It’s time for the Philadelphia 76ers to call up Jordan McRae from the Delaware 87ers.
Jordan McRae of the Delaware 87ers has had a rough season, but has fought to make the most of it. To start off the year, McRae took a gamble on himself by taking a contract tender which allowed the Sixers to retain his rights even if he signed overseas. It looked like a bad move for McRae, but one he made nonetheless. Jordan didn’t end up making the cut to become a Sixer when the final 15-man roster, since the position he was competing for was already stacked with talent. Now, though, some of that apparent talent has wavered off and he could certainly come in and do well.
McRae has had a good season with the Sixers’ D-League affiliate Delaware 87ers, where he has scored over 60 points in a single game at one point this year, a D-League single game record. His performance caught the eyes of those running the Phoenix Suns organization, and he was offered two 10-day contracts with them. He really caught the eyes of everybody, and showed immense confidence the day after he had that record-setting performance. I was happy to see the day after he was wearing a “PHILA” shirt (a Brett Brown special) which showed — to me at least — where his ultimate goal is at. He’s been steady with the organization in the preseason workouts and D-League, and wasn’t afraid to sign the tender to have the team name stamped on him.
Those 10-day contracts with the Suns have both expired, and he has since returned to Delaware, playing his first game back with the Sevens on Thursday where he finished with 17 points.
With the Suns, McRae put up 5.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists, but it must be considered that he didn’t play much, seeing only 11.7 minutes in his 7 played games. Per 36 minutes he was putting up 16.2 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.5 rebounds. McRae was not good from deep but shot above 40 percent from the field. McRae has only attempted 11 3-pointers so far in the NBA, so to say that he “doesn’t have a 3-point shot” is a bit unfair. We could certainly give him a shot and see if he develops any sort of game beyond the perimeter. There really isn’t a whole lot to base his performance off of from the NBA, and the D-League isn’t the best gauge of talent since it’s a completely different league.
As a D-Leaguer, though, McRae has succeeded scoring 23.3 points while dishing out over 5 assists per game.
It would be a no-brainer move for Philly if he had a decent 3-point shot, but since he doesn’t I could see why they would have some doubts about bringing him in. Still, we’re at the point in the season where teams can sign 10-day contracts, so there isn’t a huge gamble when it comes to McRae.
The Sixers have an open roster spot to play with since they waived JaKarr Sampson to make room for Joel Anthony and had that trade get voided. Many fans have wanted McRae or Sean Kilpatrick. I think trying them both is even an option, giving each a 10-day contract to see how they do.
Either way, hopefully we find out soon what the Sixers plan to do with that free roster spot.