If there was anything for the Sixers to feel good about on Wednesday night, it was the play of rookie guard Jared McCain, who posted career-highs in — allow me to take a deep breath — minutes, points, field goals, field goal attempts, free throws, free throw attempts, rebounds and assists.
The Duke product was one of the team's only spark plugs during the second half in their loss to the Detroit Pistons — a stretch during which most of the group looked lifeless. McCain posted 12 points while collecting three rebounds and three assists and knocking down all six of his free throw attempts.
"He's really confident and really aggressive," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. "I thought he was really good and gives us a little bit of a spark plug to just get [the ball] to the rim and make a play."
The number that appeared to be most encouraging to McCain himself: 16:17. Nurse entrusted the rookie to play for the entirety of the final 16 minutes and 17 seconds of the game, signaling increased trust in McCain to continue progressing early on in his first NBA season.
"That's the best thing I've always wanted," McCain said after the game. "There's always trust with coaches… I think I'm starting to build it [with Nurse]."
McCain is in a unique position: a five-star recruit out of high school who starred at a prestigious collegiate program and got drafted in the middle of the first-round by a team with immediate championship aspirations. Luckily, the rookie can look at the person occupying the locker to his left for advice about how to handle it.
"I've been in that spot before," Sixers All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey said after the game. "You're getting out there, it's your first time coming off the bench, you're nervous to make a mistake, you don't want the coach to get on you. You want to be perfect, but you can't be perfect. It's not a perfect world. In basketball, everybody's going to make mistakes. Stuff happens. I think he was really good tonight, though."
Does McCain try to pick Maxey's brain about his own first-year NBA experiences?
"Oh yeah, all the time. I mean, as much as I can. He's coming to me a lot. A lot of times, it's nice when he just checks up on me, like, 'How are you doing? How do you feel out there? Keep being aggressive,'" McCain said.
"When he tells me to keep being aggressive, that's the biggest compliment you can get from him. And so [I'm asking] him as many questions as I can, even off the court stuff, recovery stuff, the mental side of stuff, how [he adjusted] to a new city from college. Just simple stuff."
To cap off each week here, we will be doing a Friday film story breaking down relevant clips from recent Sixers games or opponents. Up first, let's dive into what enabled McCain's strong showing:
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Fair or not, McCain has a reputation. He is an undersized shooting guard known for knocking down deep threes and going viral for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with basketball. He is the sort of player a casual observer would assume is entirely reliant on his jumper to be effective. How, then, is McCain quickly grasping how to impact winning at the NBA level while still being yet to connect from beyond the arc?
"A lot of people, on the [scouting report] is going to be 'shooter' for sure — if they even have me on the scout," McCain said. "I'm just going to use it to my advantage. If they close out to me from a long distance and I have a driving lane, I think I'm crafty in there and can make double-moves and stuff to get to the rim."
Early on in his career, opponents are going to play extremely physical defense against McCain and feel confident he will not be able to power through it. But McCain is tough as nails and is undeterred by significant contact at the point of attack:
Jared McCain powers through major physicality and beats his man off the dribble en route to a crafty rim finish: pic.twitter.com/HDet2VGc1a
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 1, 2024
McCain topped that drive off with one of those crafty finishes he alluded to. It has become very clear early on that McCain has a unique approach as a finisher, seeking out unorthodox angles to try to finish with in order to overcome the deficits he often faces in terms of size and explosiveness.
These kinds of attempts at finishes will be tough for McCain to convert as an NBA rookie. But as he gets used to the speed and strength at this level, if he can master layups like these, his finishing ability will become a significant weapon in his expanding arsenal:
Jared McCain takes a creative approach with angles around the rim. Will he be able to convert these shots at the NBA level? pic.twitter.com/mb4WHBvuN5
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 1, 2024
Even players with an exceptional skill like McCain has with his three-point shooting stroke need to think the game at a high level and show genuine competitiveness when they are typically going to be smaller than the player they are matched up with. McCain's intellect and motor have already been on display, even predating Wednesday's game. Take a play like this, for example: the instant Tobias Harris reaches his hand out, McCain swipes up and generates a foul. A savvy, veteran move:
Jared McCain shows his smarts, catching a defender reaching and immediately drawing a foul: pic.twitter.com/5nc3R2ordV
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 1, 2024
The most impressive, heads-up play the rookie made on Wednesday came on the offensive end, but not as a scorer. As Kelly Oubre Jr. drains the shot clock with little prospects of creating a remotely good look for himself or a teammate, McCain makes a perfectly-timed cut to the rim. Oubre finds him, and McCain immediately has the Pistons' defenders in rotation, allowing him to draw two defenders and kick the ball out for an open three-point shot. And if that was not impressive enough, watch the misdirection McCain creates with his hands to fool Jaden Ivey (No. 23), sending Ivey towards Caleb Martin in the corner and opening up an easy passing lane for McCain to find Maxey on the wing:
Jared McCain's impromptu cut forces the defense into rotation; McCain makes a strong jump pass with clever misdirection to assist a Tyrese Maxey three: pic.twitter.com/WjsRFDLpIl
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 1, 2024
And, again, none of these skills are the ones that convinced the Sixers to select McCain at No. 16 overall in June's NBA Draft. McCain has been considered a truly elite three-point shooter for his age dating back to high school. He knocked down 41.4 percent of his three-point tries on significant volume with the Blue Devils. And he has found a way to look the part of an NBA-caliber rotation guard without knocking down any threes.
McCain said he is particularly focused on developing strong rapports with Maxey and Oubre when they initiate transition offense, because that is where McCain can really make a living torching scrambled, disorganized defenses that are being burned by cross-matches. Shots like these will soon fall for McCain:
Jared McCain has yet to connect on a three-point shot in the regular season. The rookie guard is seeking out transition opportunities: pic.twitter.com/jM7VkGMJ07
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) November 1, 2024
Like any player with 47 total minutes of NBA action under their belt, McCain has plenty of work to do before he establishes himself as a nightly rotation piece for Nurse and the Sixers. But in limited opportunities, the rookie has already displayed far more NBA-ready skills and abilities than most do in such a short period of time.
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