Randy Wittman benched him for the rest of the game in the third, but he's clueless as far as I am concerned about the real source of selfishness on the Wizards. I like what two guys at Bullets Forever wrote about Javale.
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2012/2/20 ... efforts-ofWizards vs. Suns Recap: JaVale McGee Excels Despite the Best Efforts of the Wizards
On a positive note....
If one were to watch this game from a player development standpoint, you would be exceedingly impressed at the strides that JaVale McGee has taken as a professional basketball player over the course of the last few games. This road trip has been a real eye opener on the possibility of the complete player that McGee can become when mentally focused as he relentlessly worked the entire evening on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. He exploited Marcin Gortat with both his drop step as well as his quick hook in the lane which left the floor bound Suns center looking helpless and ineffective. Its this type of development that Flip Saunders talked about last year when he discussed McGee having eight amazing plays out of a possible 250. Tonight, McGee had about 70 good possession out of the 110 he took part in, but one "McGee-like" play led to him sitting for a large portion of the game. This, in conjunction with the Suns switching to a zone defense, led to the Suns outscoring the Wizards 31-7 in the 3rd quarter.
Normally, this type of disciplinary action wouldn't bother me because a precedent must be set that ill-advised decisions will lead to a trip to the bench. However, it is disconcerting to see McGee sit on a night where the vast majority of his play was exceptional, while both Nick Young and Jordan Crawford both had moments that were arguably more frustrating than McGee's bouts of poor decision-making. Both went 1-4, shot early in the clock, and for the most looked like the act of passing the ball would cause their heads to blow up. Yet, because of their "offensive prowess" they were allowed to remain in the game while McGee sat pinned to the bench.
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2012/2/21 ... ?ref=yahooAs Sean said last night, JaVale McGee was a bright spot. After a slow start, the Wizards pounded the ball into the low post on consecutive possessions and our Center came up huge to get the ball rolling...then we went away from him. After that, it was pretty much a catalogue of what we've come to expect.
I didn't even read those articles before I came to the same conclusion about Wittman in the game thread. He coached a Flip-like game last night. Reacted negatively and reflexively pulled McGee and left the shot jackers in the game. McGee forcing shots isn't the cardinal sin. McGee not playing defense IS the bad problem, but that is not what happened last night.
Once McGee left the game things just went really downhill.
