JaVale McGee

[fugop]

It's weird to read people suggest that the guy with the second longest standing reach in the league is undersized. McGee is skinny, but he has tremendous reach and height.

[omegatronic3]

after seeing the summer league I'd say Mcgee showed me just enough to be interested. I think he'll develop into Brendan Haywood with a J in a few years. I was impressed with a few turnarounf jumpshots and 3 pointers he made. He clearly has a nice stroke and is comfortable taking a jumper.
He also impressed me with his finishing. If he's at the rim..he's so long that he finishes well. And he can sky for rebounds.

On the down side I thought he missed quite a few easy 5-10" looks when he didnt know quite what to do with it. Also he was out of position on D and got pushed away from the basket.

All in all, as we all knew he needs to get stronger...not necessarily bigger but just stronger...and he needs to learn the NBA game. But, he's not as far away from being ready to contribute as I thought he might be. My guess is he's D league bound but by the end of the season may earn some minutes.

Downside is Calvin Booth...upside Camby.

I like him but having seen some other guys like Randolph and Green they may have been better picks in hindsight. Even though he paper thin I really like Randolphs game.

What we dont know is how hard a worker Mcgee is...he has the tools to be very good...well just have to wait and see how smart he is and how hard a worker he is.

[hands11]

If there ever was a person ready and needing to go to big-man camp and have a personal big-man coach, its this guy.
EG - you drafted the player, now get him a big-man coach who can give him one-on-one training so that he can perhaps reach his potential.

This is exactly what we have needed. EJ is no developer of big man.

I cant believe so many are complaining about this pick. It was a great pick.

We are feeding the pipe line and a future center was exactly what we needed to seed this year so it is grown when we need it. Bigs take time to grow and Proven big are way expensive.

We have finally reached a point were we can get someone like JaVale and not need a lot from him today. AB, NY and McGee should be able to grow a ton this year if given a chance. Then we have room to add pieces by moving pieces later this year or the off season. I love what EG has done with this roster. People just need to be a little more patient. Our time is coming. This cake isn't don't being made just yet.

Boston shot their load. That was one way of doing it. But when their run is done, they will have nothing left and they will be in cap hell.

EG is being methodical so once we get there we can be good and still have bullets so we can be good a long time.

[Dat2U]

Context - I'd be more worried about Arthur's size for his position than McGees'. Right?

I was Speights' biggest fan - before the draft. Hickson and Dorsey are limited players, and I'm very doubtful about Green. McGee has the highest bustability quotient, but he has the highest upside (other than Speights). You take a chance on someone who could be a quality 7 footer over guys like Hickson, Dorsey, and Greene... if you have any guts and believe in your coaches.

Actually, I thought I was Speights' biggest fan before the draft. I got the same feeling seeing Speights getting picked up one spot before us, that I got about Stuckey a year ago. That the Wizards are incredibily unlucky when it comes to the draft. Me thinks back to the Reggie Miller draft years ago when the Wiz just missed out on him.

I agree with you on Hickson & Dorsey. Hickson has decent potential to be solid in a few years but he's going to be limited to being a defense & rebounding specialist.

Dorsey is a scrub. I said it before the draft, I still haven't seen much to change my position. He might stick as a Michael Ruffin type but he's not worth wasting a draft pick on. He can dunk or get a tip in or layup off a rebound but that's the extent of his offense. At just 6-6, he's going to have trouble rebounding over legit NBA players. At 24, he's also old for the summer league. If he didn't put up decent numbers in Vegas, he should have been real concerned. Dude is also a jerk and runs his mouth too much. You want your deep bench players to have character, that's another area were Dorsey is lacking in.

Greene is intriguing. He relies on the 3 too much but has enough skills to use his dribble to get to the basket. He wouldn't have been a bad pick at #18. Better than a guy like Arthur IMO. Arthur has elite offensive skills for a PF, but the size & weight thing is an issue and will limit him down the road. Greene has great size for a SF and is skilled like one. If he tightened his handle up just a bit and became more aggressive at attacking the basket he really could a good NBA player.

McGee is too much of a project IMO. Yes, he's long as hell and I would describe him as "intriguing" but he's not going to be much of a factor in the NBA during his rookie contract. What's the point of being as long as McGee is if your not going to use it? He hates contact. Plays like he's contagious. He's not very tough and while he's a great athlete and fluid for his size, he doesn't make crisp moves around the basket. He's going to have trouble holding on the the ball in the paint, as it takes a while for him to wind up those long arms and go into a post move or complete his shooting motion. Defenders have too much time to slap the ball away.

[closg00]

Does anyone know if this writer blogs here?
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2008/7/15 ... cking-java

[yungal07]

Does anyone know if this writer blogs here?
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2008/7/15 ... cking-java

Anyone who actually takes anything away from that article is an idiot. Seriously.

[doclinkin]

Does anyone know if this writer blogs here?
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2008/7/15 ... cking-java

Anyone who actually takes anything away from that article is an idiot. Seriously.

Mike posts here as 'pradamaster', runs a pretty good blog over there-- though with more fans than doubters, if you like that sort of thing. Keeps new content updated multiple times a day and occasionally breaks a story or two based on reports from fellow bloggers. No point bashing the guy for taking the time to do the breakdowns.

[jivelikenice]

I think McGee has talent, but the problem in my eyes is that he is a BIG project and at that spot in the draft their were more givens available (i.e. Hickson, Arthur)....Not to mention a D. Greene who has equal upside and can probably provide more right now. I'd give Grunfeld more benefit of the doutb here but he has not had a stellar draft record and has been very hit or miss. When he hits he finds a gem but he has not shown himself capable of being a consistently good drafter.

[yungal07]

Does anyone know if this writer blogs here?
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2008/7/15 ... cking-java

Anyone who actually takes anything away from that article is an idiot. Seriously.

Mike posts here as 'pradamaster', runs a pretty good blog over there-- though with more fans than doubters, if you like that sort of thing. Keeps new content updated multiple times a day and occasionally breaks a story or two based on reports from fellow bloggers. No point bashing the guy for taking the time to do the breakdowns.

Don't get me wrong - the breakdown is well done and thought out, but what exactly was his point? That McGee needs to learn how to play NBA calibre help and man defense? That McGee doesn't know the correct defensive rotation, makes assignment mistakes, or that he falls for pump fakes? That McGee is shockingly not ready to dominate the NBA from day one?

Sorry, no diss to the guy, but that article was pretty pointless. I could have said "McGee is not defensively ready for the NBA" and I would said just as much as that article did. That article is equivalent to me breaking down the free throw shooting mechanics of Etan Thomas.

[The Consiglieri]

I think McGee has talent, but the problem in my eyes is that he is a BIG project and at that spot in the draft their were more givens available (i.e. Hickson, Arthur)....Not to mention a D. Greene who has equal upside and can probably provide more right now. I'd give Grunfeld more benefit of the doutb here but he has not had a stellar draft record and has been very hit or miss. When he hits he finds a gem but he has not shown himself capable of being a consistently good drafter.

Don't we have to factor in the idea that the brass felt that with all their pieces coming back and the future addition of one free agent, they had no spots remaining. It seems pretty clear that the cheapskate sale of our 2nd rounder we all loved for some cash and nothing else was justified internally by the viewpoint that there simply wasn't any roster space for him. So really what does that say about taking guys like Hickson and Arthur? It suggests to me that the team basically was interested in only a stud they could trade up for who could stick with the senior roster (the two guys they were supposedly interested in) a potential trade for a vet that didnt happen, or the drafting of a long term project w/big time upside. Seems to me like this was a move that the GM made because he couldn't move up to get anyone better, didn't see Hickson or Arthur as guys that could definitively stick w/the team, much like the 2nd rounder they traded, and felt that McGee would make a nice replacement for Wood/Etan when the former's deal is up, and the latter is dealt. Basically I think the contracts appear to mimic that feel too, isn't Wood's deal done in 2-3 years, basically the length of time everyone expects McGee to need to be NBA ready (if he ever is)?

[Pollinator]

I just liked seeing the kid jumping over top of everyone and throwing it down. And not hurting himself in the process. (That we know of.)

After years of small ball, I'll take whatever flavor of tall ball I can get for now, weak as it may be.

[Pradamaster]

Don't get me wrong - the breakdown is well done and thought out, but what exactly was his point? That McGee needs to learn how to play NBA calibre help and man defense? That McGee doesn't know the correct defensive rotation, makes assignment mistakes, or that he falls for pump fakes? That McGee is shockingly not ready to dominate the NBA from day one?

Uh...yes, yes and yes? I'm not sure why you think those points, except for the last one, are self-evident to everyone who is watching. To you and me, maybe. To others, not so much.

Remember, this is a guy who was on the first-team all-defense in the WAC (just like Dominic McGuire) and was drafted to provide a shot-blocker who could potentially dominate defensively. Everyone knows he's raw, but he's so raw that he's blowing assignments on over half of his defensive possessions? It was just one game, but that's worth mentioning somewhere.

Plus, it's not about the conclusion as much as it is about the how and the why. I could have written 10 words just saying he was raw and that he blows defensive assignments, but just saying that wouldn't have been particularly insightful (and I wouldn't have much content). I figured looking at exactly how he's blowing defensive assignments and how his defensive game is raw is something nobody's really done, and it might interest a lot of people. I don't expect people to take any crazy conclusions out of the piece. The point was just to make people say "hmm."

Sorry, no diss to the guy, but that article was pretty pointless. I could have said "McGee is not defensively ready for the NBA" and I would said just as much as that article did. That article is equivalent to me breaking down the free throw shooting mechanics of Etan Thomas.

That's a terrible comparison. One can just cite Etan's free throw percentage as all the evidence you need for his form being bad, but defense is far, far more complex. There's a reason that no good defensive stat exists out there. Defining a good defender is so much more complex that defining a good free-throw shooter. There's individual defense, help defense, post defense, screen-and-roll defense, closeout defense, etc. With free throw shooting, there's...the shooting part. The two aren't even remotely close.

I honestly don't care if you found it pointless...a few people on the site did too. One person even accused me of not being a true fan (I found that particularly funny). The point wasn't to make some overarching conclusion about how his Wizards career is going to turn out. It wasn't even necessarily to change people's minds. It was just to shed some light on how exactly McGee's raw defensively.

I'm running several of these film breakdowns (there's one about Dominic McGuire vs. Houston, and I'm working on one for Nick Young's offense vs. Cleveland and another about McGee vs. Phoenix trying to see what he's learned), so it's not like I was singling out the guy. Perhaps the exercise is futile, but it's the middle of the offseason and I need to produce good content.

That's my explanation and I'm sticking to it.

[Ruzious]

It is a good read and instructional. But in all fairness, you could go back to Brendan Haywoods first 2 seasons here in the NBA and picked his play apart just as easily - on every single offensive and defensive possession. I'd go crazy watching him. And he came from 4 years at UNC! But he learned. Patience... when there's that much talent.

[Pradamaster]

It is a good read and instructional. But in all fairness, you could go back to Brendan Haywoods first 2 seasons here in the NBA and picked his play apart just as easily - on every single offensive and defensive possession. I'd go crazy watching him. And he came from 4 years at UNC! But he learned. Patience... when there's that much talent.

Well, Haywood definitely wasn't that raw, but the piece was not designed to doom McGee's Wizards career. It was just information.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

WHAAAAT???

Brendan Haywood was a pretty low pick, in the high teens, because he was perceived as a slacker. I remember clearly his first year how amazed everyone was at how focused he became as a professional. BTH was much better than expected on defense. It's colossally stupid to focus exclusively on someone's offensive game and say, "oh he's raw and he sucks." Like EJ does. Not that I'm an EJ hater. But I definitely get the impression that he thinks offense is 75% of the game.

[Dat2U]

It is a good read and instructional. But in all fairness, you could go back to Brendan Haywoods first 2 seasons here in the NBA and picked his play apart just as easily - on every single offensive and defensive possession. I'd go crazy watching him. And he came from 4 years at UNC! But he learned. Patience... when there's that much talent.

That's a big difference. Two years at a Big West and four years at a ACC/NCAA Championship caliber school in UNC.

Brendan was far more polished and ready than Javale is. Brendan actually came in started for us his rookie year and had some good moments. Evn Doug "Insidious" Collins was comparing him to Robert Parish because of his defensive ability.

[BruceO]

I agree that mcgee is raw defensively. I'm not entirely against the article pradamaster wrote down. It is one game and perhaps it tells us where his flaws are defensively and whether they are correctable. The things thats limiting him is his strength and his decision making. Pradamaster did a good breakdown of his decision making in game one.
Another thing is for every soft rebound he tried to get there was some that he went up for strong and dunked it, instead of laying it up. Thats the aspect of his game that reminds me of chandler. I expect him to be raw, otherwise he'd have gone higher. Our team just might have had the luxury to invest in a long term project.
My take on him is he's raw defensively now. I won't criticize his play but I will point out his mistakes. I won't also expect him to mature as a player until the end of his rookie contract. So all the mistakes he makes between now and then all goes towards what shall be utilized to make his learning experience greater.
where people's opinion varies from yours pradamaster is you are saying he has defensive flaws and here is example A, B,C,D and other people are saying yeah yeah, I know he sucks defensively right now and A, B, C, D are in our mind temporary situations or perhaps the very bottom of the barrel as far as his general performance.

[Halcyon]

I think it's a good starting point to start our analysis of Mr. McGee, so I don't think there was anything wrong with the writeup. Now we have a nice reference point to compare against once preseason/regular season starts, and maybe next year as well.

[LyricalRico]

I whined about the pick at the time but Summer League changed my mind. For all his raw-ness, McGee is the only big man on the Wiz roster with the potential to be a legitimate inside scorer (assuming somebody makes him stop shooting 3's). I'm willing to wait a few years for that.

The only question is will he get the coaching and minutes he needs to grow? Good thing EJ will only be here for another year. That alone improves McGees chances.

[Pradamaster]

where people's opinion varies from yours pradamaster is you are saying he has defensive flaws and here is example A, B,C,D and other people are saying yeah yeah, I know he sucks defensively right now and A, B, C, D are in our mind temporary situations or perhaps the very bottom of the barrel as far as his general performance.

I guess I don't see the difference in opinion then. Bottom line is, if you agree that A, B, C and D were problems in that Portland game, then you agree with what I was doing. I didn't make any proclamations on his general performance going forward, other than to say that he has a ways to go. I don't see too many people disagreeing with that.

Basically, we're all saying that McGee is very raw, particularly defensively. I just did it in 3,000 words when some of you are doing it in 30. No big deal if we're all saying the same thing.