The start of this season has been tumultuous, to say the least, for the Philadelphia 76ers. Injuries have forced each of their star players to miss some time. At 2-10, the Sixers currently possess one of the worst records in all of basketball. However, the picture is not as bleak as one would think. Rookie first-round pick Jared McCain’s play has been a revelation through the first month of the season.
McCain got off to a slow start, averaging 6.7 points while shooting 25% from 3-point range in his first seven games. Head coach Nick Nurse did not trust McCain to play heavy minutes, with his time on the floor fluctuating as a result. However, through injuries and blossoming production, McCain has shown in recent games he can be a key piece of the rotation.
Over the Sixers’ previous five games, McCain’s numbers have undergone a massive leap. The 20-year old is scoring 26.2 points while shooting 44% from beyond the arc on 10 attempts per game. His 27-point performance against the Charlotte Hornets was crucial to helping the Sixers earn their second win of the season.
McCain has excelled mostly without the Sixers’ star trio of Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey on the floor. In the one game McCain played with Embiid, it was abundantly clear the two would find success offensively. The Sixers ran a Chicago action against the New York Knicks to free up McCain for an open 3-pointer. Embiid has effectively generated space for sharpshooting guards through using dribble handoffs and screens in the past. McCain is primed to join the list of sharpshooters who found success playing next to the big fella.
big fella ➡️ the rook. pic.twitter.com/EOJ7Gw9Cwl
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 13, 2024
McCain spoke after the loss to the Knicks, via Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports, about the ease of playing next to Embiid.
“They’re so attentive to Joel, so when you come off of those, you just got to really make yourself open, run them into the screen, and make a shot,” McCain said. “I think through him ramping up, I was with him a lot. And just in workouts if I could just pass him the ball, sometimes I’d go in there and just try to watch his game. Even just talking to coaches, talking to [Tyrese] Maxey, telling me how to play with him. So it’s been easy, it’s pretty easy playing with him. You just come off of the screen and you’re wide open, or give him the ball and they double, and you’re wide open.”
McCain’s production so far this season has far exceeded anyone’s expectations. A large part of that is due to his success as an outside shooter. His outside shooting, combined with an intense motor and quick release, make McCain intensely difficult to defend.
While the bulk of his scoring production is coming from beyond the arc, the 20-year old also has flashed the ability to score from inside the arc. He is shooting 53.5% on shots from inside the 3-point line. While not being touted for his athleticism coming out of college, McCain has found ways to use his strength and footwork to be an effective scorer from all over the court.
Nothing to see here, just Jared McCain scoring on one of the best defenders in the world pic.twitter.com/kWxVj8DiEC
— Dan Olinger (@dan_olinger) November 16, 2024
The play above where McCain scores on Jonathan Isaac, one of the league’s best defenders, is a prime example of the types of tough buckets the Duke product is capable of making. His jumper is always going to be his primary skillset, but developing a well-rounded game is going to make him a much more dangerous scorer at the NBA level.
In addition to scoring the basketball, McCain has shown some signs of being a capable passer. He recorded a 34-point, 10-assist double-double against the Cleveland Cavaliers in his first career start. Judging by the results early on in McCain’s rookie season, he has proven to be one of the Sixers’ better playmakers. He still has a lot of room to grow as a passer, but the early results provide a lot of reason for optimism.
While McCain has been producing at an incredibly high level for the Sixers, there is still a lot of room for improvement. McCain’s intense work ethic, bordering on extreme, gives the Sixers confidence he will continue to grow as a player. The 20-year-old rookie spoke to reporters, via Paul Hudrick of Liberty Ballers, after the loss to the Cavaliers about the importance he puts on the mental side of the game.
“Watching film, meditation, visualization, recovery, reading, it all helps me become a better basketball player,” he said. “I’ve started that since high school. I’ve been in love with the mental side and I think that’s helped me be as confident as I am, and confident I can do a social media TikTok dance and still come out and play as well as I can. I think I just attribute that to my mental side.”
McCain’s play over the past few weeks has many pushing for him to be in the Sixers’ starting lineup. Nurse has put him in the starting lineup in each of the Sixers’ previous two games, although Maxey has been out of the lineup due to a hamstring injury. With the way McCain is producing, he should remain in the starting lineup even when Maxey returns to the floor. After the loss to the Cavaliers, Nurse said McCain is definitely a candidate to be in the starting five.
“Listen, I think he’s certainly played his way right into the whole mix for sure,” Nurse said. “Obviously, he responded well to his first start. He’s got to be a candidate, playing this well, to get into that lineup.”
There are some concerns about putting together a Maxey-McCain backcourt. They lack size and length, with Maxey standing at 6-foot-2 and McCain at 6-foot-3. For as good as McCain has been offensively, he is going to struggle on the other end of the floor. He has good defensive instincts, but his small frame is always going to hold him back defensively.
Nurse has a history of utilizing small backcourts. He started Kyle Lowry (6-foot) and Fred VanVleet (6-foot) together during his time coaching the Toronto Raptors. While pairing Maxey and McCain together will cause some issues defensively, the Sixers are perhaps equipped to overcome a poor defensive backcourt. George and Caleb Martin are both strong wing defenders, and Embiid is one of the best rim defenders in basketball. Questions about how the Sixers will fare defensively should not be enough to prevent McCain from being in the starting lineup. The rookie’s brilliant play of late has earned him the chance to join the starting lineup.
The Sixers appear to have hit a home run with their selection of McCain with the 16th pick. His play this season has been far and away the best out of any rookie in his draft class. Even in the likelihood of McCain eventually cooling down, he has set himself up to be a favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award. The Sixers are off to a dismal start to the season. However, McCain’s emergence as a bonafide rotation player dulls some of the sting from the team’s slow start.
