Why Sixers guard Jared McCain should be the front-runner for NBA Rookie of the Year

Jared McCain is accomplishing more than being the lone consistent bright spot for the struggling 76ers: He’s in the midst of one having one of the best starts in NBA history.

And for that, the 16th pick in June’s NBA draft should be the early front-runner for the league’s Rookie of the Year award. As he showed Friday against the Nets, when he was caught on-court saying, “I’m Rookie of the Year,” McCain agrees.

“I did say [that],” he said after the victory. “It was pretty clear. It’s one of my goals for the season, obviously. But it’s just that competitiveness coming out of me. I respect every other rookie in this league. But obviously, I’m believing in myself. And yeah, some words definitely came out at that point.”

McCain’s declaration was not without warrant. He leads all rookies in points (248), scoring average (16.5 per game), and made three-pointers (38) heading into Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Wells Fargo Center. On the surface, those numbers are solid, but not overwhelming.

But consider these two statistics for McCain since he was inserted into the starting lineup on Nov. 13: His 24 three-pointers are the most in the first five starts of a player’s career in NBA history. And his scoring average as starter (26.6 points) is the most by a rookie since Hall of Famer Michael Jordan averaged 28.2 points with the Chicago Bulls during the 1984-85 season.

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In addition to that, the former Duke guard recorded two career 30-point performances since becoming a starter. And his six three-pointers while scoring 30 points Friday night against Brooklyn also tied a career high.

“We said it before, he is an incredible kid,” Guerschon Yabusele said. “His energy and everything he’s got going on, just pushing us to do more, you know, individually. When it is a tie game and he is able to do whatever he is going to do for us on the court, it’s amazing, you know, and just keeps us going.”

The Los Angeles Lakers, meanwhile, will tell you that Dalton Knecht should be the front-runner for rookie of the year.

The 6-foot-6 guard is tied for the third-best rookie scoring average at 11.5 points per game. He’s second behind McCain in made three-pointers (36). And the former University of Tennessee standout had a career-high 37 points while making 9 of 12 three-pointers during Tuesday’s 124-118 victory over the Utah Jazz. That performance tied the NBA record for the most threes made by a rookie. At that time, it also moved Knecht to 14-of-17 from three over his two most recent home games.

After that game, LeBron James called out every team that didn’t select Knecht before the Lakers snagged him with the 17th pick in June’s draft.

“[The Lakers] didn’t find DK. The other 16 teams [expletive] it up,” the Lakers star said. “Did anybody watch him? They just didn’t [expletive] it up.”

But McCain is doing a great job of showing why the Sixers picked him over Knecht. His 38 three-pointers passed Hall of Famer Allen Iverson for the most made threes by a Sixers rookie in his first 15 games.

McCain also takes a streak of seven straight games with at least 20 points into Sunday’s game. He joins Iverson (11 times), Joel Embiid (10), and Jerry Stackhouse (eight) as the only Sixers rookies to accomplish the feat.

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“He’s good,” Tyrese Maxey said. “... He’s fearless. When you’re fearless like that, when you have that type of confidence, it’s a good feeling. We need that.”

And these reasons are why McCain has emerged as the early rookie-of-the-year front-runner.