Key Takeaways
- Former NBA player Rashad McCants believes rookies are handed too much in today's game.
- “They're underdeveloped”, McCants says, voicing that in his day, first-year players had to prove more.
- The former UNC star also talked about the Thunder system, the Tar Heels' prized freshman, and Bill Belichick taking over the football program in Chapel Hill.
Rashad McCants says rookies like Cooper Flagg have it too easy before proving themselves in the NBA (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Rashad McCants rebranded himself as a workout machine and podcast co-host. Basketball fans vividly recall McCants’ past life on the court – including reigniting North Carolina basketball in the early 2000s following some down years.
The former NBA and All-Atlantic Coast Conference guard still frequently watches his sport. He’s blunt about the state of the NBA compared to his era, though.
McCants shared his honesty during an in-depth interview with RG Media. Including his true feelings on how teams really develop their rookies.
McCants Critical of Rookie Treatment
McCants isn’t shy to say he entered a much different NBA. One where former first-year players like himself had to learn and grow – even if it meant sitting and waiting their turn.
He’s noticing teams immediately making the 18 or 19-year-old the engine for their vehicle. Which McCants believes hinders and disorganizes development.
“I’m not really big on the freshmen coming out and the young guys because they’re underdeveloped. They’re so underdeveloped and so overhyped,” McCants said. “They have to now get to the league and find their way.”
The past Tar Heel surfaced as a lottery pick for his draft class. But getting selected 14th overall wasn’t even half of his or the freshman NBA class’s battle.
“Before, we’d get to the league and we knew where we could inject ourselves based on the people who were already in front of us, how hard we need to work and show we need to be on the same court as those guys,” McCants explained. “And then, proving in practice and during the course of the season we deserve minutes. That has completely gone out the window.”
He cites one heavily hyped rookie as an example of the new era: Cooper Flagg from the rival Duke Blue Devils.
“Flagg doesn’t have to work for his position,” McCants said, adding how the top pick from late June already has a spot handed to him in Dallas. “He’s not proven though, at all. I mean Kobe Bryant had to sit two years under Del Harris based on his head coach not believing in playing first or second year guys. But it helped him a lot.
“Yet, when you come in with an expectation, there’s going to be disappointments,” McCants continued. “You can exceed those expectations, or you cannot. That puts more pressure on young kids than they expect themselves to just come in and not have any restrictions or road blocks.”
McCants still believes a “rookie wall” comes with the territory on the hardwood. Leading to a “what now?” scenario.
“And I think that’s the biggest, troubling thing with this rookie class and all these young guys coming in – they think the NBA looks sweet because the money looks good,” McCants said. “And I think that once that wall hits, then you think you need to develop in one or two more years here and here, well you could’ve used those years in college.”
McCants spent three seasons in Chapel Hill. He earned a national title and again, landed high on draft boards. Now he’s watched a league catering and softening up to rookies – especially one-and-done talents. But it’s a tactic that he believes applies more pressure to players who’ve yet to sink their first basket in a pro setting.
That’s not his only observation in scrutinizing the league. He’s overhearing the “Oklahoma City Thunder” system potentially populating the NBA now.
McCants Shoots Down Thunder System
McCants won the natty with guys embracing their roles under the legendary Roy Williams. He emerged as a “glue guy” in front of North Carolina fans.
He still believes in this philosophy. Even when looking at the recent NBA champions, garnering new attention as having the championship blueprint.
“The role players, the expendables, the glue guys who are a part of the championship aspirations have always to me been the formula. Even the college guys,” McCants said. “These guys know their positions, they’re willing to adapt to their roles and when they thrive, they don’t hold punches for what they do for their team.”
He acknowledges OKC as one believing in this tactic. But he named off the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks as two more still trusting the old school development ecosystem.
“You get the glue guys like the Alex Caruso’s, the Pascal Siakam’s …guys who are crafty and can go in and be hard hat, blue collar guys. Then you have the leadership of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Brunson paving the way,” he said. “There are teams that have that specific model.”
McCants, though, verbally illustrated that the NBA becomes a copycat league.
Can Prized Freshman Excel at UNC? McCants Weighs in
Caleb Wilson now enters a past territory at UNC. And it’s more than winning over the Dean E. Smith Center crowd.
Wilson is a heavily promoted five-star recruit coming to the Tar Heels. McCants admits he’s not too familiar with Wilson’s game. However, he understands Wilson’s situation.
“Anytime a five-star recruit goes into a program that’s trying to rebuild, restructure and get its prestige back, it’s going to be tough because there’s going to be expectations,” McCants said. “But I do believe also, when I was in that same position as a five-star recruit, we were 8-20 the year before until we came in and turned the whole program around. It is possible, but that came with three years of structural work. It was three years of playing together with a top-three guard and a top-three center. We already had structure and understanding of what we needed to do.”
Wilson heads to a Heels team that underachieved per fan standards and still earned a field of 68 bid last season.
The 6-foot-9 freshman isn’t the only highly anticipated newcomer coming to the 919.
Thoughts on Belichick Joining UNC Football
McCants is joining the rest of the college football nation in watching Bill Belichick don the UNC colors on Sept. 1.
The eight-time Super Bowl champion opens a rare college football head coaching chapter. Is McCants looking forward to “Chapel Bill?”
“Absolutely. I think now Belichick has the experience, pedigree and has the football mind to set things back into its equilibrium,” McCants said. “I think it’s going to be interesting with him too because he’s got expectations.”
Belichick is another navigating through a far different era of his sport. McCants sees it too.
“It’s a whole new industry. And you’re bringing in what we would call fossils. You’re bringing in fossils to a new element of football where he’s bringing in old structures and old ways of how he did things. And the game isn’t played the same anymore,” McCants said. “With NIL and player entitlement, how is Belichick going to manage these egos like he did in New England? Because if you do, you’ll find more guys in the transfer portal than you’d ever imagine.”
UNC football is drawing more intrigue post Mack Brown and Drake Maye. Belichick proved his New England Patriots teams were loaded and undeterred by distractions. Does McCants believe Belichick will skim through without outside interruption?
“He does have that distraction element that he’s brought along the way,” McCants said in referencing Jordon Hudson, Belichick’s polarizing fiancée.
Hudson emerged as a lightning rod for controversy during an infamous CBS Morning interview in the spring. Some analysts believe Hudson could be the one who prevents Belichick from hitting his first-season UNC goals.
McCants, though, doesn’t think Carolina Blue will turn on Belichick.
“I think the Carolina fanbase will embrace him. Once they start winning, I think everything will look up,” McCants said.
The 40-year-old McCants remains vigilant about the current happenings in the NBA and at his college alma mater. Along with frequently hitting the gym in the Los Angeles region, McCants dons a crown, too. One he doesn’t hesitate to put on during appearances on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast.
