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Ex-NBA Guard Looks Past Nail Polish Of Potential Miami Heat Draft Target Jared McCain: "He's Tough As Hell"

Shandel Richardson|
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Former Duke guard Jared McCain had to explain to fans why he painted his fingernails.

After watching him play last season, ex- NBA player Randolph Childress says there is no need for explanation. Childress thinks McCain is hardly soft, meaning the team that drafts him later this month is getting a quality NBA player.


"The other thing I'd say about him and people don't realize this," Childress said on The Field Of 68 podcast. "He's one of those guys, you look at him like, `Oh he paints his fingernails.' He's tough as hell. He's got some stuff to him. It ain't gonna be no back down in him."

To clarify, McCain took some criticism on social media for painting his nails. He later explained he had an NIL deal with a nail polish company. McCain is among the players the Heat have been linked with at the No. 15 pick.


Last season McCain averaged 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists. He shot 46.5 percent, including 41 percent from the 3-point line. In May, he impressed by making 19 of 25 from the arc during a catch-and-shoot drill at the NBA Draft combine.


"When you shoot the ball like him, he doesn't have to have wiggle (room) and create," Childress said. "He's not going to be a guy you give it to a ton off ball screens and say, 'Go.' But he shoots it so well, you're going to run him off the line. When you're running him off the line, yes, he can drive you, he's going to have the advantage because his jumper is that good."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Inside The Heat. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star. TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here