play. The Warriors face a 3-1 deficit in a Finals series that could mark the end of their dynastic run. Still, McKinnie’s presence in the NBA Finals against Toronto illustrates a pivot point in his development.

McKinnie has spent this season morphing from a training camp invitee to a role player partly because of his defense. That stems from when McKinnie played for Stackhouse last year with the “Raptors 905,” Toronto’s G-League team.

“He was part of the reason my defense is the way it is now,” McKinnie said of Stackhouse. “I’m able to switch off on guards and guard wing players and point guards and stuff like that. He’s defense first. If you don’t play defense, you don’t play.”

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How Stackhouse shaped McKinnie defensively

McKinnie learned that lesson in an unexpected setting. He had earned a spot in the 2017 G-League All-Star game after thriving with the Chicago Bulls’ G-League team. So when McKinnie arrived to practice for the All-Star game, he expected a chance to showcase his scoring.

That did not happen. Instead, Stackhouse’s practice mirrored a defensive clinic.

“It felt like it was a real practice. It didn’t feel like an All-Star practice,” McKinnie said, laughing. “That’s when I started to realize that’s just the kind of guy he is.”

No wonder McKinnie called Stackhouse “old school.”

“They were all surprised about that, but that’s the thing I wanted to instill in those guys,” Stackhouse said. “Most teams you’re going to get called up to or you’re going to eventually land on are going to have one through eight [in their rotation]. You have to find a way to be nine through 13. Nine through 13 are going to be defenders. They are going to be guys that do all the dirty work. So let’s come here and do a little dirty work.”

It is a good thing McKinnie thrived with doing some dirty work. That is when Stackhouse recalled he “first fell in love with him.” Stackhouse became impressed with McKinnie’s hustle, athleticism and positional versatility. While McKinnie also scored 16 points in only 22 minutes in the G-League All-Star game, Stackhouse paid more attention to his defensive potential.

Stackhouse had already liked McKinnie’s play with the Windy City Bulls. McKinnie sealed the deal, though, during All-Star weekend. So Stackhouse told himself, “I’m starting him.” Then, Stackhouse vouched for the Raptors’ front office to sign McKinnie to the ‘Raptors 905’. “He played a part of me getting in Toronto in the first place,” McKinnie said.

Once McKinnie arrived there, he found his defensive identity blossoming.

The 6-foot-8, 215-pound McKinnie had often guarded frontcourt players beforehand. Stackhouse also wanted to mold McKinnie into a so-called “3-and-D” player that could both excel as a perimeter shooter and defender.

So Stackhouse helped McKinnie with his defensive rotations. He detailed opposing players’ tendencies. He instructed him when to rotate. He pointed out when to drop back on defense. He outlined when to contest shots. Hence, the “Stick Hands” concept. After every game, Stackhouse analyzed footage and highlighted McKinnie’s good and the bad. On offense, Stackhouse encouraged McKinnie to take more corner 3’s. Stackhouse mostly cared about McKinnie’s defense, though.

“If you don’t play defense, you don’t play,” McKinnie said of Stackhouse’s philosophy. “Sometimes, I hated it. At the end of the day, everything has been beneficial. It was all real. He played the game at a high level. So even if there may have been stuff you don’t agree with what he said, he knows what he’s talking about. He already has done everything.”

To further showcase his credentials, Stackhouse often competed against his players in practice. Stackhouse might abstain from talking about his 18-year NBA career, but he offered glimpses of what made him a two-time NBA All-Star. In 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 scrimmages, Stackhouse often matched up on McKinnie and played physically with him.

“He knows he can’t guard me,” Stackhouse said, laughing. “I know I can get him. I can get him off of his feet. He’s going to try to shot block everything. So I can give him a good head fake.”

McKinnie chuckled when he learned about Stackhouse’s claim and considered it inaccurate. Still, McKinnie has told friends, “Stack can hoop; he can still play.”

What Stackhouse thinks of McKinnie’s potential

Nearly a year later, McKinnie and Stackhouse have taken different paths.

The Warriors signed McKinnie as a training camp invitee and became intrigued with his positional versatility, potential outside shooting and hustle. With Patrick McCaw’s continued holdout, the Warriors also found McKinnie as an insurance policy. After he landed on the training camp roster, McKinnie’s emergence partly influenced the Warriors not to match McCaw’s offer sheet from Cleveland in late December. Meanwhile, Stackhouse left Toronto to become an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies this season. In April, Stackhouse then became Vanderbilt’s head coach. Distance has not kept them apart, though.

“Stack is my guy,” McKinnie said. “That’s my dude. I still talk to him to this day.”

They often spoke leading into when the Warriors played against Memphis in the regular season. Any time McKinnie performed well, Stackhouse said he would “send him a little text.” In group chats with other players, Stackhouse has often expressed appreciation for their growth.

Unlike their time together at Raptors 905, though, Stackhouse has abstained from giving McKinnie too many coaching tips. He respectfully wants to leave that job to Warriors coach Steve Kerr. Stackhouse has talked about McKinnie, though, to Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams, whom Stackhouse recalled saying, “they love what he brings to the table.”

Nonetheless, Stackhouse has watched McKinnie from afar with a proud eye partly because McKinnie has followed the defensive concepts Stackhouse taught him.

“Those little subtle things that you harped on, he’s using it,” Stackhouse said. “The guy is a sponge and is absorbing the things you’re trying to teach. He has not only learned them, but he’s applied them. For a lot of guys, it’s out of sight and out of mind. But it’s good to see he’s still applying those things. It’s fun to watch.”

Never had Stackhouse projected McKinnie would play in the NBA Finals so quickly. He has, though. And he at least has some clarity on his NBA future. Amid the Warriors’ uncertainty with how long they can keep their core together, McKinnie at least has a non-guaranteed $1,416,852 contract with the Warriors next season. McKinnie’s future beyond partly hinges on how well he builds off the defensive foundation that Stackhouse shaped.

“He’s proven he can be a contributor on a really good team,” Stackhouse said. “Hopefully he can secure a longer term deal. It’s about continuing to improve and get better. I still don’t think he has the reps that he needs to be what he can be. But as long as he continues to learn more about the game, he has a chance to become a really consistent NBA player that people would love to have on their team. Hopefully it works out for him.”

First things first. McKinnie vowed to adhere to the “Stick Hands” concept more consistently during the remainder of the NBA Finals. He predicted Stackhouse will be watching.

“Every time I’m guarding someone,” McKinnie said, “I’m thinking ‘Stick hands.’”

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