Rashad McCants tied for second with three other players in a Sports Illustrated players poll that asked this question: “Which NBA player thinks he’s a lot better than he really is?” The February 9 issue reported that Boston’s Kendrick Perkins and Washington’s DeShawn Stevenson were first, while the Timberwolves’ McCants, Denver’s Dahntay Jones and Milwaukee’s Damon Jones tied for second.
McCants, a former No. 1 pick by the Wolves, shows a confident exterior despite never being a consistent player during his four year pro career. He averaged career highs in games started, minutes per game and scoring average last season with these numbers: 24, 26.9 and 14.9.
Usually a player off the bench during his career, the 6-foot-4 (really?) shooting guard has done considerable spectating from the bench since the New Year began. After a seven minute appearance on January 7, coach Kevin McHale didn’t use McCants until February 4. Since then McCants has played in three more games coming off the bench. For the season McCants is averaging 9.2 points per game and a career low field goal percentage of .362.
Prior to the start of a game McCants might be the last of the Wolves to run out of the locker room to the court. During timeouts this season he’s looked disinterested in the strategy session going on inside the team huddle. Disinterest is the right word to sometimes describe his defense, too.
McCants, who has exceptional shooting skills and sometimes the accuracy to go with it, is an impressive athlete who can drive to the basket with success and flair. He had that profile at North Carolina, too, where coach Roy Williams criticized him for both showboating and sulking.
Now 24 years old, McCants left North Carolina after his junior year to enter the NBA draft and in his second season with the Wolves injured his right knee, resulting in a long rehab process. After this season he will be a restricted free agent and it’s doubtful that the Wolves will be interested in retaining him long term. The guess here is management doesn’t have the same esteem for him that he does for himself.