JaVale McGee

[MJG]

Wiz D fails to take into account the potential to improve your poor lateral accelaration. Plyometrics brother!! Also, guarantee McGee is stronger and faster if he went through the rookie tests next year as well as the following year. Bigs mature later to much later. He could end up being Tyson Chandler big - unlikely but it could happen. He looks like he will be more Camby-sized which has worked fine for him. He will never be broad-assed like Shaq, but that is a 1-in a 100 million body type/athletic ability combo (and I bet I understated those odds). If McGee is a hard worker, his body will be the least of his worries.

I don't think that's unlikely at all. I think it's very likely that he'll fill out to be roughly the size of Chandler. He has a solid frame and broad shoulders. He just needs more time to mature physically. Heck, he has allegedly grown another inch since the draft measurements. You can't expect a 21-year old to fill out much if he's still growing taller.

McGee is a project. It was nice that he showed some ability to impact a game right from the start, but that doesn't change the fact that he has a long way to go to reach his potential. I'm not at all worried about it though. He's gonna get better every year. It might take him until he's 25 or so, but that's not unusual for bigs.

This is something we all need to remember (though I'll admit I'm as guilty as forgetting as anyone). When we drafted McGee, we were thinking project. Someone that would take two or three years before starting to show his potential. He's shown unexpectedly early flashes of that ability, which has made many of us look past his flaws. But those flaws are pretty glaring, and will take time for him to overcome. We can't expect too much too soon. We must be patient.

(Though I'm still of the opinion that we need to play him more than we do. Maybe not the 30 MPG I and others were asking for two weeks in, but at least in the low teens.)

[pancakes3]

Wiz D,

There is so much correct individual pieces of information in your argument, it's bewildering how you're making such wrong conclusions.

Javale will never have to break down and seal off his defender by sliding his feet. He doesn't have to. He's got almost a 9 foot reach. Big men defend differently than guards. I feel like that much is obvious. Javale is a crappy post defender isn't because he has underdeveloped quads (actually i think shuffling is more groin muscles... adductor) but because he DOESN'T have a wide base. He's skinny, has no ass, and can't keep up with the bumps and spins of post players. He's not wide enough to play body up, and is usually bullied into choosing a side, and then a quick spin move or drop step just removes him from the equation completely. Big men don't beat their man to a position because they've already established position. McGee isn't big enough to establish positioning and so he's not a good post defender. All the individually correct tidbits about being in a good defensive position are just so irrelevant it discredits your argument.

[hands11]

if mcgee could stop fouling maybe he'd be out there longer. Not sure if anyone has told him the proper use of arms and body to defend the post when someone backs into him. NO wonder detroit just got him into the post on consecutive possessions.

On this: McGee's fouls are way, way up under Tap. Under EJ, McGee averaged 2.0 fouls per game in 20.0 minutes per game, or one foul every 10.0 minutes. Under Tap, those numbers are 2.9 fouls per game in 14.8 minutes per game, or one foul every 5.1 minutes Basically, he's doubled his rate of fouls. Maybe it's just a case of small sample size? Or could there be something else to it? Not sure; just found the numbers interesting.

It's because he was no longer the Big Secret. Teams scouted him and learned how to got at him. He would stand straight with his arms up so you just had to jump into his outstretch arms and you could get the foul called.

Tapps is working with him showing him how to bend his knees and use his forearm like DSong does. He needs to learn leverage. Forearm, forearm, hip bump, separate, forearm, slide the feet, separate and then use his height to intimidate and block. Once he figures this out, he will be able to play again without racking up fouls so quickly.

He was just doing that think a lot of tall centers do when they are new because they could do it in HS and college. They would just stand a tall as the can. That doesn't work in the pros. He is much more dangerous with a foot or two of separation, knee slightly bent, elbow slightly bend, ready to spring so he can block the shot. Just being in that position will intimate a lot of players from shooting because they know you in great position to block their shot. They know what's coming.

All he need to do is watch no butt Dikembe Mutombo 7-2 260


http://www.draftexpress.com/article/JaV ... cret-2883/

JaVale 7-1 236 can easily add 20 lbs says this review which is the one I read that got me interested in him predraft.

[hands11]

I don't think McGee will ever be a good man-to-man defender no matter how many nuances he lears but he could wreck havoc on the weak side if he's paired with someone with more heft like Blatche or Haywood. McGee's rail thin and any competent big man can easily seal him off with a drop step or a spin move. However, if you stick him on a PF, especially a perimeter oriented PF like Dirk, Turk, or Yi, his length will be very effective defensively. This goes back to the earlier discussions about making McGee a PF, which i still think is a good idea especially since Blatche is proving to be an adequate Center.

also, wiz D, how exactly does a wide base translate to a weak base or a wide base translate to poor lateral acceleration, or how lateral acceleration even applies to post defense?

I'm pretty sure it is going to be Haywood and McGee at center. AB will be the PF. I thought that was a given. But once they are all healthy and experienced I wouldn't be surprised to see a little any combination of the 3. Haywood/McGee, Haywood/AB, McGee/AB or even...

Haywood, McGee, Blatche at some point. Specially on a defensive last stand. Now that will be a far cry from what we saw to end those Cleveland games. Haywood on the bench with something like DSong, AJ, CB, DS and AD LMAO.

[hands11]

Wiz D fails to take into account the potential to improve your poor lateral accelaration. Plyometrics brother!! Also, guarantee McGee is stronger and faster if he went through the rookie tests next year as well as the following year. Bigs mature later to much later. He could end up being Tyson Chandler big - unlikely but it could happen. He looks like he will be more Camby-sized which has worked fine for him. He will never be broad-assed like Shaq, but that is a 1-in a 100 million body type/athletic ability combo (and I bet I understated those odds). If McGee is a hard worker, his body will be the least of his worries.

I don't think that's unlikely at all. I think it's very likely that he'll fill out to be roughly the size of Chandler. He has a solid frame and broad shoulders. He just needs more time to mature physically. Heck, he has allegedly grown another inch since the draft measurements. You can't expect a 21-year old to fill out much if he's still growing taller.

McGee is a project. It was nice that he showed some ability to impact a game right from the start, but that doesn't change the fact that he has a long way to go to reach his potential. I'm not at all worried about it though. He's gonna get better every year. It might take him until he's 25 or so, but that's not unusual for bigs.

This is something we all need to remember (though I'll admit I'm as guilty as forgetting as anyone). When we drafted McGee, we were thinking project. Someone that would take two or three years before starting to show his potential. He's shown unexpectedly early flashes of that ability, which has made many of us look past his flaws. But those flaws are pretty glaring, and will take time for him to overcome. We can't expect too much too soon. We must be patient.

(Though I'm still of the opinion that we need to play him more than we do. Maybe not the 30 MPG I and others were asking for two weeks in, but at least in the low teens.)

I wouldn't put any real yearly time tables on the kid. He is a quick study as evidence by how much he grow in skills by all the work he put in over the summer. A big part of why he had his minutes cut back has to do with how much Tapps had on his plate to try to get these line ups worked out so they could stop the bleeding. Team adjusted to him so he was racking up to many fouls so he had to come out then Tapps needed to establish line ups with a new center and a rotation from that center. That ended up being DSONG for the time being because he is steady.

I was calling for AB to start ahead of him so he could learn to defend better without the pressure of starting while also giving AB minutes as a starter that I felt he deserved so he could grow as well. It was better for the team, better for AB and better for McGee.

Then we had to work James into the mix. That took a few games.

Now we are changing the line up again to get DS out.

And even while we were moving AB and James in, it only took Tapps a couple of games to start working McGee back in at more regular times and in those minutes I could see him trying out his new defensive technique they obviously were teaching him.

Tapps is actually making a lot of adjustment and making improvements with this team .... from teaching McGee new defensive technique, to giving NY more of a green light while also giving him the two dribble rule, to giving DMAC more minutes.

I like what Tapps is getting done is such a short period of time. It was hard watching as nothing seemed to change the first week but now you can see stuff happening and it's good stuff that shows some wisdom about the game and line ups and teaching younger players.

I think Tapps has made more progress with this team in 2 weeks then EFJ had made in 5 years. Give it another 2 weeks and I think you will see it come together even more.

More then a few of us saw the potential of some of these players and the potential of different line ups we never saw. That is why EFJ drove us nuts so much.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they started a winning stretch starting the next game. Now I don't think it is likely just yet but I wouldn't be surprised if they did either.

[pancakes3]

I'm pretty sure it is going to be Haywood and McGee at center. AB will be the PF. I thought that was a given.

Offensively when Blatche and McGee get playing time, that is going to be the case because of Blatche's "perimeter" skills but for defensive assignments I'd rather see Blatche body up the center, simply because Blatche is bigger and stronger.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

geeze, I was just looking over the roster for some reason and noticed... Javale was born in 19 frickin 88! Am I getting old or what????

[Wizards2Lottery]

geeze, I was just looking over the roster for some reason and noticed... Javale was born in 19 frickin 88! Am I getting old or what????

I'm a year older than this years #1 draft pick in the NHL. I saw that and just shook my head.

[fishercob]

I was hoping to see some of McGee against the Cavs. He could have matched up against Ben Wallace without any risk of being exploited on the defensive end. Oh well. Soon enough.

[nate33]

Bump for archive purposes