Capping off a couple of pass-heavy possessions, Jared McCain knocked down a pair of outside jumpers. The home team easily put up over 40 points in the first quarter. Considering most of their top rotation players logged minutes, maybe this team is slowly leaning a little more toward offense. At least, in the creativity department.
The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped another one with a 128-126 preseason loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. But the first half made the second-half meltdown an afterthought.
McCain finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting, two assists and one rebound. He shot 3-of-6 from 3.
On a back-to-back with different rotations, McCain had a fluctuating role. On the first night, he was a starter and one of the top options. On the second
night, he came off the bench and was a role player. The Thunder leveraged Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's gravity by zipping the ball towards him. He needed little time to take an attempt. You have to love that from one of your designated gunners.
"He's always guarded by the best player, so when he has to take the ball up. He's getting tired and he's playing a lot of minutes. So having someone to relieve that pressure off of him," McCain said about Gilgeous-Alexander. "Bringing the ball up, it allows him to use that quickness and use the stamina he has to make the move stronger, whatever it is. Get to our spots and get to our play quicker for him in the halfcourt."
It's been said countless times since the Thunder made their cost-cutting moves, but McCain could be in line for a huge role. Someone needs to make up for some of the bench scoring they lost over the summer. The 22-year-old is about to have all of the runway in the world to be that guy.
The Thunder are going all in on McCain's game. They're giving him the creative freedom and breathing room to rack up his shot attempts. That's something that wasn't always the case. Heck, a year ago today, he was starting to realize he was buried on the Philadelphia 76ers' depth chart.
"I thank Mark for allowing me to take those shots. And even when you take a bad one, he'll let you know," McCain said. "Everybody knows part of each person's game. We all know each other's game. So we're going to encourage us to take those shots that we feel like we're going to make. It definitely gives you confidence. If you miss a few in a row, your teammates and your coach are telling you to take the next one."
Another Thunder player off the bench who could help? Aday Mara. Most projected him to be a Year 1 developmental piece. But this preseason back-to-back has shelved that conservative thought. The seven-footer looks ready to help right now. And if his playmaking can be explored, McCain could have another teammate who can throw him the ball in their DHO actions.
"It's awesome. It's exactly what we need. He's such a good dude," McCain said about Mara. "Getting to know him and learning some Spanish from him, too. So it's been pretty cool to get to know him and play. He's a great player out there."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Jared McCain is on mission to make Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's life easier
