Despite finding his rhythm, Jared McCain's usage continues to be a problem for the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Philadelphia 76ers are in a much better position than they were a couple of weeks ago, but there are still a lot of things they need to work on. While it's difficult to improve when your star players are struggling to stay on the court, a lot of their current flaws can be found within the coaching rather than the players themselves.
Nick Nurse has been great at times this season, but he's lacked consistency and has made some questionable decisions so far. That said, without a doubt, the most questionable aspect of his coaching thus far has been his reluctance to play Jared McCain.
McCain missed the first stretch of the season as he recovered from his thumb injury, but he's been progressively getting better over the last few weeks. In fact, while VJ Edgecombe was out for a few games, McCain scored 15+ points in three straight outings. Even so, however, he hasn't seen much of an increase in minutes, even when Tyrese Maxey was out.
McCain averaged just 16 minutes per game while Maxey was out, which is simply unacceptable. It's frustrating, as McCain is a huge part of this team, but it seems like he's being undervalued by his own coach.
Aside from Maxey, he looks like the most complete offensive player in the backcourt. Granted, Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes both bring things to the table physically that McCain doesn't have, but he's still more skilled than both players.
This isn't to say that he should start, but he definitely deserves and frankly needs to be used more. If they can get him more involved over the next few weeks, we could see them take off on a surge of success, as they'll be in a better position in terms of rotation. Hopefully, they do so, and the disrespect will stop.