Ernie was right about JaVale McGee

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Starting center for the Golden State Warriors.

I like JaVale because he signed autographs when he came to Hawaii
& my children love him. He took more time than even the other pros who came here during a USO that strike year.

Mike Miller also signed autographs that day at Schofield Barracks.

I look at JaValel and think Ernie definitely knows what talent looks like. I never respected the firing of Eddie Jordan. Javale McGee was starting then because Brendan Haywood was injured 11 games after they made the playoffs.

Grunfeld still has his job.

Nick Young is also a Golden State Warrior.

A lot of people on this board are haters and I just posted this to troll a little bit. Also felt like creating a thread because I hate to see the board dying the way it is.

I always thought McGee was going to be good when he got to be 30. He's the type of player who needed a coach like Steve Kerr.

Zsa Zsa pachulia is not as good as JaVale.

The center of the Wizards really need to be pursuing is McGee. Most of you guys aren't smart enough to realize that but I am.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The play where JaVale blocked LaMarcus Aldridge...

Aldridge pump faked & McGee stayed on the ground in great defensive stance with his arms raised High.

Once Aldridge shot it JaVale put it right back in his face with a rejection.

That is something no one on the Wizards can do.

That is something DeAndre ayton may not do when he comes into the league. Same with Mo Bamba & Jaren Jackson Jr... It's going to take them awhile to learn how not to foul. Aldridge would drive right into those guys and shoot it over them. Javale McGee however at 30 years old is a lot smarter than he used to be.

A lot smarter player that is.

My real reason for posting this is to get people to change the Paradigm on how they look at people in players.

Ernie grunfeld might be an excellent GM at another team. Either that or he should just be GM for life because he and Ted leonsis have so much in common. Forgive me for not changing the voice translation errors of not capitalizing names.

To repeat: Javale McGee is a lot better right now.

Brendan Haywood is an NBA analyst on NBA TV. He knew JaVale when JaVale was a rookie. That was 10 years ago.

If I were a general manager I would be a lot better than what the Wizards are paying Ernie grunfeld to be.

Been saying that for years in this form and I know I'm right.

Now what I do is give away free information so that maybe one of you all will take the credit for it and maybe get paid or maybe you'll just consider it... The information that is.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Another thing Kelly Olynyk...

Had a playoff career high of 26 points today.

He is another guy who I always liked. When he came out of Gonzaga I was looking at his Advanced stats. Him and Mike muscala, a guy dic Lincoln talked about back in the day both stood out...

I remember suggesting the Wizards draft Olynyk instead of Otto Porter because they could get Olynyk plus a pick in my opinion. I've always thought I was wrong about that one until now. Olynyk is kind of what we thought he could be. A very effective pick-and-pop big man.

Yes it's all about me since no one else posts in this forum....

[nate33]

Another thing Kelly Olynyk...

Had a playoff career high of 26 points today.

He is another guy who I always liked. When he came out of Gonzaga I was looking at his Advanced stats. Him and Mike muscala, a guy dic Lincoln talked about back in the day both stood out...

I remember suggesting the Wizards draft Olynyk instead of Otto Porter because they could get Olynyk plus a pick in my opinion. I've always thought I was wrong about that one until now. Olynyk is kind of what we thought he could be. A very effective pick-and-pop big man.

Yes it's all about me since no one else posts in this forum....

How was that a career high? Didn't Olynyk score 50 points when he played us in Game 7 last year?

[nate33]

Starting center for the Golden State Warriors.

I like JaVale because he signed autographs when he came to Hawaii
& my children love him. He took more time than even the other pros who came here during a USO that strike year.

Mike Miller also signed autographs that day at Schofield Barracks.

I look at JaValel and think Ernie definitely knows what talent looks like. I never respected the firing of Eddie Jordan. Javale McGee was starting then because Brendan Haywood was injured 11 games after they made the playoffs.

Grunfeld still has his job.

Nick Young is also a Golden State Warrior.

A lot of people on this board are haters and I just posted this to troll a little bit. Also felt like creating a thread because I hate to see the board dying the way it is.

I always thought McGee was going to be good when he got to be 30. He's the type of player who needed a coach like Steve Kerr.

Zsa Zsa pachulia is not as good as JaVale.

The center of the Wizards really need to be pursuing is McGee. Most of you guys aren't smart enough to realize that but I am.

I don't think many would disagree about McGee. He was obviously a supremely gifted player physically with a good motor who had a very poor feel for the game mentally. Throughout his 20's he tantalized coaches with his potential, but frustrated them with his poor decisions, poor focus and generally poor understanding of the game. But those mental aspects improve with time. It's not surprising that at some point, the mental side would improve before his physical side declined with age. We are probably at the sweet spot for McGee.

But I don't blame Washington, Denver, or Philly for unloading him when they did. He wasn't worth his big contract and coaches couldn't rely on him at the time.

And let's not act like Steve Kerr is some kind of McGee whisperer. He parked McGee at the far end of the bench for much of this season and last season. They guy only played 700 minutes a year. Kerr had the luxury to do so because his team is so deep and McGee is being paid vet minimum money.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that McGee isn't being utilized more. Having him as a roll threat and surrounding him with such great passers and shooters makes Golden State completely impossible to stop. I suspect McGee's frustrating inconsistency on defense is what keeps him from playing more minutes.

[queridiculo]

I'm surprised that people are still surprised that Kerr won't play Javale more.

The guy makes three bad plays for every positive play.

There's a clear consensus around the league that he's not worth the time and the only reason why the Warriors carry him on their roster is because they're a stacked team that can afford to.

[I_Like_Dirt]

I'm surprised that people are still surprised that Kerr won't play Javale more.

The guy makes three bad plays for every positive play.

There's a clear consensus around the league that he's not worth the time and the only reason why the Warriors carry him on their roster is because they're a stacked team that can afford to.

Pretty sure Ernie got it wrong. He was halfway there. He already had Javale and Swaggy P. He just needed to trade for Curry, Klay, Durant and Draymond.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Starting center for the Golden State Warriors.

I like JaVale because he signed autographs when he came to Hawaii
& my children love him. He took more time than even the other pros who came here during a USO that strike year.

Mike Miller also signed autographs that day at Schofield Barracks.

I look at JaValel and think Ernie definitely knows what talent looks like. I never respected the firing of Eddie Jordan. Javale McGee was starting then because Brendan Haywood was injured 11 games after they made the playoffs.

Grunfeld still has his job.

Nick Young is also a Golden State Warrior.

A lot of people on this board are haters and I just posted this to troll a little bit. Also felt like creating a thread because I hate to see the board dying the way it is.

I always thought McGee was going to be good when he got to be 30. He's the type of player who needed a coach like Steve Kerr.

Zsa Zsa pachulia is not as good as JaVale.

The center of the Wizards really need to be pursuing is McGee. Most of you guys aren't smart enough to realize that but I am.

I don't think many would disagree about McGee. He was obviously a supremely gifted player physically with a good motor who had a very poor feel for the game mentally. Throughout his 20's he tantalized coaches with his potential, but frustrated them with his poor decisions, poor focus and generally poor understanding of the game. But those mental aspects improve with time. It's not surprising that at some point, the mental side would improve before his physical side declined with age. We are probably at the sweet spot for McGee.

But I don't blame Washington, Denver, or Philly for unloading him when they did. He wasn't worth his big contract and coaches couldn't rely on him at the time.

And let's not act like Steve Kerr is some kind of McGee whisperer. He parked McGee at the far end of the bench for much of this season and last season. They guy only played 700 minutes a year. Kerr had the luxury to do so because his team is so deep and McGee is being paid vet minimum money.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that McGee isn't being utilized more. Having him as a roll threat and surrounding him with such great passers and shooters makes Golden State completely impossible to stop. I suspect McGee's frustrating inconsistency on defense is what keeps him from playing more minutes.

If the Wizards had Javale McGee at Santa right now they be kicking Toronto's ass.

He is good enough to play 30 minutes of game mistakes and all now.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I'm surprised that people are still surprised that Kerr won't play Javale more.

The guy makes three bad plays for every positive play.

There's a clear consensus around the league that he's not worth the time and the only reason why the Warriors carry him on their roster is because they're a stacked team that can afford to.

Javale McGee can make jump shots as well as finished with the best of them. If he ever was allowed to play in flow he would be considered a very good center.

Shaquille O'Neal got this guy branded an idiot. For every mistake he makes he does something spectacular that no one else can do like blocking LaMarcus Aldridge shot.

You one of those people that's going to hate McGee no matter what. Some people hate DeMarcus Cousins no matter what. There are also Gortat haters no matter what.

JaVale was a liability on defense. He has never been fed the ball for lobs and dunks like he should be. He has dominated games and short stretches. He apparently has asthma and maybe he is best utilized over short stretches of time.

I think Javale McGee should be utilized like Pao Gasol. The guy is terrific making layups and dunks. With confidence and playing in the flow he will begin to be a dominating Center and you will know that you were wrong it cuz I'm going to remind you if I'm still around.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I'm surprised that people are still surprised that Kerr won't play Javale more.

The guy makes three bad plays for every positive play.

There's a clear consensus around the league that he's not worth the time and the only reason why the Warriors carry him on their roster is because they're a stacked team that can afford to.

Pretty sure Ernie got it wrong. He was halfway there. He already had Javale and Swaggy P. He just needed to trade for Curry, Klay, Durant and Draymond.

What are Ernie is clueless about is blending veterans with experience. He had Pecherov, Blatche, Young, And McGee with no better veterans than Brendan Haywood and shooters Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison.

He put guys in a situation where there was no way for them to succeed.

He repeated the same error when he signed both Blair and Humphries to compete for minutes against four or five other power forwards.

He repeated the same mistake when he got Nicholson and Smith from the same team, and a loser team at that.. he signed those guys to play behind the several other players on the Wizards roster. Jason Smith can't get minutes for Mahinmi who can't get minutes for Gortat and none of them are the type of Center The Wiz really need. None of them can succeed because Markieff Morris is effectively the center of this team. That is all Brooks can come up with at the end of games.

What this has to do with Javale McGee is we need a coach that is smart enough to use him correctly.

[queridiculo]

CCJ, I love your enthusiasm for underdogs, clearly you have a tremendous amount of patience for bigs, in particular those of the "misunderstood" variety.

McGee has literally not done a darn thing in this league, yet you seem to have more compassion for him and his consistent underachieving relative to his physical gifts than you have for the Wizards designated franchise player.

There's no league wide conspiracy theory against McGee, Shaq didn't do any more damage to Javale's reputation than the big fella did to himself.

McGee isn't some rookie that's miscast in his role and who doesn't get the backing from the franchise he deservers.

He's a 30 year old with damn near 10 years in the league that still struggles with some of the most fundamental big man basketball skills.

Yeah, he looks really great when converts a oop on one end, and stuffs a would be layup attempt on the other, but unfortunately his positive plays will never, ever make up for the consistently awful plays that he makes with a far greater frequency.

You cannot rely on McGee to help you win basketball games.

It cannot be done.

[P'Oed]

At this point, I've realized it's SO much more than just the talent being drafted. I always knew that but it's never been more clear to me than now. It's the culture set in place by the guys in the offices upstairs. It's the coaching. The medical/training staff. There's a vibe that's contagious when a front office properly puts all of this together. Why is it, in this never ending era of Grunfeld, do we always have these "issues" with players that come seemingly out of nowhere? We all knew Gil was a strong personality, sure. But did we think things would end like they actually did? Then we have the Blatche issues. Fast forward to now, and the constant "John and Brad don't like each other" stories. It tells me there's something extra for players to overcome when playing for the Washington Wizards.

Say Grunfeld drafts Draymond Green instead of Sato. Who's to say he'd be the same player? This is a culture of losing. Of poor coaching. Of a suspect training staff. Sure, maybe Javale is somewhat put together on a team like the Warriors. He was what he was here because of the franchise.

[tontoz]

McGee is a vet min guy at age 30. Some here we're acting like we were trading away an all-star at the time. Trading McGee was one of the few things EG got right.

[queridiculo]

At this point, I've realized it's SO much more than just the talent being drafted. I always knew that but it's never been more clear to me than now. It's the culture set in place by the guys in the offices upstairs. It's the coaching. The medical/training staff. There's a vibe that's contagious when a front office properly puts all of this together. Why is it, in this never ending era of Grunfeld, do we always have these "issues" with players that come seemingly out of nowhere? We all knew Gil was a strong personality, sure. But did we think things would end like they actually did? Then we have the Blatche issues. Fast forward to now, and the constant "John and Brad don't like each other" stories. It tells me there's something extra for players to overcome when playing for the Washington Wizards.

Say Grunfeld drafts Draymond Green instead of Sato. Who's to say he'd be the same player? This is a culture of losing. Of poor coaching. Of a suspect training staff. Sure, maybe Javale is somewhat put together on a team like the Warriors. He was what he was here because of the franchise.

It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that this is a player development issue, but I think it makes more sense to wonder why some teams seemingly never end up drafting the Blatche's, McGee's and Young's of this world.

I always come back to this interview with Popvich where talks about what they look for in draftees.

http://hoopshype.com/2015/10/13/forces-of-character-a-conversation-with-gregg-popovich/

Heck, even some guys that seemingly were on a path to redemption often tend to fall back into familiar patterns, just look at what's happening with Whiteside in Miami.

[I_Like_Dirt]

What are Ernie is clueless about is blending veterans with experience. He had Pecherov, Blatche, Young, And McGee with no better veterans than Brendan Haywood and shooters Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison.

He put guys in a situation where there was no way for them to succeed.

He repeated the same error when he signed both Blair and Humphries to compete for minutes against four or five other power forwards.

He repeated the same mistake when he got Nicholson and Smith from the same team, and a loser team at that.. he signed those guys to play behind the several other players on the Wizards roster. Jason Smith can't get minutes for Mahinmi who can't get minutes for Gortat and none of them are the type of Center The Wiz really need. None of them can succeed because Markieff Morris is effectively the center of this team. That is all Brooks can come up with at the end of games.

What this has to do with Javale McGee is we need a coach that is smart enough to use him correctly.

If you want to be serious about all of this, all those guys you listed largely belonged in the NBA, too. If you just look at any particular player as an addition, none of them are actually mistakes. Trying to rely on McGee for regular minutes without having guys pushing him is basically admitting defeat and just not knowing when it was going to happen. It isn't like McGee had a huge barrier in front of him. The bar was set pretty low for him to earn minutes and all he really had to do was show some reliability, which he never did.

Ernie's big issue was (and still is) finding ways to add players that were actually better than McGee without using a top 5 draft pick. McGee absolutely could have succeeded but he kept getting in his own way. Heck, Lucas Nogueira is going through similar issues in Toronto right now and Masai Ujiri has set him up to succeed routinely (he even looked pretty good in game 1) despite leaving guys like Valanciunas and Poeltl ahead of him with Ibaka also usable ahead of him in a pinch. I do think environment matters a bit, and I think that environment starts at the top, but nobody was holding McGee back but McGee, and really, he seems happy and is rather wealthy, so despite that he made things work for himself in his own way.

[Kanyewest]

Starting center for the Golden State Warriors.

I like JaVale because he signed autographs when he came to Hawaii
& my children love him. He took more time than even the other pros who came here during a USO that strike year.

Mike Miller also signed autographs that day at Schofield Barracks.

I look at JaValel and think Ernie definitely knows what talent looks like. I never respected the firing of Eddie Jordan. Javale McGee was starting then because Brendan Haywood was injured 11 games after they made the playoffs.

Grunfeld still has his job.

Nick Young is also a Golden State Warrior.

A lot of people on this board are haters and I just posted this to troll a little bit. Also felt like creating a thread because I hate to see the board dying the way it is.

I always thought McGee was going to be good when he got to be 30. He's the type of player who needed a coach like Steve Kerr.

Zsa Zsa pachulia is not as good as JaVale.

The center of the Wizards really need to be pursuing is McGee. Most of you guys aren't smart enough to realize that but I am.

I don't think many would disagree about McGee. He was obviously a supremely gifted player physically with a good motor who had a very poor feel for the game mentally. Throughout his 20's he tantalized coaches with his potential, but frustrated them with his poor decisions, poor focus and generally poor understanding of the game. But those mental aspects improve with time. It's not surprising that at some point, the mental side would improve before his physical side declined with age. We are probably at the sweet spot for McGee.

But I don't blame Washington, Denver, or Philly for unloading him when they did. He wasn't worth his big contract and coaches couldn't rely on him at the time.

And let's not act like Steve Kerr is some kind of McGee whisperer. He parked McGee at the far end of the bench for much of this season and last season. They guy only played 700 minutes a year. Kerr had the luxury to do so because his team is so deep and McGee is being paid vet minimum money.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that McGee isn't being utilized more. Having him as a roll threat and surrounding him with such great passers and shooters makes Golden State completely impossible to stop. I suspect McGee's frustrating inconsistency on defense is what keeps him from playing more minutes.

The Wizards picked a good time to offload McGee when he was about to get his extension and he was overpaid ($44 over 4 years). Still, crazy to think that McGee could have been had for a little more than the veteran minimum and the the Wizards paid Ian Mahinmi $16 million a year.

[nate33]

Still, crazy to think that McGee could have been had for a little more than the veteran minimum and the the Wizards paid Ian Mahinmi $16 million a year.

What a depressing thought.

Imagine if we had just done that rather than sign both Mahinmi and Nicholson. We would have still had our 2017 pick, which we could have used on Jarrett Allen. Imagine paying $4M for Allen and McGee instead of $20M for Mahinmi and Nicholson.

[closg00]

Still, crazy to think that McGee could have been had for a little more than the veteran minimum and the the Wizards paid Ian Mahinmi $16 million a year.

What a depressing thought.

Imagine if we had just done that rather than sign both Mahinmi and Nicholson. We would have still had our 2017 pick, which we could have used on Jarrett Allen. Imagine paying $4M for Allen and McGee instead of $20M for Mahinmi and Nicholson.

I was gonna say, give me JaVale as a back-up for the vet minimum over our $16M dollar man anyway. Bringing J back was kicked around on the boards here when he was languishing.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

What the weather's rather have Marcin Gortat Jason Smith or JaVale McGee?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

CCJ, I love your enthusiasm for underdogs, clearly you have a tremendous amount of patience for bigs, in particular those of the "misunderstood" variety.

McGee has literally not done a darn thing in this league, yet you seem to have more compassion for him and his consistent underachieving relative to his physical gifts than you have for the Wizards designated franchise player.

There's no league wide conspiracy theory against McGee, Shaq didn't do any more damage to Javale's reputation than the big fella did to himself.

McGee isn't some rookie that's miscast in his role and who doesn't get the backing from the franchise he deservers.

He's a 30 year old with damn near 10 years in the league that still struggles with some of the most fundamental big man basketball skills.

Yeah, he looks really great when converts a oop on one end, and stuffs a would be layup attempt on the other, but unfortunately his positive plays will never, ever make up for the consistently awful plays that he makes with a far greater frequency.

You cannot rely on McGee to help you win basketball games.

It cannot be done.

I know what it's like to be MISUNDERSTOOD.

At near 290lbs months back; I'm BIG...kinda like Cartman meets Mike Tyson.

The only thing I'll add is SCOREBOARD

WHO STARTS AT C for the REIGNING NBA CHAMPIONS? Javale already got a ring......and on top of that, SINCE HE'S SUCH A FAIL PER YOU (and there's no league-wide conspiracy)....the Warriors have him playing for peanuts again.

If McGee was pure ass or dunce he wouldn't be the stud who LaMarcus Aldridge had NO ANSWER FOR IN GAME ONE.

OUT (thanks, queridiculo!)