The backcourt duo both shined in the win over Brooklyn, and pushed back against the notion they can’t thrive together.
After dropping a combined 56 points to carry the Sixers to their third win of the season, the topic was broached to Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain— can you guys make it work as an undersized backcourt in today’s NBA?
Maxey, who has dealt with this sort of skepticism his entire NBA career, immediately pushed back on the concept.
“Who said we was small?” He asked the reporter, “That’s crazy, I don’t feel small.”
When the reporter followed up by asking just how tall he was, Maxey curtly responded that, “I’m taller than you.”
While neither of them are fazed by it, at 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-2 respectively, Maxey and McCain are below the average height of an NBA guard. While it’s not the ideal model for team building, it became very evident that these were the two best players the Sixers have had *mostly* available this year. They need to be on the court together, and figure out lineups that work best around them.
Recent history suggests both guards need to be constantly playing at an all-star level to translate to team success, and even then it might not be enough. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were able to take the Portland Trail Blazers to the playoffs every year, but an inability to give that duo a formidable front court prevented them from ever being taken seriously as title contenders. The current Cleveland Cavaliers have had a lot of success with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, but their title hopes may very well hinge on the development of Evan Mobley.
The Sixers’ front court situation at the moment is… well, it’s very up the air right now. They are, however, getting All-Star-caliber production from both of their young guards.
In his second game back and still on a minutes restriction, Maxey dropped 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting, going 3-of-6 from behind the three-point line. Meanwhile, McCain broke out in Maxey’s absence, averaging 25.5 points per game on 48.2 percent shooting and 44.1 percent from three in the six games his older teammate missed. He has since extended his streak of 20 or more points per game starting alongside Maxey the last two games. In last Friday night’s win against Brooklyn, the two scored 18 straight points across a four-minute stretch in the fourth quarter to put the game away. You can watch all of those baskets thanks to Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com
When the Sixers found themselves trailing the Brooklyn Nets with six minutes left on Friday night, starting guards Jared McCain and Tyrese Maxey combined to take the team’s next eight shot attempts — and they all went in.
Would you like to see every shot from that stretch? pic.twitter.com/lSbr5gFCau
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) November 23, 2024
The two are very confident about themselves as a pair going forward, and there hasn’t really been any evidence to suggest they won’t work together. McCain expounded on why he doesn’t think their size is an issue.
“Because we both play hard. I think a lot of the game is just playing hard,” he said. “They’re going to have an offensive scheme to try and go at us. But as long as we play hard, I think we will be able to hold our own.”
Both of them have come into the league with reputations as gym rats, and working as hard as they have has gotten them pretty far.
“That’s something a lot of people just don’t do. And I think we give a lot of effort, give a lot of energy, and I think we can make up for that,” McCain said.
Despite their size, these two guys have proven they can put the ball in the hoop at an efficient rate. Just having another guy on the court who can do so is a huge help to both of them after a start to the season that has been ravaged with shorthanded lineups.
“When you have two ball handlers out there it makes the game a lot easier,” Maxey said. “He doesn’t get tired because he isn’t going over and over again. I’m not going to get tired from going over and over and over again. You can kind of catch your breath a little bit.”
As someone who’s always shot the three 10-to-15 percent better off the catch than pulling up, Maxey is relieved by the emergence of another ball handler.
“It’s a really good feeling, because now I can get off the ball and relax a little bit and kind of like, you know, catch my breath,” he said, “it’s hard when you have the ball the entire game.”
Injuries have made it difficult for McCain to get game reps with any of the Big 3 so far, but he doesn’t feel like it’s been hard figuring out how to play with them.
“It’s pretty easy to play with him,” McCain said of Maxey. “There’s so much attention he draws. Anytime he has the ball I feel like I’m open because they always are inching towards him when he’s about to drive.”
So despite a 3-12 start and two aging stars who may never be able to stay healthy, the Sixers’ potential backcourt of the future looks really good in the present.