Sixers hope draft selection Jared McCain will contribute early and stay in Philly for a long time

The 76ers stood pat and used the No. 16 pick to select who they felt was the best player available during Wednesday’s NBA draft at the Barclays Center.

They pondered scenarios that would have had them trading out or back in draft in exchange for a veteran player. But acquiring Jared McCain was too good to pass up.

“Jared has just been a winner everywhere,” said Daryl Morey, the Sixers president of basketball operations. “It’s pretty rare to get a combination of a guy that has some skills to get him on the floor earlier, including shooting but also with a lot of upside on a very steep improvement curve, even at his time at Duke, defensively.”

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The Sixers were surprised that the Blue Devils shooting guard was still available at 16. They were a little concerned that the Miami Heat would select him at No. 15. But once they picked Indiana center Kel’el Ware, the Sixers pounced on the opportunity to snag McCain. They’ll have another chance to select a player when the draft resumes at 4 p.m. Thursday with the second round at ESPN Seaport District Studios. The Sixers will select 41st.

As for McCain, the California native was one of the best shooters in college basketball this past season.

The 6-foot-3 guard shot 41.4% on three-pointers. The 20-year-old set a Duke freshman single-game record, making eight threes while scoring a career-best 35 points against Florida State University on Feb. 17. He tied that record while finishing with 30 points against James Madison University in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

McCain averaged 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.1 steals this season. McCain elevated his scoring production in the NCAA tourney, averaging 21.0 points during Duke’s run to the Elite Eight.

“We really value shooting given the rest of the roster, especially Joel [Embiid],” Morey said. “We just think Joel’s unguardable when he has shooting around him. It doesn’t mean we don’t put tough-nosed guys out there... it’s never an easy thing.”

As impressive as McCain is, Morey said he’s obviously not going to play a whole lot with All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey. “It’s just hard for a rookie,” he said, “but that elite shooting from two guys out on the floor is pretty hard to guard and both of them make it really tough on you if you try to guard them tight. I don’t have to sell Tyrese Maxey, but Jared can attack a closeout and make a play.”

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McCain and the 6-2 Maxey would make a small backcourt pairing that might have a tough time defending taller guards. Morey agreed that’s a valid concern.

“Obviously your backcourt, in a perfect world, you’d have taller,” he said. “But I think you have to compensate (for) that with strength. [McCain’s] got a strong frame — very strong. Good rebounder. We think he’ll be a solid defender in the league over time.

“He started off at Duke … he was being targeted at Duke and as the season went on he became someone that was actually one of their better defenders.

Camden High basketball fans are familiar with his toughness.

Back on Jan. 15, 2023, McCain led Centennial High School to a 66-62 victory over a Camden squad led by DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw at the Spalding Hoophall Classic.

McCain and Wagner went basket for basket in the second half, when the California Player of the Year scored 17 of his 27 points. He made 6 of 10 three-pointers while being named player of the game.

“Starting with high school, it’s always been something that I have been [regarded as] smaller,” he said. “I’m just the average size. It’s funny. Just being 6-3 and being labeled as small when I hear that. But in the league, it’s insane.

“So I’m just excited to continue to work on that and find other ways to impact winning without being 6-9.”

Off the court, McCain is known for having 2.8 million followers on TikTok and another 1.1 million on Instagram. He′s also known for painting his fingernails.

“I do all that stuff, but basketball is obviously my main focus,” he said. “This has been my dream since I was literally like five, four years old. So I’m gonna do whatever I can just to win and bring a positive attitude and just have fun, man. I’m just joyful with life and I try to bring that everywhere I go.”

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He’s also eager to meet and play with Maxey. After being drafted, he received the point guard’s phone number.

“I’m really excited just to get to know him,” he said, “and, obviously, ask questions just to see what he did to succeed so quickly.”

Up next for the Sixers will be free agency, where they could have around $61.3 million in cap space, four future first-round picks, and multiple pick swaps to acquire a third star to play with Maxey and Embiid. But the list of candidates appeared to shrink on Wednesday.

Los Angeles Clippers swingman Paul George has been the Sixers’ top target for some time. But reports have emerged indicating that he wants to remain on the West Coast. Sources said the Sixers planned to give Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler a maximum-salary extension if they can acquire him in a trade. But it appears that Butler will remain in Miami. And the Sixers never got an opportunity to lure unrestricted free agent OG Anunoby away from the New York Knicks with a lucrative offer before he agreed to a five-year, $212.5 million contract to remain with the Knicks.

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Because of their win-now mentality, the Sixers were expected to court NBA-ready players. But the Sixers selected McCain right before the Los Angeles Lakers selected former Tennessee forward Dalton Knecht at No. 17 and the Orlando Magic picked former Colorado forward Tristan da Silva 18th. Both players are 23 years old and have several years of college experience.

“But we had McCain as a top-10 player in this draft,” Morey said.” We’ve got a lot of roster opportunity, so if you can get a player who is hopefully rotation-ready at a very young age, [then do it.].

“I don’t want to put pressure on him, but we think he’s got the improvement curve, he’s got the approach, he’s obviously got a skill that the coach [Nick Nurse] will turn around on the bench and say, ‘Hey, I need that skill.’ He can really punish people in transition, really rebound. He’s pretty special for a guy to get in the middle of the first round.”

The team did consider moving back and picking up a player that might be more ready to play. Morey said it was a player the team might be able to acquire later.

And the Sixers think McCain is going to be in Philly for a long time.

“But really, the value of McCain was just too high for us,” Morey said. “So we stuck.”