WILMINGTON, Del. – An eventful day of news in the world of the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday began in Camden, N.J., where the team practiced in the morning before boarding its flight to Detroit for Friday night's NBA Cup Group Play game against the Pistons.
But for Jared McCain, the day ended in Wilmington, Del., where the second-year guard made his first appearance with the organization's G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats. McCain's foray into G League action is expected to last at least a pair of games, with the Blue Coats hosting the G League affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets, the Greensboro Swarm, on Thursday and Saturday nights.
McCain, who underwent a meniscus repair in December and then tore the ACL in his right thumb in September, made his season debut for the Sixers on Nov. 4. But across three appearances, the 21-year-old failed to register a point. As McCain has tried to get his feet wet, his minutes have been scarce on a competitive team and he has been limited to very short bursts of action.
When McCain has been on the floor, his struggles have been significant. McCain has worn a bulky brace on his left knee, and now nearly 11 months removed from surgery McCain is trying to regain trust in his burst and balance. McCain had been open and honest about his struggles with the brace and has sought out the advice of Joel Embiid, who has more experience than just about anyone playing under those circumstances.
McCain's brace looked like this:
McCain braceColleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
"I feel like I'm just trying to get used to playing, and I feel a little off-balance," McCain said on Sunday. "...I think it's just going to take some time, but I'm getting there."
In the immediate term, McCain's ramp-up process and the Sixers' ambitions at the NBA level became, for lack of a better word, incompatible. But the Sixers know that a humming version of McCain would be a massive addition to a team that already boasts an impressive young guard rotation comprised of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes.
The solution the team landed on: sending McCain to Delaware for at least the two games against Greensboro, which would allow him to play much longer stints and not feel as much pressure to contribute.
The plan for McCain, still on a minutes limit, was simple: he would play two long stretches in the first half, and when the teams returned from their locker rooms to begin the third quarter his night would already be over. McCain totaled 20 minutes and eight seconds of action in all; he played the first 10 minutes and 16 seconds of the game, sat for about four minutes and then played up until intermission.
"Especially with the Sixers, coming into a game you never want to mess up the rhythm of the game," McCain said after Thursday's game. "When you're playing with Tyrese, VJ or Quentin, the guards, you never want to mess up what they've got going. Coming in and playing five or six minutes, it was tough to get something going, because you miss one shot and don't see the ball for a little bit... In these longer stints, you're able to play through mistakes and get out there and get some shots up."
McCain got noticeably more physical and aggressive as the game went on, scoring 10 points on as many shot attempts. Something that might have helped: McCain replaced his massive brace with a sleeve called "Incrediwear," he said, which he had under tights. The goal was to give McCain's knee protection without hindering its freedom of movement as much."More freeing, less restrictive," as McCain described it. It certainly sounded like a more comfortable arrangement. Could he stick with it moving forward?
"I think know it [will be determined] by whatever the medical staff says about my knee," McCain said. "Depending on how I feel tomorrow – especially playing, now, 20 minutes – seeing how it responds to playing a game like that. But hopefully I can play with no brace and move forward with that."
McCain's assignment is not a demotion; a minor-league rehab assignment in baseball is a much closer comparison. A low-pressure environment in which a player can flesh out all of the nuances of his game, stay on the floor for prolonged stretches, feel empowered with the ball and not shy away from making mistakes is exactly what McCain needed in this moment. So when the team brought the idea to him on Wednesday, he was eager to give it a shot.
"It's something that I feel like will help me in the long run," McCain said.
McCain went 3-for-10 from the field, 0-for-4 with a few close misses from beyond the arc and 2-for-3 on free throws for four points (in the G League, a player shoots one free throw for two points instead of two free throws worth one point each).
McCain's best moments came midway through the second quarter, when he was able to overwhelm defenders with physicality.
To help compensate for his lack of explosion, McCain has always utilized what he describes as a "stocky build" in combination with his natural smarts to bump defenders off spots and play with the sort of force that many defenders are not suspecting from an undersized guard. On Thursday, he signaled a willingness to rely more on all of that while he waits for his mobility to return.
"I keep saying it, but it's all about feel for me, and using my body is something I've done since I was a kid," McCain said. "...I really just want to get back to feeling like that, feeling like I can push off my left a little bit more, just getting it stronger. It's hard getting it stronger through the games, but you have to. You're going to have to get through these mistakes, and get through some turnovers, get through some bumps where you don't feel on-balance, but I know I can do it, and it's a great way to do it down here."
Speaking of, there were times when McCain probably pushed the envelope a bit too much. As much as he was trying to play within the flow of the Blue Coats' offense it was likely difficult for McCain to resist the urge to be especially assertive when he was acutely aware of the purpose of him being in the game.
McCain's mobility is clearly still limited by his brace, and it is not as if his short-but-stellar rookie season was powered by explosive athleticism to begin with. He had a few strong drives where he manipulated a defender and got by them to create an advantage, but he was more successful utilizing his muscle than his speed.
McCain was one of three guards in a small starting five also featuring the 6-foot Kennedy Chandler (that is a generous measurement) and Sixers two-way rookie Hunter Sallis. McCain began the game playing off the ball, but most of his minutes ended up coming in an on-ball role.
Rarely is a professional athlete as in tune with the mental side of their performance as McCain. He is young, but he has fully embraced that aspect of his life inside and outside of basketball. And for all of the talks about braces, sleeves and tights, none of it matters without McCain keeping himself in the right frame of mind. And even for a person who typically oozes positivity and cannot contain their smile, it has been a challenge.
McCain is a social media personality. He admitted on Thursday that reading what people say about him online amid his struggles makes it harder to flush disappointing results. "You've just got to block it out," McCain said, but that is much easier said than done. On Sunday, McCain talked about his focus on giving himself "grace and compassion" through this process. But what does that actually look like in practice?
"It's a lot of talking to my psychologist about everything. It gets frustrating, I can't lie," McCain said. "You want to, obviously, play for the Sixers and be up there contributing to the team. But when it's not clicking, you've got to find yourself. The easiest way to do that is always look inward. Giving myself grace means don't get too mad at myself. I try not to base my performance off of the outcomes and results and more so just how I feel. If I feel good, if I felt like I had a quiet mind out there, I felt like I'm myself, I know what that feels like and I know how that can look. So that's really all I'm going for."
Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice