PHILADELPHIA, PA—Ahead of their matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse addressed the media for his pregame availability. During that time, he spoke on the Sixers’ sensational rookie, Jared McCain, praising his confidence, performance, and more.
“We had all our major scores out. We had 80 points, sitting on the bench. Somebody had to take over. So he seized the opportunity, and he’s able to take the ball places and get there, and he can shoot, and he can score, [he has] tremendous confidence, and continues to do it.”
Nurse was then asked about McCain’s adjustment to the pro level.
“I think he almost always exudes a tremendous amount of confidence. I think he really is confident and certainly not afraid. The other thing you gotta notice or admire, whatever stage you’re at, is that he plays really hard. He plays really hard the whole time he’s out there. There’s no possessions off, and he’s chasing the ball, and he’s guarding hard, and he’s got a big motor. He can really play hard for long stretches.”
“Right when we got him, in the summer league and all that stuff and then that period that you’re talking about afterward, [I] saw [a] tremendous work ethic. Tremendous. You knew he understood right away, he was going to he was going to get to the gym early in the morning, and he was going to work, and he was going to lift, and he was going to go back, and he was going to take instruction, and he was going to do it all over again and again.”
“That big motor applies to that too. Like getting up again to do it the next day and the next day, the next day, the next day, and just stacking those things up. So the work ethic was super noticeable right away, too.”
Nurse was finally asked about what he saw from the rookie defensively, to which he gave an honest and hopeful evaluation.
“Well, first of all, he works at it. He wants to play it. He tries really hard. He’s pretty good on ball. He’s getting a little bit of a rookie indoctrination on all the other stuff, right, off-ball, actions, schemes, it’s a lot different than college, and it’s a lot coming at you in a short amount of time, and it usually takes just a lot of repetitions to understand all that stuff but he will, and he’s, and he’s doing it you know the learning curves, moving pretty quickly. But he wants to play it. And he gives tremendous effort.”
Through his first 15 games, Jared McCain has left quite the impression already, not just with the fans, the national media, or even his teammates, but also with his coach, who is typically the most difficult to win over traditionally.
