“I try to disprove that day in and day out,” he said. “People try to compare me to (Atlanta Hawks guard) Kyle Korver right off the bat just because I can shoot a little bit and I’m a white basketball player.
“It’s just a matter of coming out and playing and showing that I can be just as athletic.”
Asked who in the NBA he thinks his game most closely mirrors, Connaughton is ready with a response – Portland Trail Blazers swingman Wesley Matthews, who is black. Like Connaughton, Matthews was a glue guy in college (at Marquette) who could shoot it with distance and battle with the bigger bodies. He just played. Matthews was an undrafted free agent coming out of college, but has since made it big in the NBA (he’s averaged 14.0 points in 32.0 minutes a game the last six seasons) because of his skill set.