Instant observations: Sixers demolish Breakers in stellar Jared McCain debut

The Sixers sat Paul George and Joel Embiid and still demolished the New Zealand Breakers, running away to a 139-84 victory that was over by halftime.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Tyrese Maxey probably could have played the New Zealand Breakers with one other guy and three cardboard cutouts and had himself a good time. The talent gap is vast, and he made sure to underline that with his play in the first quarter.

Did I see a quicker shot release from Maxey on his pull-up threes? Perhaps it was a function of being guarded by a guy who is generously listed as 5’10” tall, but Maxey was jogging the ball up the floor and flinging it at the rim before the defense could even think about trying to contest. The Breakers did their best to force the ball out of his hands whenever a ball screen came his way, but Maxey did a good job of releasing and then sprinting out of the trap, turning the corner for some strong moves toward the hoop.

More noticeable than his production was his demeanor, though. For a lot of guys on the floor on Monday, there was a noticeable “This is just the preseason” vibe around their play. There were a fair amount of defensive possessions that were mailed in, with guys not trying to put their bodies on the line for a meaningless game. But for the 12 minutes Maxey played, he was as close as you can get to “locked in” during a preseason game. Clearly, he is taking his responsibilities as a leader seriously.

15 points in a quarter of work is good on any floor against any team, and he was everybody’s biggest cheerleader after he hit the bench. Can’t ask for much more.

— I for one am thankful that the Sixers have a dominant rebounder as their backup center for Joel Embiid. While we still need to see if their current roster is up to the task on the glass with Embiid in the game, Andre Drummond is a human vacuum who will end a lot of possessions with little help from anyone else.

This game wasn’t necessarily a great judge of his impact on the team — Drummond was simply way too big for most of the Breakers to deal with — but it was a good proof of concept for how it’ll work on off nights for their MVP. Drummond had seven rebounds by halftime and created multiple second-chance opportunities on missed Sixers free throws, which is hard enough to pull off once a night.

I’m interested to see if Nurse ever tries an ultra-big lineup with Drummond alongside Embiid. The former was working on his three-point shooting throughout training camp, and in his first quarter of action this season, Drummond canned a corner three and missed another one from above the break. The coaching staff has given him the green light to let it go, and that might allow them to do some wonky things with lineups as the season wears on.

(By the way, I was nervous as all hell when Drummond got rolled up on in the first half, but he bounced back quickly and seemed to avoid an injury altogether. Sigh of relief.)

— I wouldn’t call it a huge surprise, but Guerschon Yabusele getting the first crack at backup minutes behind Drummond was interesting. Does that mean he’s out of the rotation when Embiid plays, or will he bump out another one of the wing/forward types? Too soon to know.

More importantly, Yabusele looked at home in that role, at least on offense. With the Breakers throwing frequent traps at Philadelphia’s ballhandlers, Yabusele got a ton of reps playing out of the short roll and acquitted himself well. The Frenchman showed off soft hands in traffic, made a nice read or two as a passer from the middle of the floor, and he punished the Breakers any time they stuck a small man on him near the rim. Easy buckets vs. mismatches is the name of the game for him.

On the negative side, there was a shot opportunity on a trail three that he passed up in the first half and a similar record scratch in the third, and I’ll be keeping a close eye on his willingness to fire as the preseason wears on. That’ll probably matter more than him beating up on little guys, but Yabusele did hit a trail three in the third to add to his evening.

— I have relatively significant concerns about Jared McCain as a defender during his first year in the league. Against a Breakers team that isn’t particularly big or physical, he got caught up on a lot of screens, forcing him into scramble mode more often than you’d like. That led to some sloppy fouls and trips to the basket for the opponent that will get him benched in the regular season.

But boy, that kid can shoot. And that’s all he’s going to have to do to get regular playing time on this team, I would think.

Nick Nurse kept McCain with a second ballhandler for the bulk of his minutes in this game, pairing him with Kyle Lowry and Jeff Dowtin in the first half to spread out the playmaking responsibilities. Taking him off-ball allows McCain to focus on what he does best. You know, this sort of thing:

That first shot is the sort of quick-release three we saw a ton of from Nic Batum, and it’s a shot he has been working on coming into this season. McCain’s mechanics are already pristine and he doesn’t need to adjust much, but to beat bigger and rangier players on closeouts, McCain is going to have to use this trick every so often. It’s a good one to have in the bag.

— Ricky Council IV still seems to be behind K.J. Martin in the rotation (even if it’s only slightly), but I have to imagine he is going to win out eventually. For what the team needs out of that spot on the bench, Council just seems to pop up and make plays more often, and he’s a bigger threat to make something happen off the bounce and/or in transition.

He already has a few “wow” moments under his belt after a single preseason game, starting with this one:

There was a confident pull-up three for Council out of a dribble handoff, too, which warmed my heart a little bit.

— Caleb Martin is basically the ultimate Kyle Neubeck player. He didn’t have a crazy stat line but he was a terrific connective piece and made a bunch of “little things” plays while the game was still competitive. I will enjoy watching him far more than the average person.

— Good Reggie Jackson minutes in the third quarter! He definitely has more on-ball juice left than Kyle Lowry, though a second unit with Reggie Jackson at the controls may end with a few too many stepback jumpers from Jackson. In any case, he got on a little heater and really put this game to rest.

The Bad

— No outright bad things in this one. They were up 40+ most of the second half in their opening preseason game, not even I can find things to complain about.

Now that I think about it…

The Ugly

— I’m sure we can all agree that we tuned into the first game of the preseason to see the officials. Love constant whistles and a painfully slow first quarter to open the year. Can’t get enough of it.

— Parker Jackson-Cartwright was often the last man back for the Breakers, so he drew the unfortunate task of trying to deal with Andre Drummond or Guerschon Yabusele on an early post-up. No chance.