Nick Young traded to Clippers/McGee to Denver/Nene to DC

[Upper Decker]

Everyone remember when McGee had that mid-season streak where he averaged 20/12/3 for like 5 or 6 games, then ultimately played his way out of Washington? Lots of extreme peaks and valleys with McGee, maybe he's peaking right now...it's probably because he hasn't gone up up against Gasol/Bynum/Howard/Jefferson lately.

[Severn Hoos]

Apparently, the Asthma medicine that the Nuggets' crack medical staff provided has increased blood flow and oxygen to the cranial region, allowing him to think more clearly when practicing and playing games.

[hands11]

Nene shooting ..667 since his return and 14 pts. Off the bench.

Since he came to the Wizards, he is one of my favorite players on the team. The good news is there are other players I really like also.

Nene, Wall, KS, Ves, Booker. I like Mason once he got it going again. I'm a fan of all of them. And soon to be another top 5 draft pick.

I really like what they are putting together here.

[willbcocks]

I wish there were more Nuggets fans on the site so I could here about his progress, as I don't have time (or enough interest) to watch the games. It'll be interesting to see what kind of contract he gets.

Nick Young was never a good player, and we should thank our lucky stars that EG didn't mess it up and give him a contract.

[cdouglas]

TNT/NBA posted a poll during their "Shaqtin' A Fool" segment: worst McGee play.

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/04/2 ... in-a-fool/

Of course, the Inside the NBA gang kept saying "oh, McGee was turrible when he was a Wizard. He's better now as a Nugget." "There's something bad in the water in DC," etc. Blaming the Wizards' for McGee's goofy knuckleheaded ways.

They always say our players aren't good in a Wiz uniform but as soon as they play for another team, it's a different story. We'll see how long JaVale keeps this up.

[montestewart]

TNT/NBA posted a poll during their "Shaqtin' A Fool" segment: worst McGee play.

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/04/2 ... in-a-fool/

Of course, the Inside the NBA gang kept saying "oh, McGee was turrible when he was a Wizard. He's better now as a Nugget." "There's something bad in the water in DC," etc. Blaming the Wizards' for McGee's goofy knuckleheaded ways.

They always say our players aren't good in a Wiz uniform but as soon as they play for another team, it's a different story. We'll see how long JaVale keeps this up.

Reasoned analysis with concrete reference to substantiated facts does not make for good TV. As Homer Simpson say, "Make TV Funny!"

[theboomking]

Vale is the same player in Denver. My understanding is that he can't even get the minutes he was getting in DC because of his lapses. Go to NBA.com and watch the top dunk. It is Durant posterizing McGee. It is torture to watch, almost as if it is happening in slow motion. McGee stares at Durant coming down the lane, but still doesn't make the rotation until the last second.


Vale's too stupid to have a good time.

[montestewart]

^
Good use of Roadhouse.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Javale had 19 points, 5 rebounds in 18 minutes. He finished +17. Nuggets won at Minnesota, 131-102. McGee was the high scorer for both teams.

I said that McGee would blow up and I downed the Nene deal. I said McGee would end up taking 10M or less, and that Denver would resign him at a bargain.

So far, Nene has been tremendous. Kevin has been way better than Javale (except on the boards). McGee has been a matador at times on defense and he's gotten winded a bunch in Denver. OTOH, he and Faried have been lob city at times. He's had more success than Nick has at LAC.

The playoffs will show how the McGee deal will go for Denver. They were happy to dump salary, but will they end up happy with Javale? He is coming off the bench for them.

[jangles86]

I'm really looking forward to seeing McGee and Young in the playoffs. Good luck to em

[nate33]

I said that McGee would blow up and I downed the Nene deal. I said McGee would end up taking 10M or less, and that Denver would resign him at a bargain.

While this may be true, the option wouldn't have been available in Washington. Without McGee's humbling experience of being benched in Denver, he would have continued to believe he was one of the top centers in the league and would have expected a max or near-max offer from Washington.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I said that McGee would blow up and I downed the Nene deal. I said McGee would end up taking 10M or less, and that Denver would resign him at a bargain.

While this may be true, the option wouldn't have been available in Washington. Without McGee's humbling experience of being benched in Denver, he would have continued to believe he was one of the top centers in the league and would have expected a max or near-max offer from Washington.

You are so right, nate. Pam McGee has to know the Wizards just won six in a row. Kevin has scored double figures 16 games in a row. Announcers cannot stop saying the Wizards got rid of knuckleheads. Javale's Not So Top 10 blooper reals have been run on a loop.

The humbling experience should teach Javale a lot. It will bring his market value down and he we look like delusional asking for 14M now. OTOH, Denver has done what I thought the Wizards should do. Bring Javale off the bench behind their other promising, young C. Koufas can play, but he's not a spring-loaded, Jack-in-the-Box like Javale is. McGee is someone I think they have perfectly put in position to low ball. McGee is getting all kinds of attention from coaching staff. Ty Lawson loves playing with him. McGee will sacrifice to come back to Denver IMO.

That deal seems to be working well for both teams.

I think the Nuggets are going to handle the Lakers in round one. Lawson is too quick for Sessions to defend well. The Nuggets have three 7 footers in Koufas, McGee, and Mozgov to impede Bynum. Pau Gasol has not been the Lakers go to guy. He has a huge height advantage over Faried, who will have trouble defending Pau's catches near the rim. OTOH, the Manimal is liable to throw some Blake Griffin-esque hammer dunks on Pau's head on the break. Denver has a serious speed advantage.

What I think it's going to come down to how well Corey Brewer and Arron Afflalo can contain Kobe. Andre Miller also defends Bryant pretty decently IIRC. Also, how much can Sessions score? At the other end the Lakers are going to have trouble scoring enough to beat Denver.

I think the Nuggets will win this series in 6 games. Javale goes after Bynum pretty good and he's going to come up big for them IMO. The Lakers will miss MWP's violence, errr, toughness.

[Upper Decker]

Lets not anoint McGee as having 'arrived' yet. Denvers defense still isnt that good and McGees going to be asked to slow down Bynum in round one. The same Bynum who hung 30 on him less than 2 weeks ago.

[nate33]

Lets not anoint McGee as having 'arrived' yet. Denvers defense still isnt that good and McGees going to be asked to slow down Bynum in round one. The same Bynum who hung 30 on him less than 2 weeks ago.

Agreed. Bynum is going to feel like a kid in a candy store when McGee guards him.

[hands11]

Javale had 19 points, 5 rebounds in 18 minutes. He finished #17. Nuggets won at Minnesota, 131-102. McGee was the high scorer for both teams.

I said that McGee would blow up and I downed the Nene deal. I said McGee would end up taking 10M or less, and that Denver would resign him at a bargain.

So far, Nene has been tremendous. Kevin has been way better than Javale (except on the boards). McGee has been a matador at times on defense and he's gotten winded a bunch in Denver. OTOH, he and Faried have been lob city at times. He's had more success than Nick has at LAC.

The playoffs will show how the McGee deal will go for Denver. They were happy to dump salary, but will they end up happy with Javale? He is coming off the bench for them.

I predicted Nick would struggle more. Nick is more a creature of environment. If Nick isn't feeling ever so confident, his shot goes astray. Both should end up being productive if they stay on winning teams. It may take another year for it to happen. If they leave the team they are on for the money and go to teams with less structure, they will return to what they were in Washington.

As is, both as bench players. That was the problem. They wanted to get paid like quality starters. We will see what they end up earning.

[verbal8]

Lets not anoint McGee as having 'arrived' yet. Denvers defense still isnt that good and McGees going to be asked to slow down Bynum in round one. The same Bynum who hung 30 on him less than 2 weeks ago.

Agreed. Bynum is going to feel like a kid in a candy store when McGee guards him.

I think the play-offs(and there is a good chance it will be only one series) will make a huge difference in how much McGee gets paid. If he has a strong play-offs, I think he convinces some team that he has "arrived", and he gets a big contract. If he gets abused and doesn't show much, I think he may end up taking the Qualifiying Offer or getting a roughly MLE deal.
The Qualifying Offer could make a lot of sense from Denver's point of view. They have a good amount of money tied up long-term, so they can't afford to overpay McGee. It gives them a year to evaluate McGee and see he fits in their long term plans. They also have other options if he does leave after a year.

[FAH1223]

McGee may score points on Bynum, but he is going to get killed defensively. I think George Karl will play Koufous or Mozgov a lot.

[fifthstop]

For me, Nene's biggest highlight was the crushing D he put on Mike Miller on the perimeter during the first Heat game. You know what he can do inside and how solid his post fundamentals, but when he switched out on MM and just shut him down, I was like "This is the difference between and elite player and an advanced role player."

[hands11]

by truwizfan4evr on Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:10 am
“At times it was tough because you had guys like Nick and JaVale; they wanted the ball a lot and took a lot of shots. It [was] kind of tough to find what kind of team it was with them,” Wall told Michael Lee of the Washington Post while throwing his support behind management’s decision to bring in Nene. “I think it was the right decision. We had a lot of jokes and stuff going around the locker room, but [now] the energy is more serious, everybody is being on time, taking things more serious, being professional about everything. [We’re] just interacting more as a team.” http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-am-wall-f ... -teammates.

This was posted in another thread that may not have much legs but it is good stuff so I wanted to post it here where it can get logged.

I like this part also.

The departed players were much closer to Wall’s age range and he clearly enjoyed their presence off the court, but also quickly grasped the true reality that the team couldn’t win long term with them as part of the equation.

[nate33]

Nick Young scored 19 points in 24 minutes off the bench on 6 of 9 shooting (3 of 4 from 3P range) in the Clippers 1-point win over Memphis. He was +28 and was on the court during the entire 4th quarter comeback.