The month or so leading up to the first game that counts aren’t very consequential for many NBA veterans.
Yes, it’s important that Joel Embiid ramps up smoothly, Paul George gains comfort with his new team and Tyrese Maxey keeps honing his playmaking. However, it would be a stretch to call any preseason minutes truly meaningful for the Sixers’ stars.
Rookie guard Jared McCain is in a much different position.
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Based on the buzz out of training camp, the 16th overall pick has impressed in his early days as a Sixer. On Day 2, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse told reporters in the Bahamas he continues to “really like” McCain. He praised his “IQ for the game” and defensive effort, calling him a “scrapper.”
On Day 3, Joel Embiid described McCain as “tough” and said he’s been “shooting the ball extremely well.”
Will McCain end up vaulting over well-established players in the Sixers’ rotation? Reggie Jackson and Eric Gordon are in their mid-30s and Kyle Lowry’s 38. At 20 years old, McCain appears to have a mature outlook on his route to playing time. He’ll control what he can — hustle, positive energy, attention to detail — and look to enhance his sharpshooting reputation.
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In his one year at Duke, McCain shot 41.4 percent from three-point range on 5.8 attempts per game. He then struggled with his shooting in a smaller, far lower-stakes sample at summer league, going just 28.6 percent from the field and 25.5 percent from three-point range.
“I’ve worked with (assistant coach Rico Hines) every day since summer league,” McCain said Monday at his first NBA media day. “I’ve been with him in the gym in the morning before practice, just trying to figure out what I can do to help the team win — whatever that is. And still perfecting whatever I can that may not be my role this year but may be down the line … handling the ball, being able to lead a team.
“But still obviously perfecting the catch-and-shoot and just being able to knock down shots. … All around, just trying to get better.”
Grinding daily with Hines, who heads the Sixers’ player development program, can’t hurt McCain’s stock with the coaching staff. As far as Nurse in particular, there’s not a deep history with rookie guards in the NBA to study.
Undrafted Terence Davis made the All-Rookie Second Team with the 2019-20 Raptors, although he wasn’t in the rotation for Toronto’s second-round playoff series loss to the Celtics. No. 29 overall pick Malachi Flynn had a midseason G League stint as a rookie and then ended the year starting for a team outside playoff contention. Jumbo guard Dalano Banton logged 64 NBA appearances for the 2021-22 Raptors and played 10.9 minutes per contest.
We’ll soon have a better sense of where exactly McCain stands.
Ultimately, though everything’s fluid for NBA rookies on playoff teams, McCain can legitimately help himself in the weeks before his first “real” game.
“I think one of my skills is I’m good at adapting to whatever the situation is,” he said Monday. “Even in the beginning of college ... I feel like I was almost the fourth or fifth option on the floor in the very beginning.
“But I kind of just kept working and obviously became one of the first options. … I think I’m ready for whatever opportunity I get. I’m just going to work as hard as I can and do whatever I can to help the team win.”