The Javale McGee Appreciation Thread

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The thing that drives me nuts about McGee are those wasted shots he throws up. Those little no-jump, flat-footed flip shots, or those sidewinder jumpers that no prayer of going in. With his physical advantage over opponents, there's just no reason for that kind of shot. They're the kind of shots a 10-year old might attempt while playing against his dad or an older brother.

Well, on the positive side, last year that description applied to every shot he took. This year, we are actually seeing fewer of those, with more legit looking big-man moves instead. Now I think he resorts to those mostly when he's off-balance due to contact from defenders. I think he needs to slow down a bit and gather himself before starting a move... hopefully that comes with experience. Also, he still needs to be stronger, so he can absorb more contact without being thrown off. So he has a ways to go, but at least there's been measurable progress.

McGee is likely going to gain weight and get stronger and better. He will slow down with time in the league. Personally, I wish the Wizards would be smart and put a quality PF next to Javale.

I think just having Booker next to Javale will help McGee for now.

[Nivek]

I agree. ^^^

[queridiculo]

If I was Saunders I would have McGee working with a position coach almost exclusively. He's certainly gotten a lot more comfortable with the back to the basket, but it should be a point of emphasis. He shouldn't even get a touch outside of the blocks.

[dobrojim]

I thought Javale regressed in the MN game. Darko is just the kind of player
McGee should play well against. Bargs (tonight) might give him fits by
forcing him to play away from the basket. But McGee should own him inside.
Watch out for fouls young man.

[hands11]

“I was just trying to be patient, just out there trying to help the team win, trying to play the right way,” said McGee, who missed 9 of 13 and had just one blocked shot on Friday. “I’m just trying to be consistent and trying to be a defensive presence for my team.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... _blog.html

Flip benching seemed to help him refocus.

Monster game for McGee. I saw the video of his post game and he wasn't smiling. He wasn't happy. Why ? They lost. Good to see.

Loved how he played this game and loved his post game quotes. It was perfect on all accounts. The stage is set for him to have a monster year. The kids keeps developing slowly over time and on this team things are wide open for players to step up since it has no stars. If he can just stay focused on defense first, then use these new moves he seems to have developed and limit the WTF moves to 0 a game, he could be a force and this team needs something to build off of.

Flip has been chipping away at his mind for a few years now by giving him plenty of opportunities but then benching him when he gets out of control. Maybe everything is finally going to come together and the combination of his body, age/maturity, his moves is helping things to click mentally.

On a team that desperately needs examples of quality play and player development, McGee putting it together could be a catalyst to help others step it up. I can't believe I just typed that about McGee but I did. Props to the young man if he can keep it up. I guess a contract year really helps to focus the mind and remove the cotton from ones ears.

[pancakes3]

foot of the gas, fellas. mcgee has made HUGE strides this season. his defense is much better and his offense is coming along nicely. let's coax consistency out of him before we start pushing him to become the cornerstone of our offense. we saw how mcgee dealt with added offensive responsibility at the start of the season where we would feed him the ball early and often - some wickedly wild and forced sweeping hooks.

defense first. the offense will come.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Flip needs to bench Wall. Work on the real guy who is getting the team killed.

Run with Mack a long time and see if Wall doesn't cut down on turnovers the next game.

The same way he coaches McGee, Flip needs to do John Wall.

[Black Eyed Sooz]

Here's an interesting JaVale stat: in the 2nd game of back to backs this year, JaVale is averaging

16.7 pts
15.3 rebounds
4.3 blocks

Probably this is mostly a statistical blip, as this is only a 3 game sample, and it hasn't really been true for the rest of his career (possible exception being his rookie year). But on the other hand he does seem to play more within himself and in rhythm as he gets more playing time.

Another reason for some cautious optimism.

[hands11]

Flip needs to bench Wall. Work on the real guy who is getting the team killed.

Run with Mack a long time and see if Wall doesn't cut down on turnovers the next game.

The same way he coaches McGee, Flip needs to do John Wall.

I believe he did bench him the same time and game he benched McGee and did exactly that.

[tontoz]

McGee had a strong stretch of play late last year. In march he averaged 13/10 shooting 57%. With the lockout i was wondering if he could continue to play at that level. I guess question answered.

He still makes some dumb plays and is soft but he is producing at a high level and would be tough to replace.

[hands11]

McGee had a strong stretch of play late last year. In march he averaged 13/10 shooting 57%. With the lockout i was wondering if he could continue to play at that level. I guess question answered.

He still makes some dumb plays and is soft but he is producing at a high level and would be tough to replace.

Me thinks no organized summer program was not a good thing for our set of younger players and the young vets like McGee, Dray and Young. I think that is leading to the slow start as they are reprogrammed and learn to play as a team and develop line ups and a style.

Wall and Young were off playing games no D summer ball and I have to wonder if Dray was plugged in more, if someone would have addressed the shoulder issue. And the vets they have, two of them where in the CBA negotiations and Ronny getting hurt early was a huge blow. He looked good and would have really helped them gel with his style of play.

But McGee or Hibbert were the picks I wanted for that year and since Hibbert was taken, I was happy they got McGee. That was the one time they did what I wanted to see in the draft. Now, I had no idea he would be such a bone head or that he had asthma but I expected he was a 3-5 year project. I saw him putting in a lot of work going into the draft so I expected he would continue that during summers. To bad Haywood was here to teach him.

Well here we are. I've had my doubts at times if he would ever get it mentally but it looks like he is starting to mature. Kid still has no cap on how good he could be if he get his mind and maturity in line. He has unique physical attributes and skills. Best in the league for his height. The fact that he developed that hook and drop step makes me very encouraged. Shows he can put in the work and that puts him in the position to really blow up this year. If McGee ever realizes all his potential physical and mental, he would be one of the best in the league. Definite AS potential and maybe more if he stays healthy. He just have to listen to his coach, focus and no WTFs. I have seen two games like that this year out of 12. He needs that to be 11 out of 12.

I really hope McGee can string together some games like that last one. That would be good for him and good for the team and a great example to others players like Wall, Nick and Crawford to listen to the coach and bond. Don't try doing it your own way.

That last game from McGee gives me new hope that this team can find their way and develop this year. And if Nick has finally found his game, that helps a ton. This team sorely lacks reliable shooting from the outside. I also expect to see some good things from KS over the next 10-20 games. With Dray and Ronny out, they really need him to step up. He is also a unique physical talent. Not in the McGee category, but he is quick at 6-9 275 and he has a nice touch around the rim and a McNasty style this team lacks. Once the game settles down for him, I think he will show he has game. McGee with KS at PF could be nasty for other teams to deal with. One power. One agility and length. And both have motors.

[JonathanJoseph]

I'm coming around a little on McGee. He played his best game vs the Sixers. As exciting as the shooting and rebounding were, it's the absence of boneheaded, team killing plays that had me most excited. He looked like a bonafide NBA big man there.

Hope to see this trend continue.

[fishercob]

Posted this in the draft thread, but i suppose it belongs here:

I've posted this comparison a few times during the season, but I don't think I've done it since the year ended. It's informative to compare McGee to other long/thin/athletic centers and see how his progress stacks up.

Javale, Tyson Chandler, Marcus Camby

It would take a real cynic to look at these numbers and declare that Javale can never achieve what these guys have.

Through three seasons, Javale is in the mix -- almost as good, if not better -- than these other two in nearly every advanced stat category. Best PER, TS% eFG%, OReb%, Blk%, turnover rate, Offensive rating (by a wide margin!) win shares, WS/48.

The two areas where he lags behind significantly are assist% (he's a black hole) and defensive rating. A couple of reasons the DRtg may be so bad are (a) it's more of a team stat and the Wiz have been a terrible defensive team while Javale has been here and (b) perhaps he's really bad, worse than Camby and Chandler were at the same stage. For conservatism sake, let's assume it;s the latter.

Consider the fact that Chandler and Camby were both #2 overall picks, Camby on the heels of being national player of the year in college and leading UMass to a final four only to lose to a LOADED Ketucky team (Delk, A. Walker, McCarty, D. Anderson, R. Mercer, Mohammed,etc). Javale was the #18 pick -- where project bigs are taken -- and has produced like two "can't miss" level guys through three years.

It would be one thing if Javale produced at half these guys' level through three seasons and people were crowing about his upside. But jeez, how can you NOT be enamored of his upside? Yeah, he's got growing up to do and he has a ton to learn. But he's good enough that he's worth the wait and investment IMO.

So several months ago I started looking at the Vale/Camby/Chandler comparison and from the time I first did I was impressed with how Javale stacked up. Feel free to read the entire post above or just click on the embedded link if you're interested.

A few points of interest about a sixth of a way into Javale's season. His PER has shot up 20.2 -- mostly because his rebounding, particularly defensive, has gotten much better. He's 9th in the league in rebounding percentage, 8th in Drb%. I'd like to see him improve his offensive rebounding. He's 18th.

At the same time, his shooting has fallen off a cliff. His career TS% was .550 coming into this season and so far he's at a mere .516.

Here's Vale's full career so far against Camby and Chandler's full first four seasons.

Here's Vale's season thus far against C&C's full fourth seasons in the league.

Very glad to see Javale's rebounding improvement and cut down his WTF's. Hopefully his shooting slump is just an anomaly. Either way, there's lots of reason to be optimistic about McGee's continued development and his future. Praying to the basketball gods that a new contract won't hurt his production, either.

[Nivek]

I think McGee's shooting percentage is down because he's doing a lot more offensively. He's back to using possessions at a similar pace as he did in his first two seasons, with about the same results. Last season, his offense was mostly dunks, which is why his percentage was so high.

His overall efficiency this season is terrible -- an offensive rating of 98, which (if it holds up) would be the worst mark of his career by a bunch. Looking at his numbers, the biggest thing causing his efficiency to fall so much (not from last season, but from his 1st two seasons) is free throw shooting. His free throw percentage has fallen every season of his career so far, as have his per minute free throw attempts.

[killacalijatt]

Say you guys land the top pick in the draft who do you guys draft? Drummond?

[nate33]

Say you guys land the top pick in the draft who do you guys draft? Drummond?

Davis. Though many on this board like Thomas Robinson and some like Sullinger. If we pick #2 and Davis is off the board, a trade down could be a possibility.

[Mizerooskie]

Say you guys land the top pick in the draft who do you guys draft? Drummond?

Davis, by a landslide.

[fishercob]

I think McGee's shooting percentage is down because he's doing a lot more offensively. He's back to using possessions at a similar pace as he did in his first two seasons, with about the same results. Last season, his offense was mostly dunks, which is why his percentage was so high.

His overall efficiency this season is terrible -- an offensive rating of 98, which (if it holds up) would be the worst mark of his career by a bunch. Looking at his numbers, the biggest thing causing his efficiency to fall so much (not from last season, but from his 1st two seasons) is free throw shooting. His free throw percentage has fallen every season of his career so far, as have his per minute free throw attempts.

Have I mentioned lately how little I like you?

But yeah, I didn't realize how bad his FT shooting has been. If he gets it back even into the mid 60's, he gets that much more effective. His TS% two seasons ago was 20 basis points higher on very similar usage.

And while his ORtg sucks this year, the team's overall suckiness plays into that. And by the same token, his DRtg is markedly better than it's been through his first three years.

He's making progress. He just needs to knock down those FT's.

[Nivek]

His drtg is better, but a) it's not a good stat, and b) everyone's drtg is better because efficiency is down league-wide.

The numbers from Synergy say he's the Wizards' worst man defender.

I'm just saying that some caution is in order with McGee. I agree there are signs of progress, but there's still a long ways to go.

[Zonkerbl]

It's just that he's so overwhelmingly talented, even a little bit of progress makes an enormous difference on his impact on the game. He's finally at the point where, as long as his head's in the game, and he's not all shellshocked that his own teammates yelled at him for showboating, the team is actually just about ok with him on the floor. Used to be, you put him, the other team immediately starts taking advantage of his weaknesses and go on 10-0 run. Now he's actually climbed to mediocre. I'm so proud.