JaVale McGee

[CrankyTodd]

Ok, I'll drink the Kool-Aide. Why not? I expect Javale McGee to be a longer, more athletic Tyson Chandler with a better offensive game.

[Wizardspride]

I'm going to give the Wiz the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I shouldn't but I am.

According to Glen Consor(who was just on the John Thompson Show)the Wiz have absolutely been in love with McGee for months.

We shall see if thier love was justified.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

I wonder if EG deliberately spread the rumor that his defense sucks in order to scare other people off, and in fact his defense rawks?

[Dat2U]

Most intriguing about McGee is that both parents were pros and his mom's a former WNBAer and a coach. The red flags are his dad and why is he so developmentally arrested, despite his mom's expertise. Is he just a late bloomer physically, or has he been an ADHD/ODD type in his past? How grounded is the dude?

Why hasn't he been better so far?

That's my excuse. I'm not sure what Javale's is. But your right, the son of professional basketball players, the length & athleticism, the level of competition & and then when you add in the lackluster numbers...all of that just doesn't add up. It's definitely a red flag.

Hopefully a light got turned on during the draft process. It sounds like his agent, an ex-football player, really put him through alot to get him ready. Hopefully some of that work ethic and mentality learned from that process will extend into his pro basketball career.

However for some reason, when I see him on video and read the scouting reports, Brad Sellers comes to mind. If I had to just guess, I'd say he may turn out to be a similar type player. Talented, but generally soft and a dissapointment overall.

[Joe_Wiz]

I haven't the foggiest idea how good of a player McGee will be, but:

1. I trust EG's judgment.

2. We now have 3 young 7-footers. The odds are pretty good that at least one will be a pretty good player (though my money would be on Blatche, if I had to pick just one).

3. We now have 3 young 7-footers. That's gives you one or two as trade bait. Young 7-footers make great trade bait.

4. Look what we got for KFB.

[Rafael122]

I think it was the Post who said Ernie and crew had been scouting McGee for well over a year so he must have some extensive information on him.

[doclinkin]

Most intriguing about McGee is that both parents were pros and his mom's a former WNBAer and a coach. The red flags are his dad and why is he so developmentally arrested, despite his mom's expertise. Is he just a late bloomer physically, or has he been an ADHD/ODD type in his past? How grounded is the dude?

Why hasn't he been better so far?

That's my excuse. I'm not sure what Javale's is. But your right, the son of professional basketball players, the length & athleticism, the level of competition & and then when you add in the lackluster numbers...all of that just doesn't add up. It's definitely a red flag.

Dunno, when I read he was 210 pounds entering college it makes sense to me, how's he gonna learn to bang as a scrawny icepick? It takes many true bigs a while to learn how big they are, they don't develop as quick as the longarmed muscular big bodies. Takes a while to get it all coordinated and to dominate. Especially since the kid was still growing, and had been raised by his mother to play a perimeter game. Remember his HS coach played him as a SF.

The other thing is, writers suggest his Offensive boards would have been significantly higher if he wasn't launching shots from the perimeter, but that's the team scheme, Fazekas led the NCAA's in 3FG's by a center. Yes he could stand some rudimentary Big Man Camp lessons probably, but long and athletic as he is he'll still get a ton of boards by accident.

My biggest question mark seems to be that the kid is under his mother's thumb and has been managed by her for a while. Switching highschools from state to state at her whim, etc.

Sometimes you got to get away to grow up and come into your own, not have to live your life to satisfy someone else. Possible Mommy issues there. I wouldn't want to have her all up in the team's ear nagging that he's not playing enough etc making a public nuisance in the papers and all. He'll need to be able to stiffarm her a bit and grow up on his own.

[closg00]

Most intriguing about McGee is that both parents were pros and his mom's a former WNBAer and a coach. The red flags are his dad and why is he so developmentally arrested, despite his mom's expertise. Is he just a late bloomer physically, or has he been an ADHD/ODD type in his past? How grounded is the dude?

Why hasn't he been better so far?

You do know that McGee has only been playing organized basketball for a few years...right?

That might explain the pace of his development.

So coming from a basketball family, McGee never played HS & elementary school ball?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

George Montgomery (McGee's dad) was a 2nd round pick, #39 overall (POR) in the 1985 draft. Don't know much at all about the dad except he was highly regarded in a strong draft year.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1985.html

Round 1 pick notables that year: #1 Pat Ewing, #7 Chris Mullin, #12 Kenny Green (WAS), #13 Karl Malone, #18 Joe Dumars (HOF), #21 Terry Catledge, #23 AC Green, #24 Terry Porter

Round 2 pick notables that year: #26 Bill Martin (Georgetown/IND), #31 Manute Bol (WAS), #34 Ty Corbin and (after Montgomery) #41 Lorenzo Charles, # 45 John (Hot Rod) Williams, #46 Adrian Branch (Maryland), #47 Gerald Wilkins

Round 3 picks: #54 Sam Mitchell, #66 Micheal Adams, #69 Mike Brown (George Washington)

Round 4 picks: #77 Arvydas Sabonis, #84 John Battle, #87 Spud Webb

And, (miraculous that he made it later on) Round 7 pick, # 160 Mario Elie.

[BruceO]

why is everyone saying theres red flags about his past, this kid was raised to play basketball and fortunately his body's allowing him, theres alot of talk about his bad basketball IQ, what is this based on, the only thing people can legitimately call a weakness is his strength and weight which is changing cause he's growing, his defense is improving with this growth. That talk about his defense wasnt the most recent report by Draft express which is where alot of people are getting the bad defense talk from, because I don't think anyone really watched him here.
This kid if you're concerned about hsi basketball past tagged along with his mum to practice in Italy ( kobe also grew up amonst pro basketball players in italy who came from the states) and he was beating his mother in sophomore year of high school and she was a pro player. He was accompanying his mother to practices in sacramento where she played in the pro game and watched from the sideline, eddie and ernie have known his mom for a while. People are criticizing his relatinship with her saying he's under her thumb but to me from a basketball perspective if he listened to her authority that long without rebelling I hope he has the same discipline to listen to the coaches. Also as a pro he will understand work ethic required to be successful and that mother we are concerned about is the insurance that he will work hard cause she knows thats what it takes.
Anyway theres seemingly a lot of talk about his lack of focus on the last few pages, lack of development or basketball IQ, we have to question whether this is true or not first before we compound it into speculating on causes for these things when these things haven't been proven in the first place, or shown to be a static state that won't change,

[nate33]

BruceO, I hope you are right.

My concern is that, if all that you say is true, why wasn't the kid a more dominate college player?

[miller31time]

BruceO, I hope you are right.

My concern is that, if all that you say is true, why wasn't the kid a more dominate college player?

Yup, especially against some weak college competition. We're not even talking about putting up lack-luster numbers on a stacked team in a dominant conference. We're talking about a guy who was the best player on his team in a weak conference putting up lack-luster numbers.

[CrankyTodd]

Are his numbers really THAT lackluster? We're talking about a young lanky player who didn't get much burn last year behind Fazekas. His rebound rate is equal to that of Brook Lopez, and he blocks far more shots per minute. He scores a bit less (if you adjust his minutes up to Lopez's 30.8, he'd be putting up 15.9 to Brook's 19). Sure you have to adjust for competition, but you also have to adjust for a lack of experience, the fact that he spent extended time on the perimeter due to the system, possible differences in pace, etc.

[BruceO]

yeah I understand your concerns, Hopefully because the team personell watched him and knew what they were getting means we are not getting a bust. as far as his college career goes the information that I have involves knowing that he played behind fazekas so he didnt do much his freshman year, his second year his mother and perhaps himself were not happy with the way the coach utlized him. When they heard his name was under consideration in some teams they declared for the draft. Now he's here. The team also may or may not have been guard dominant ( M kemp shows up alot) even though he ended up undrafted. Beyond that this is his game logs and theres links to play by play, box scores and recaps

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/pr ... erId=32080

[Wizardspride]

You do know that McGee has only been playing organized basketball for a few years...right?

That might explain the pace of his development.

So coming from a basketball family, McGee never played HS & elementary school ball?[/quote]




Sorry..I misspoke. What I meant to say was that McGee was taught to play as a guard and that he hadn't played much organized ball as a "big man" His is the typical story of someone who experienced a growth spurt and is just now getting comfortable in his own body.

[MJG]

Are his numbers really THAT lackluster? We're talking about a young lanky player who didn't get much burn last year behind Fazekas. His rebound rate is equal to that of Brook Lopez, and he blocks far more shots per minute. He scores a bit less (if you adjust his minutes up to Lopez's 30.8, he'd be putting up 15.9 to Brook's 19). Sure you have to adjust for competition, but you also have to adjust for a lack of experience, the fact that he spent extended time on the perimeter due to the system, possible differences in pace, etc.

This is just one article, but McGee pretty much ranks between average and bad in every possible rating except for steals and blocks when compared to the draft's other centers.

[doclinkin]

This is just one article, but McGee pretty much ranks between average and bad in every possible rating except for steals and blocks when compared to the draft's other centers.

Also ranking high in three point shooting for centers.

And if we're talking defense the kid ranked #1 in the draft in Blocks + Steals per Personal Foul. Not just among centers. Now could be he didn't foul enough and foul hard, but still it shows a certain ball-awareness and anticipation.

His worst numbers are the turnover stats. He's 7 feet tall now and still trying to drive into traffic like a guard. That's where he needs a ton of help. Retraining. But this offense should put him into good position to fix that once he gets up to speed. Playing off the bench with Antonio Daniels feeding him should make a difference, and with his decent outside stroke (with unblockable height and form, high release) he ought to be able to play the pick and pop game with AD pretty well. Especially once Hopla gets to play with his head a bit. Opponent Bigs will have to leave the lane to stick him, opening up the paint for Caron/AD etc to get loose underneath.

That's the theory anyway. I expect once he's no longer his team's primary option (and with good players to pass to) his TO numbers will drop. He definitely has soft hands, and dribbling in open space he shows good body and ball control. He just doesn't have a ton of lateral 'wiggle' considering he's 7 foot tall. And not terribly bowlegged of course.

[closg00]

His Mom calls JaVale Big Secret, I shall call him......Big Project

[Wizardspride]

His Mom calls JaVale Big Secret, I shall call him......Big Project

And I'll refer to him as "Big Potential"

[doclinkin]

We can split the difference and call him "Big P". So long as we don't tag him with the nickname of Vincent Pastore from the Sopranos.