Jared McCain stood in front of reporters in a hallway on Wednesday morning, flashing his signature smile before any of them had asked him a question. After all, the rookie guard is getting set for his first NBA regular season game -- and very well may get serious playing time in a high-profile matchup.
"This is what I've been waiting for, literally my whole life," McCain said after the Sixers held their pregame shootaround. "A lot of excitement."
In a vacuum, this picture is standard: a player who brings unbridled optimism expressing excitement about their upcoming professional debut. But it almost wasn't this way.
It was only a week ago that McCain was on the ground, gasping for air after taking a brutal fall on his back. McCain suffered a pulmonary contusion, which forced him to miss the team's final preseason game.
"I was trying to get up," McCain said. "And I literally just couldn't."
In his first media availability since the play, McCain explained what unfolded from his point of view.
"When I fell, I didn't feel anything in my back," McCain said. "It went straight to my chest."
Team doctors told McCain he simply needed to rest, he said, and after a few days he was "back to normal," not even listed on the team's injury report for their season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks. In typical McCain fashion, he carved out a positive perspective.
"I feel like the universe was telling me something," McCain said. "So I feel almost better now."
McCain was the talk of Sixers training camp in The Bahamas at the beginning of the month. He showed flashes of tremendous promise during his preseason action. Did it ever cross his mind that after all of that, his NBA dream could be delayed by a freakish accident entirely out of his control? McCain answered with words that mean something different to folks around these parts.
"Not really," McCain said. "I always try to just trust my process."
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A few other tidbits from McCain's media availability...
• McCain on the initial reaction and testing after his fall:
"They said I had the wind knocked out of me, but I've had that before and I could get up after a few seconds... I did some breathing exercises, they checked for a concussion, they checked if it was more than the lung bruise, but now I'm fully cleared and I just took a few days to rest."
• McCain on the team opening its season without Joel Embiid and Paul George:
"I think that's an opportunity for me to showcase my talents and showcase that I can be a player on this team and get playing time, but I want to see them back on the court. These are people I've watched since I was a kid. I want to see Joel and Paul play, just as a fan. I want to see it."
• McCain on what he learned from the preseason:
"That the game is definitely faster. A lot faster than college, but even faster than Summer League. So it's just up and down. Got to know how to rotate on the fly. You've got to know exactly what you're doing in a split second, and it could switch very quickly. But talking to my coaches, it's going to slow down. It takes time, but I'll learn."
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