NBA Conference Finals are underway and the league still hasn’t announced the MVP award winner (finally coming tonight!). However, we did receive the announcment yesterday for NBA All-Rookie teams. While no Philadelphia 76er made First or Second Team, a couple did land in the Others Receiving Votes category.
Jared McCain received one First Place vote and five Second Place votes. The former Duke Blue Devil is obviously a special case, as he looked to be on his way to running away with Rookie of the Year honors before a torn meniscus in his left knee ended his season after 23 games played. His 15.3 points per game led all rookies, ahead of Stephon Castle at 14.7 points per game, who was the only unanimous First Team selection.
After an adjustment period working his way into the lineup, McCain exploded around mid-November. He averaged 19.1 points per game during the month, and had a stretch of seven straight games with at least 20 points, including 34- and 30-point efforts against Cleveland and Brooklyn. With McCain getting the full repair on his meniscus, the long-term prognosis is encouraging for the 21-year-old to return to 100 percent health. McCain was certainly one of the brightest spots of the Sixers’ miserable 2024-25 season and a huge building block for the future.
Justin Edwards is somewhat of the opposite case to McCain, going undrafted before signing a two-way contract with the Sixers in July. He didn’t make his NBA debut until late November and didn’t play double-digit minutes in a game until January. So it speaks to the strong end to his season that Edwards received one Second Team vote. The Philadelphia native finished the year averaging 10.1 points per game, shooting 45.5 percent from the field, including 36.3 percent from three. He tied career-highs with 25 points in games against the Thunder and Spurs, and earned himself a standard contract with the Sixers in February. Edwards already looks ready to be a plug-and-play, 3-and-D wing, with room to potentially grow into something more.
Nearly everything went wrong for the Sixers last season, but one group that deserves plenty of credit is the scouting department. McCain and Edwards should remain integral parts of the team when Philadelphia corrects course and puts last year’s diaster behind it.
