Rashad McCants will never shy away from sharing his opinions.
The ex-NBA veteran and college hoops national champion with North Carolina sat down with SportsCasting recently for a wide-ranging interview.
He talked about the prospects of his former teams, the Timberwolves and Kings, the Kevin Durant trade and his NBA darkhorse this year.
Answers have been condensed for length and clarity.
SportsCasting: The Timberwolves basically decided run it back this year. They finished well last year and made the Western Conference Finals, so was that the right decision? Should they have looked to add more talent to the team?
Rashad McCants: “You didn’t win it. Boston didn’t add anything to their core, and look where they are now, had to break the whole team up. You look at Denver when they tried to run it back. It didn’t work. You always have to add when it doesn’t work. You can’t call it a successful season because you got halfway there. Every team that doesn’t get there has to go back to the drawing board and figure out which new pieces are needed.”
SC: Minnesota, I assume, is banking on continuity after making the big trade to bring in Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. How do you feel about chemistry and continuity? Would you rather just get great players in, or does a year of them being together matter?
RM: “Oh, it definitely matters. That’s the biggest component, chemistry and continuity. But there is also the IQ-based players who actually know how to play, that can fit in as those pieces that don’t need two or three years. You go get guys who understand how to play the game. That’s the detriment of bringing in project players from one year off of college. You’re trying to do these projects, and it takes time when you’re doing a project.
“You look at a guy like Rudy Gobert. He’s been in the league long enough to know what it takes, but when you can’t deliver at the highest level, you need help. It’s not that he can’t get it done, but he can’t get it done alone. And when you look at Anthony Edwards, he’s a great talent, but he’s still young. He’s processing in his mind that he has time to get better.
“You don’t have time to get better if you want to win now. That continuity and chemistry, if you look at it the wrong way – oh, we’ve got three more years to build and we’ll get there in four. OKC looked at their situation like, ‘We have an opportunity to win now. Why not win now?’ I like that approach. They did it in Indiana. They came in guns blazing. They figured out, why are we waiting around for guys to do a two-, three–, four-year project? Let’s chase it now.”
SC: How do you feel about the Jonathan Kuminga situation with Golden State? Do you think he eventually gets to your former team, the Kings?
RM: “He needs to get out of there. I know that. Jonathan Kuminga there is bad for business. I don’t think Steve Kerr is the greatest coach of developing young players. He inherited a team that had great players already established, and now that you see this (window) dwindle, there is really no development, no bright side after Steph Curry.
“So Kuminga going to the Kings would be something good, if the Kings got someone like Westbrook (to play point). Someone like Westbrook, with DeRozan, Lavine, Sabonis – you could have something in the West that resembles the Spurs and how they are building right now. It could look like Houston. Three teams with great, dynamic players. And having a young player like Kuminga to add with DeRozan would be dope.”
SC: The rumor is Malik Monk heading to Golden State, along with a draft pick, for Kuminga. Would that help balance out the Sacramento roster?
RM: “Well now you’ve got three small forwards to me. You’d push Zach (Lavine) to the ‘2’. You’d need a dynamic point guard because Malik Monk had to play the point guard position. Even though he can and I think that’s his natural position, he loves to play the ‘2’ guard as well. So I think him going to Golden State would be incredible for that.
“But if you bring Kuminga down, he has to figure out, is he a No. 2 or a No. 3 (option) behind Zach and DeMar? And then there’s Sabonis, their All-Star, so are you a No. 4? If DeRozan and Zach LaVine are both still saying we are at our peak, in our prime, and they can jell together between the four of them, you have a really strong team.
“I think back to the Sacramento teams with Bibby and Peja. If they brought that type of offensive (efficiency) back, it will be hard to stop the Kings.”
SC: You played there a little after that Bibby, Peja, Chris Webber group. They’ve only made the playoffs once since then. Do they need to use trades to get back into contending? Will the star free agents ever want to go to Sacramento when you’ve got the lure of L.A. and other big cities?
RM: “It really depends on the player. The players now are all chasing nostalgia. When you’re doing that, you forget about being in a place where you can play, and grow, and win. Sacramento is no different than Milwaukee or Denver or Portland or Memphis. Small market, but incredible fans, great arena, the owners spend money. And then you look at the coaching. If they bring in great coaching – and I think Mike Brown was a step in the right direction – then you’ve got something there.
“I think they give up too quickly. They are indecisive about what direction to go and what star they want to pick. Just go out there, play smart and play together. Get the guys to buy into the system. I don’t think it should be about whether the market is big enough, about competing with the Clippers and Lakers and Golden State. I just think you build your team up based on how good you think you can be, how hard you work, how much you prepare. If those things happen, I think any team has a good chance of winning. Especially with the talent the Kings have. There is no reason why those guys shouldn’t be competing.”
SC: What do you think of the Kevin Durant addition in Houston? Is that a difference-making type move?
RM: “100 percent. Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant. They have the pieces. They didn’t lose a lot – Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks. They still have all the core young pieces. (Cam) Whitmore. (Amen) Thompson. Jabari (Smith). (Alperin) Sengun. They have all those guys still.
“If anything, Kevin Durant may get in the way of the chemistry they had. Now they have to inject him into what they were already doing. But Kevin has already proven he can fit into any kind of system, like he did in Golden State. The conversation has to be egoless. He has to come in and say, ‘I’m not the system. I’m going to fit in to what you are doing, even though I’m an established elite player.’”
SC: This is probably the first time in his career he’s coming in, and he’s not that focal point where they build everything around him. How do you think he will handle that?
RM: “It depends how much he believes in them. He’s got to get in the gym with those guys to see how much potential they have. You can’t go into the situation as an individual and say, ‘I’m just going to do what I usually do.’ That hasn’t worked. When you did win, it’s because you fit in to a system that was already finely-tuned and polished. You didn’t have to do anything but show up and be yourself.”
SC: Is there a darkhorse team that you like heading into the season, someone who you believe will surpass expectations?
RM: “The 76ers. They say ‘Trust the Process’ and I’ve called them processed meat. After awhile, you have to take it back to the slaughterhouse, figure out what it is, process it. They’ve figured out they’ve got damaged goods – but they’re still goods. If they can figure out how to keep this thing (afloat) long enough and make the playoffs, I think they can actually make a run with guys being even mid-healthy.
“If you’ve got a mid-healthy Paul George with a mid-healthy Joel Embiid and a full-healthy Tyrese Maxey, that’s a Big 3. And that’s a Big 3 that’s been together for two years now. They haven’t really played together, but they are smart enough to understand that they are good enough to win.
“I think they are a darkhorse in the East, for sure. Because it’s wide open in the East right now.”
