The Philadelphia 76ers continue to be an enigma. Despite a sizeable seven-point lead with under four minutes to go, they still managed to drop another game at home to the shorthanded Cavaliers. But as disappointing of a loss that one was, another noteworthy wrinkle from this outing is the fact that Jared McCain did not even see the court for a single second against Cleveland.
For the first time since early November, McCain was active but was a DNP. With this coaching decision, the 76ers are clearly making a point to the sophomore that they will no longer hand him minutes out of stature. Now, this is something he should take seriously as an indictment of his level of play so far this season.
Philly, now much healthier than before, finally has a full deck. And with McCain as the apparent casualty, it is now incumbent upon him to own up to his play and make actual improvements independent of his process of regaining his mojo after missing almost an entire calendary year due to injuries.
Put simply, it’s like the 76ers are saying “Man, we get it, but it’s been two months of poor play”.
The 76ers just benched Jared McCain in a pretty bold move
With Philly middling as of late, the team can no longer afford to wait for McCain to even look the part of a rotation-caliber player in this particular season. Sure, he may still be trying to get his rhythm, but it has been more than two months since he made his return and he has not even been able to string together a few good games consecutively.
So far, he is averaging just 6.3 points and 1.6 assists per game while shooting a dreadful 35.4 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from the three-point line. He is tallying just 17.3 minutes on the average, but given how bad he has looked, even that figure amounts to a probable excess, if we are being honest.
It is pretty telling that McCain got a DNP on the same night where VJ Edgecombe got contained on D and Tyrese Maxey did not even shoot particularly well from the floor. The 76ers are more than willing to trot out Quentin Grimes as the nominal point guard at times, which is a strong message McCain cannot take lightly.
If anything, the 76ers are simply doing what a win-now team (despite the ugly results) ought to do, which is to hand out minutes to those who deserve it more. So far, Jared McCain has yet to earn his flowers, and the team is acting accordingly.
Hopefully, the eccentric guard gets to turn things around before it’s too late.