Welcome Mac McClung

[76ciology]

Watch on YouTube

Half Zach Lavine
Half Aaron Gordon

[Bum Adebayo]

Of course? Then why is he stuck in the G-League?

If he couldn't do anything besides dunk, he wouldn't be in the G-League. Check out the Dunk League for people who just dunk. To make it in the G-League you have to be really, really good at basketball. Really, really good isn't good enough to make it in the NBA.

Sorry, I assumed it was understood that by "can he play?" I meant at an NBA level. Isn't that what we're talking about here?

Well, it's not as easy to assess as you may think, the difference can be a few milliseconds in shooting speed to be able to get his shot off or not with his poor length, it remains to be seen how well he can shoot given the overall increase in length and athleticism there is in the NBA.

[Monix]

it remains to be seen how well he can shoot given the overall increase in length and athleticism there is in the NBA.

he hasn't really made shots at any level, save for 13 G-League games last season

shot poorly at Georgetown, Texas Tech and in Delaware - waste of a 2-way spot

[Bum Adebayo]

it remains to be seen how well he can shoot given the overall increase in length and athleticism there is in the NBA.

he hasn't really made shots at any level, save for 13 G-League games last season

shot poorly at Georgetown, Texas Tech and in Delaware - waste of a 2-way spot

Where are you getting your stats? in G-League he is career 42% from 3 on 5 attempts per game, how is that not making shots?

[Jailblazers7]

He seems to have made real & significant progress as a shooter since college. I think he’ll have an NBA moment as a bench scorer at some point.

[Skates]

Kid should be active for the next game, get introduced before the game and get a few minutes if there is garbage time. Memphis on deck so garbage time is not as likely but deserves a spot on the active roster for a game as a reward and recognition.

[phillynative]

Kid should be active for the next game, get introduced before the game and get a few minutes if there is garbage time. Memphis on deck so garbage time is not as likely but deserves a spot on the active roster for a game as a reward and recognition.

Reward for what?

[Bum Adebayo]

Reward for working his ass off and for his electrifying game, WE ARE ALL MCCLUNG!

[mccluskey]

He seems to have made real & significant progress as a shooter since college. I think he’ll have an NBA moment as a bench scorer at some point.

agreed - anybody who still bases their evaluation from watching him in college is off base. The kid has improved a ton as a shooter, ballhandler and distributor over his 1.5 (or so) years in the G League and looks like a different player on the court from his GTown/Tx Tech days.

he's gotten a lot more efficient and learned to run point pretty well (after always playing as a 2 in college/HS) with South Bay/Delaware. Currently has a 3/1 A/TO ratio and is top ten in the G League in TS%, EFG, PER and 3pt%.

G League stats obviously aren't a predictor of NBA success, and he's always going to be undersized with short arms. Plus his defense is below average and needs some work on getting through picks and staying focused on his man off ball and not over-helping to try to make a highlight steal.

but the amount of work he's put in and improvement he's made to his game over the last couple years is pretty significant, and I think he's got an actual shot to stick on the roster if he can keep playing at the level he's shown so far this year.

[mccluskey]

Vertical is one of the most overrated athletic traits in terms of actual NBA play. He can obviously dunk well but I don't consider him even an average NBA athlete. He has no chance to defend and I think most average guard defenders would have little trouble keeping him in front of them.

agree on the defense - he's not good there and may never even become an average defender. But don't get fooled by his appearance, the dude is an all around elite athlete and plenty fast enough for the league. He needs to keep improving his skill and savvy but the first step and explosivity are top notch.

[GoSixersBro]

I just got around to watching the entire dunk contest and my Lord. McClung was head and shoulders (no pun intended) above the rest of the dunkers, but how terrible is the judging now? The fact Lisa Leslie gave him a 49 preventing the perfect 50's across the board was awful. Can we go back to having only previous dunk participants/champs being the judges? And before the SJW's reply to this post, it's not just her. They have idiots who played in the league be judges and are awful. Also Kenny Smith after all these years commentating (aka speaking literally every moment of the contest) still doesn't know what a 360 vs a 720 is.

If McClung didn't complete all his dunks perfectly the way he did, we would've probably seen an '06 Iguodala type robbery.

[Kobblehead]

Commentary actively ruined everything about the dunk contest. Kenny Smith is a joke.

[Negrodamus]

He was great at the dunk contest but I’m seeing so many Sixer fans calling for him to get minutes lol. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a talented player; but he has no business stealing minutes from anyone in the rotation right now.

This is as “Sixer fan” as hoping to get TJ McConnell or some other Sixer of yore to make his triumphant return.

[76ciology]

Vertical is one of the most overrated athletic traits in terms of actual NBA play. He can obviously dunk well but I don't consider him even an average NBA athlete. He has no chance to defend and I think most average guard defenders would have little trouble keeping him in front of them.

agree on the defense - he's not good there and may never even become an average defender. But don't get fooled by his appearance, the dude is an all around elite athlete and plenty fast enough for the league. He needs to keep improving his skill and savvy but the first step and explosivity are top notch.

My issue for him is offense.

Defensively, he just need the footspeed to stay in front of his man while the team can play zone whenever the opponent opts to punish his defense with a 1v1. Dont focus on defense.

Offensively, he needs to be great enough to compensate his flaws on defense.

He just needs 3 things.. being a good c&s that opponents can’t sag off him, having a good stepback jumper and being able to be a threat to score via pull up on a 2 man game.

Almost all guard nowadays have these skills. And this is why Maxey is him right now. And there are guys like Bouknight, Bones Hyland, Quickely or Tre Mann who’s just waiting for an opportunity or more opportunity to show their talent.

McClung looks like below average on all these 3 MUST HAVE skillsets for a guard in the NBA. And that’s why he is who he is right now

[Bum Adebayo]

McClung is INSANE skill no doubt about it

[GoSixersBro]

He was great at the dunk contest but I’m seeing so many Sixer fans calling for him to get minutes lol. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a talented player; but he has no business stealing minutes from anyone in the rotation right now.

This is as “Sixer fan” as hoping to get TJ McConnell or some other Sixer of yore to make his triumphant return.

Agree but I hope Doc decides to at least give him a chance late in a game if we are beating up on a bad team.

[Eyeamok]

He was great at the dunk contest but I’m seeing so many Sixer fans calling for him to get minutes lol. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a talented player; but he has no business stealing minutes from anyone in the rotation right now.

This is as “Sixer fan” as hoping to get TJ McConnell or some other Sixer of yore to make his triumphant return.

Agree but I hope Doc decides to at least give him a chance late in a game if we are beating up on a bad team.

Which may potentially cause a lot of bad blood on the team. There are players on the roster that hardly, if ever, get to see any playing time even in blowouts. So now just because you won a dunk contest Doc plays you? Team chemistry is important.

[Negrodamus]

He was great at the dunk contest but I’m seeing so many Sixer fans calling for him to get minutes lol. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a talented player; but he has no business stealing minutes from anyone in the rotation right now.

This is as “Sixer fan” as hoping to get TJ McConnell or some other Sixer of yore to make his triumphant return.

Agree but I hope Doc decides to at least give him a chance late in a game if we are beating up on a bad team.

Which may potentially cause a lot of bad blood on the team. There are players on the roster that hardly, if ever, get to see any playing time even in blowouts. So now just because you won a dunk contest Doc plays you? Team chemistry is important.

McClung is going to get the 6 minutes that Champagnie got this season. There's no way he's going to get meaningful minutes even in blowouts.

And even if him getting minutes is going to affect someone on the team, who will it be? Furk? He's one foot out the door anyway.

[mccluskey]

Vertical is one of the most overrated athletic traits in terms of actual NBA play. He can obviously dunk well but I don't consider him even an average NBA athlete. He has no chance to defend and I think most average guard defenders would have little trouble keeping him in front of them.

agree on the defense - he's not good there and may never even become an average defender. But don't get fooled by his appearance, the dude is an all around elite athlete and plenty fast enough for the league. He needs to keep improving his skill and savvy but the first step and explosivity are top notch.

My issue for him is offense.

Defensively, he just need the footspeed to stay in front of his man while the team can play zone whenever the opponent opts to punish his defense with a 1v1. Dont focus on defense.

Offensively, he needs to be great enough to compensate his flaws on defense.

He just needs 3 things.. being a good c&s that opponents can’t sag off him, having a good stepback jumper and being able to be a threat to score via pull up on a 2 man game.

Almost all guard nowadays have these skills. And this is why Maxey is him right now. And there are guys like Bouknight, Bones Hyland, Quickely or Tre Mann who’s just waiting for an opportunity or more opportunity to show their talent.

McClung looks like below average on all these 3 MUST HAVE skillsets for a guard in the NBA. And that’s why he is who he is right now

I hear ya, good points - I completely agree that he can earn minutes by being good enough offensively that it offsets his defensive flaws.

but I also think you're selling McClung a bit short as an offensive player. Like I've said, I'm a fan of the kid so I can't blame you for taking everything I say with a grain of salt, but of those three things you mentioned, the only one he doesn't utilize consistently right now is the deep stepback. He can do it and has hit some big shots late in games that way, but his mentality is much more an aggressive attacking player off the dribble than a guy that looks to use his handle to create space for long 3s.

last year with South Bay he showed he could play the point effectively but was still a very ball-dominant guy. This year with Delaware has seen him make real strides in learning to impact the game as a complementary player - his catch and shoot ability has gotten more consistent, and he's become a lot more efficient with his scoring opportunities.

the most important thing to me with him that makes me believe he has a real chance to make it is that he's showed a consistent pattern of improvement over his career to date.

3pt % from FR yr at GTown through this year with Delaware:
18-19 - .277 on 4.9 att/game
19-20 - .323 on 4.6
20-21 - .343 on 4.7
21-22 - .384 on 4.95 (first year in G League)
22-23 - .410 on 4.3 (he's playing 27mpg with Delaware vs 35mpg with South Bay, so overall att/game have dropped a bit)

assist/TO numbers over the same timeframe as a SG in college and PG as a pro:
18-19 - 2.0 apg, 1.8 TO (26mpg)
19-20 - 2.4 apg, 1.8 TO (27mpg)
20-21 - 2.1 apg, 1.9 TO (30mpg)
21-22 - 7.0 apg, 3.0 TO (35mpg)
22-23 - 5.3 apg, 1.8 TO (27mpg)


I won't keep on bending your ear about the kid - this is probably too much discussion already about a guy on the very end of Philly's bench who may not ever see the court this year. But again, having watched him since his HS mixtape days, the reason I like him so much is that he's ultra competitive, super fun to watch on the court and continues to work hard and get better every year. And like you saw with the dunk contest, he doesn't get intimidated in big moments and tends to be at his best when the stakes get higher.

[Eyeamok]

Agree but I hope Doc decides to at least give him a chance late in a game if we are beating up on a bad team.

Which may potentially cause a lot of bad blood on the team. There are players on the roster that hardly, if ever, get to see any playing time even in blowouts. So now just because you won a dunk contest Doc plays you? Team chemistry is important.

McClung is going to get the 6 minutes that Champagnie got this season. There's no way he's going to get meaningful minutes even in blowouts.

And even if him getting minutes is going to affect someone on the team, who will it be? Furk? He's one foot out the door anyway.

Oh you definitely can't play him in front of Furkan. Didn't Furkan win a dunk contest in Europe? For the record I would like to see McClung play in an NBA game.