The Javale McGee Appreciation Thread

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I moonlight as a private tutor sometimes for sons and daughters of family friends. On one hand, some kids are smart and are just too lazy to do the work so you need structure to make them do their hw. On the other hand, other kids are just not as smart and even though they're trying very hard, they're slow on the pickup and have very poor retention.

Just saying, even if the wizards did hire a personal coach for McGee, there's no guarantee for improvement. After all, it's the same thing he's been hearing for most of his basketball life. play within yourself, keep your arms up, and keep your head on a swivel.

adding on the cost of a coach adds, in my estimation, something like 500k to the payroll - more if it's going to be KAJ. that's effectively a 33% pay bump for McGee. i can totally understand why we don't have a dedicated big-man coach for javale.

pancakes, I got a call last week from a friend who I tutored in the past. Also tutored his daughter. Really didn't do it for any money, just to help out. He wanted me to tutor a friend of his' kid, and insisted I get paid. I thought no biggie, sure thing. I figured it would be pretty routine stuff. Turns out this kid was in HS doing calculus. Hadn't seen that stuff in 30 years. To make a long story short, I remember a lot more than I thought. First hour I didn't accept a thing because I was rusty. Second hour (and last) had the kid caught up with his class and understanding where he needed to look for answers. His mom got more than her money's worth.

Anyhow, back to the Wizards, I question the quality of the coaching McGee is receiving. Watching Shaq and Barkley last night discuss Bynum's post game compared with that of Dwight Howard, and what moves the young guys have or don't have; it dawned on me just how valuable experience is. They know what works and what doesn't work. Hearing Shaq talk about getting 7 points a quarter was really revealing. He and Barkley each had methodical post games. They have wisdom to impart to young players who would like to emulate their success.

A guy like Kareem Abdul Jabbar could go back 30 and 40 years to tell McGee how he developed not just his body, but his mind to battle against guys like Chamberlain, Cowens, Unseld, Bill Walton, Parish, etc. pancakes brings up a great point about some students try really hard but they don't catch on as fast or retain as much. I think a teacher like Kareem has wisdom, anecdotes, and also the body type to be the ideal teacher for Javale. I believe McGee's game can evolve even more now that he appears to be getting stronger physically.

Sorry for the rant, but the subject of tutoring struck a chord. McGee already is a useful player. Under the right tutelage he can be a lot more proficient.

[keynote]

To me the question isn't whether they hired a tutor or a big name - its whether the guy they currently have working with McGee is cutting it on the player development front. McGee's momma is saying, "No, the guy sucks monkey balls" - so much so that she's advising McGee to leave DC. Worse, if McGee,s advancement from this off season is due to a coach from UCLA, why on Gods Green Earth wouldn't the Wizards have wanted to pay for that every off season???

Same with Wall, Vesely and the rest.

And why, pray tell, are we giving McGee's mom any credibility as a player development expert? Granted, we can all agree that we wish JaVale were further along in his development, but he's not. Now, the Wizards have been "responsible" for JaVale's coaching for the past four years; the good folks at U. Nevada, Reno, the previous two. As his mother, Pam has had more time to instill a proper BBall IQ in JaVale than his college and NBA coaches combined. And yet, we currently have a player with great athleticism, a decent work ethic - and tremendously poor instincts and fundamentals. Frankly, JaVale plays like someone who's only played organized ball for...I dunno...six years or so.

I understand being dissatisfied with the Wizards' player development efforts. But Pam deserves a share of the blame, too.

[Illuminaire]

@CCJ

Wholeheartedly agree. Maybe the Wiz have a top notch staff of individual coaches working with the young guys to maximize their abilities... but it sure doesn't seem like it.

[closg00]

Happy to re-post this video of Gene Banks in-action (takes a few seconds to load). Wiz D and some others here have maintained for years that the Wizards need better help in developing their Bigs. What do you think?
http://vimeo.com/16419477

One of Wiz D's threads on the topic.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1083928

[montestewart]

Happy to re-post this video of Gene Banks in-action (takes a few seconds to load). Wiz D and some others here have maintained for years that the Wizards need better help in developing their Bigs. What do you think?
http://vimeo.com/16419477

One of Wiz D's threads on the topic.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1083928

Hard to judge from one clip, and I can't really hear what wisdom he's imparting, if any, but he looks here like nothing more than a short, heavy barely contesting sparring partner for big man layup drills. Doesn't look like it would prepare them for anything, especially not the average NBA big doing even a half-a$$ed prevent. Again, hard to judge his overall job based on one clip.

It is worth noting that good and well coached teams like the Lakers occasionally just get rid of players that aren't "getting it." It's not always a coaching and player development shortcoming. It just seems like the Wizards get so many of those players. I'm guessing it's a mix of drafting low-BBIQ players and failing to train and motivate them to overcome that deficiency.

[pancakes3]

looked like he was teaching them to learn to feel where the contact is coming from and learning to spin left or right depending on how the man is playing them. i'll agree that he's not offering much resistance and probably should have had Yi and Blatche guard each other, but i don't think it was totally worthless. it also looked like yi's left hand is severely lacking, and that blatche shows even LESS hustle at practice (didn't think less hustle was possible).

[Nivek]

The Wizards are stupid enough to pay big money for Kaman and to let McGee walk.

If they did that, I might have to start rooting for OKC.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Nivek, there are so many times I have wished I could quit being a Wizards/Bullets fan. That day, and I expect it to come, will be yet another one.

[Nivek]

I've been on an airplane all day so I'm just seeing these articles.

Re: McGee's mom. Yeah, she said the kind of stuff I'd expect her to say. She SHOULD defend Javale. But, she also should have been smart enough not to do the interview. I don't think her comments to Wise help Javale or his image.

Re: Hiring a big man coach -- tutors can help, IF the student is committed. I know one family that has a several tutors for one of their kids. The kid who gets the tutors is the one that works hard, follows directions, does what the tutors ask, practices what they tell him. This family tried hiring a math tutor for his older sister. She spent the time rolling her eyes, yawning, not paying attention, and then lost the project she did with the tutors help before turning it in. Javale's been more like the 2nd kid in his first couple seasons, but seems to have gotten more serious this past offseason. If I'm in the front office, I'd add a good big-man coach (not necessarily a big name) if I thought I didn't have one already on staff. I don't know Zeiren, so I don't know how good a teacher he is. He's been with Flip a loooooong time.

Re: McGee's contract -- I think it's smart for the Wizards to wait and see with him. I think there are signs of progress, but there are also some warning signs as well. It doesn't hurt anything to wait.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The only thing about waiting is what if he accepted a deal on the order of 4 years and $40 Mil?

What's the harm in offering that as a token of good faith? If the Wizards are waiting and expect not to pay what DeAndre Jordan got during the FA bidding, they're in for a rude awakening IMO. Why not preemptively lock him up? Blatche isn't McGee. McGee is already roughly worth that much now, IMO.

Looking back, they had no qualms about giving Jamison $56Mil and Arenas $111Mil. Why balk at giving a young man who at worse will be a trade asset $40Mil?

I see why they might want to wait-and-see, but to me they should lock him up now.

[Nivek]

The problem with giving him $10 million a season is that it eats into cap space that could be used to bring in a star player. Let's say what McGee is doing right now is what he's going to be. Maybe small improvement, but no big leap. To be blunt: it's not good enough. Not to sacrifice a chance to use those cap resources on a truly elite player.

[sashae]

You don't think $10mil/yr over 4 years is worthy of near-elite? What's DeAndre Jordan then? People pay a premium for bigs...

[Nivek]

McGee is not "near elite." Neither is DeAndre Jordan, but the Clippers were in a different place in their rebuild. They had their cornerstone in Griffin and were at/near the cap anyway. Their concern was to retain talent while remaining under the luxury tax. The Wizards still need their cornerstone. McGee isn't that -- at least not yet. Any move they make that limits their ability to get elite players is a bad one.

[7-Day Dray]

Don't forget that McGee will still have a lot of trade value even after he's extended. If he keeps on improving, and we're looking to acquire a superstar, we could use him in a trade to acquire one.

[MD's Finest]

I understand Pam looking out for her son, the best part of the article for me was the fact that Mcgee admitted that his mom was a bit in your face when it comes to him and played the situation off a bit it was probably the most diplomatic thing he could have done.

In terms of a big man coach or tutor I don't understand that just because our big man coach is not some name it means he is not effectively trying to teach our post players. Im not saying it doesn't mean they should not look for other guys if the ones they have are not reaching the players but at the end of the day the players have to have some accountability. Ewing was here when Haywood and Kwame were here and their offensive games were not very good when he left and Ewing has been with Dwight Howard for years and just a season or 2 ago you heard complaints that Howards offensive game was not developed enough.

On the topic of extending him with a 4 for 40 or what not just because Jordan got his I would say be patient. Really the clippers got painted into a corner because GS offered the big contract and they matched plus I think Jordans value got pumped up playing all year on the same stage as Blake, not to say Javale wont warrant or command that much but I dont see the benefit in hurrying to sign him. We just went down this road with Blatche, what seemed like a pretty good contract 18 months ago looks like an albatross now.

[hands11]

Here is this summer's list of FA Centers worth noting (Howard/Bynum not included)
Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers – $2.6 million – Restricted
Brook Lopez, New Jersey Nets – $3.1 million – Restricted
Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons – $3.0 million – Team Option
JaVale McGee, Washington Wizards – $2.5 million – Restricted
Robin Lopez, Phoenix Suns – $2.8 million – Restricted

Chris Kaman, New Orleans Hornets – $12.7 million – Unrestricted
Marcus Camby, Portland Trail Blazers – $12.9 million – Unrestricted

If we are to offer deal similar to D Jordan (4 years for $43m) to the first 5 on this list, what would be order of who'd you target?

Monroe, McGee, Hibbert, wouldn't offer that deal to Lopez brothers (unless we got both for that price, which would be a bargain)

I would not be surprised at all to see McGee on another team and one of those players as a Wizard.

[Ruzious]

Keynote

Good points. Got me thinking.

Who trained Hakeem, Jabbar, Magic, Bird, MJ, etc, etc.

For the record, Hakeem gave Moses Malone credit for vastly improving his skills one summer when Hakeem was at the U of Houston and Moses was a Houston Rocket. Alcindor had the greatest college coach of all time. Magic and Bird were already phenoms. MJ had an all-time great coach in Dean Smith. Javale is obviously way way way wayyyyy behind the curve compared to those guys and probably any other HOFers you want to bring up. He didn't do the developing that those guys did in college.

[MF23]

QFT. Javalee's never played for a great coach. I've never felt Javale was lazy, the issues I see are concentration, physicality and maturity. He's made progress in all of those areas.

I don't think there's a chance Javale has a contract that's for less annual salary than D. Jordan's. Teams are going to want spend money in 2012 and Javale is going to be a target. With increased opportunities in the post his FTA's are going to go up and if he starts hitting them he could end up averaging 15, 10 and 3.

If I could lock him down now I would. 3 things, I don't think there are character issues with him, he's going to get more money in the open market and the new cap structure is going to be so brutal that any cap savings will help.

[hands11]

Keynote

Good points. Got me thinking.

Who trained Hakeem, Jabbar, Magic, Bird, MJ, etc, etc.

For the record, Hakeem gave Moses Malone credit for vastly improving his skills one summer when Hakeem was at the U of Houston and Moses was a Houston Rocket. Alcindor had the greatest college coach of all time. Magic and Bird were already phenoms. MJ had an all-time great coach in Dean Smith. Javale is obviously way way way wayyyyy behind the curve compared to those guys and probably any other HOFers you want to bring up. He didn't do the developing that those guys did in college.

Thanks for detailing that more. I honestly didn't know the answer. That is interesting and highlights things further.

You say Hakeem gave Moses pointers. Doesn't sound like any team arranged that. They took it upon themselves. But Moses was a big name coming out of high school like LeBron was. McGee was not that. Others learned in college. Well, if a player comes out early so they don't get the training they would have otherwise received for free so they can cash in and get paid now by an owner of an NBA team, then they have the money to pay for their own continued training on that NBA owner dime (which is what the team told his agent). These NBA teams also have people on staff ( they are paying for ) So the player should have to money for any additional training they need. The owner is already paying twice. Sounds to me like an NBA player like McGee wants his cake and he wants to eat it too. Ted is already paying ( twice ). This is just one more reason players should stay in school at least two years.

Beyond the money he is getting paid for coming out early before his free training was completed, and the coaches Ted is already paying to train the players, why spend more on a kid that won't even listen to the basics the coaches they have are telling him ? Doesn't JaVale have an obligation to prove himself at a certain level first ? Even D Howard didn't get that kind of extra help in his first two years. Is anyone suggesting that in year 1 or 2 that the Wizards should have hired one of these top names to train JaVale ? He was a project and they had coaches. I would guess at that point in time, those names wouldn't have even bothered with him. Who was JaVale two years ago but a young long kid that could jump.

Another point that was recently mentioned here that I have been thinking about for a while is.. the Wiz couldn't hire an additional specific coach just for McGee this last summer even if they wanted. Maybe after 3 years in the league they see him as developing more of the basics and would have be ready to dish out even more to train him. Who knows. They couldn't do it.

Vesely is a little different. He had more basketball experience. He wa a proven hard worker and he was drafted 6th, not 18th. And for that they hired a shooting coach not someone to teach him the basics of playing basketball or defense. I don't see them hiring a special coach for their 18th pick this year with was Singleton though I hope he is working with that same shooting coach.

JaVale/Pam did what they should have done in a CBA contract year and year 4 of his development. They took some of that $2,462,399 Ted is paying them and hired someone to expand his game. Good. That was smart. That is what they should have done. Complaining about it is stupid and bad PR. What they should have done was simply point out that he did do this. Then the story would have read much better.

JaVale hires personal big man coach to expand his game. That shows maturity, commitment and professionalism. If they left it at that, maybe people would start to not see him as a knuckhead and his mother as a mouthy over barring pain in the rss. Maybe the team would see the result of that and pick up the bill for the next coach. She went about this all wrong. JaVale did something good and she played it all wrong. Next thing JaVale needs to do it take some of the 2.5M and hire a PR person. It would pay for itself in his next contract.

[Zonkerbl]

I think it's true that the NBA used NCAAB as a minor league responsible for teaching fundamentals, so the NBA has a culture of not teaching fundamentals, which is pretty stupid considering the fundamental change in the draft. I know EJ pooh-poohed teaching fundamentals.