Jared McCain Emerging As Bright Spot Amidst Sixers' Slow Start

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 10: Jared McCain #20 of the Philadelphia 76ers reacts against ... [+] the Charlotte Hornets at the Wells Fargo Center on November 10, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

When the Philadelphia 76ers selected Duke freshman Jared McCain with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft, that decision raised some eyebrows.

Didn't they already have an undersized combo guard in Tyrese Maxey? Why wouldn't they pick Tennessee sharpshooter Dalton Knecht, whom the Los Angeles Lakers scooped up immediately after them? Wasn't the 23-year-old Knecht more ready to contribute to a win-now team than the 20-year-old McCain?

It's quickly becoming apparent why the Sixers preferred McCain despite concerns about his size and readiness to break into an NBA rotation. While injuries have caused the Sixers to stumble out to a 2-9 start this season, the rookie has emerged as their top bright spot to date.

McCain's minutes vacillated over the first seven games of the season, but he's become a fixture in the rotation as of late. Heading Wednesday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he had three straight outings in which he played at least 30 minutes and scored at least 18 points.

With Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey all sidelined against the Cavs, McCain had his best game yet. He erupted for a career-high 34 points on 12-of-26 shooting and 10 assists.

After the game, head coach Nick Nurse showered the rookie with praise.

"Obviously, another great game for him," Nurse said. "Probably the biggest thing was the 10 assists for me. I know 34 [points] is a huge number, but mostly he's been doing it all one way. Now that you do that, you're starting to create and they're going to send more people, and I thought he did a good job, for the most part, getting it out to other people to create some buckets.

"And that's pretty fast learning because he has taken a lot of opportunities, he's been getting a lot of shots up, but now getting a feel for the game, playing the game the right way, so that was the most encouraging. He's confident and playing well, and that's certainly a super bright spot."

As Jared Dubin of the Last Night in Basketball Substack noted, McCain's performance against the Cavaliers put him in exclusive company.

As a freshman at Duke last year, McCain shot a sizzling 41.4% from deep on 5.8 attempts per game. Although he's undersized for a combo guard at 6'2" and 195 pounds, Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman wrote that he "made scouts look past his limited size and athleticism with effective dribble creativity, floater touch and finishing craft."

According to Wasserman, McCain drilled 42.1% of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts at Duke, which has carried over to the NBA. Through his first 11 games, he knocked down 48.4% of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts compared to only 23.8% of his pull-up three-point shots.

Playing more with Embiid could help him improve the latter mark. The two have played only one game together thus far—the 111-99 loss to the New York Knicks on Tuesday—but they already demonstrated some early two-man chemistry.

"It's pretty easy playing with him," McCain said after that game. "You come off the screen and you're wide-open, or you get him the ball and they double and you're wide-open. So, it's pretty simple."

Embiid had plenty of success with two-man actions in the past with sharpshooters such as Seth Curry and JJ Redick. McCain could be the latest to benefit from the defensive attention that he commands whenever he's on the floor.

"They're so attentive to Joel, so when you come off those [screens], you just gotta really make yourself open, run 'em into the screen and make the shot," he said Tuesday.

Heading into the year, it was fair to wonder how much playing time McCain would receive. Maxey was locked in as the starter, while the Sixers figured to start two wings (Caleb Martin and Kelly Oubre Jr.) next to him, Embiid and George. They also brought back veteran point guard Kyle Lowry and signed both Eric Gordon and Reggie Jackson in free agency, which seemingly didn't leave many minutes for the rookie.

Thanks to the Sixers' early-season onslaught of injuries, Nurse had little choice but to go deeper into his bench and see what McCain could do with the opportunity. The early returns suggest that he'll not only be locked into the rotation moving forward, but he could even become a candidate to start at some point.

"I think he's certainly played his way right into the whole mix," Nurse said Wednesday.

Maxey is expected to miss at least another week because of his hamstring injury, which should afford McCain more chances to impress Nurse and the Sixers' coaching staff. Both Embiid and George are expected to return Friday against the Orlando Magic, so the offense might not flow through McCain moving forward as much as it did Wednesday, but he'll benefit from the defensive attention that both command.

Once the Sixers' Big Three are all back, they'll remain the team's offensive focal points. However, McCain's three-point shooting and ability to create offense off the dribble should complement them well. That could help him earn a far bigger role as a rookie than anyone reasonably expected coming into the year.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.