Javale McGee is the Center we need

[cdubbz]

Still surprising to me how little McGee played when he was a Warrior. Someone remind me his free agency when he went to th Lakers?

He's the Uber athletic rim running 7footer we need. Can block shots and run pick n rolls and clean up the boards. He's looked nice with the Lakere the past two seasons.

[ShayDee]

He's not a FA and lakers are not trading him to us

[Mylie10]

Still surprising to me how little McGee played when he was a Warrior. Someone remind me his free agency when he went to th Lakers?

He's the Uber athletic rim running 7footer we need. Can block shots and run pick n rolls and clean up the boards. He's looked nice with the Lakere the past two seasons.

I don’t think Kerr likes him, to quirky.

[B-King]

McGee was a rehabilitation project with the Warriors. He got his career back and we won some championships. They asked him for high energy minutes to start the game and 2nd half before going to the death line-up to finish the game. I don’t think the Lakers trust him either to close games.

I did wish that he stayed with the Warriors, but he wanted more and the Warriors didn’t budge. He moved on and end of story.

[Scoots1994]

He does a couple things well and other things badly. As long as the opponent isn't abusing his weaknesses and as long as he isn't doing too much damage to his team's offense or defense by being out of position he's great. Kerr has little patience for mental mistakes with little to no chance of them being corrected in the future, sometimes to his detriment, but I think that's what "earned" McGee his limited minutes and his lack of a bigger contract offer from the Warriors.

[Flash Falcon X]

We already have a younger version with more potential in Chriss.

But I do agree with you that McGee should have gotten more minutes when he was with GSW.

Someone please correct me because this may kind of be a hyperbole, but I remember in the Playoffs, McGee was putting up better numbers than Zaza in about half the minutes. Then you have the intangibles that McGee provides with his vertical spacing. His athleticism and length that allowed the squad to run a deadly fast-paced offense to get the defense scrambling.

I understand people loved Zaza because of his tough defense, but I'm just sick of seeing Zaza catch the ball in the paint, struggle to decide what to do, and either turn the ball over or miss a close shot, whereas McGee will just catch and dunk the ball right away. And Zaza would fall at least 3-5 times a game out of pure clumsiness and immobility due to lack of athleticism.

I was not surprised when Zaza randomly just fell down on the court and landed on KD, injuring KD's leg and causing him to miss several games.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

viewtopic.php?t=1764686

I am a Warrior fan. I liked JaVale's game a lot more than Kerr seemed to like JaVale's game. Based on what I could see, I would have given JaVale more minutes.

I was trying to get ammunition to use to poke holes in win shares per 48 when I discovered how much win shares per 48 loves JaVale's last 2 playoff seasons. Win shares per 48 has Javale being better than Curry and Durant in the last 2 playoff seasons. Win Shares per 48 has JaVale being one of the All Time great playoff performers.

In the last ten years among players that have played as many ore more playoff minutes Javale has the 4th best and 22nd best playoff seasons out of everybody that has played in the played in the playoffs.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&type=totals&per_minute_base=36&per_poss_base=100&season_start=1&season_end=-1&lg_id=NBA&age_min=0&age_max=99&is_playoffs=Y&height_min=0&height_max=99&year_min=2009&birth_country_is=Y&as_comp=gt&as_val=0&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&c1stat=mp&c1comp=gt&c1val=140&order_by=ws_per_48


I also liked Birdman, #3 for the same reasons that I liked JaVale.

1 LeBron James
2 Kawhi Leonard
3 Chris Andersen
4 JaVale McGee
5 Dirk Nowitzki
6 Paul George
7 LeBron James
8 Kevin Durant
9 LeBron James
10 Hassan Whiteside
11 LeBron James
12 Stephen Curry
13 Kawhi Leonard
14 LeBron James
15 LeBron James
16 Chris Paul
17 LeBron James
18 Chauncey Billups
19 Chris Paul
20 Channing Frye
Rk Player
21 Chris Paul
22 JaVale McGee

JaVale's per 36 minute 2017 playoff numbers: 23 points per game at a crazy good 73% FG% and 11.6 rebounds and 3.6 blocks.

You can say JaVale just catches lobs but JaVale is very good at guiding lobs that are thrown off the mark into the basket. The Warriors could throw the lob in areas away from the defenders and JaVale could make the adjustment to collect the pass and bring it back to the basket. The Warriors could throw sloppy bad lobs and rely on JaVale to correct their mistakes. 23 points a game is high volume for a lob only offensive player and JaVale's ability to catch bad passes was part of that but the Floor spacing created by the Warriors shooters also helped JaVale.

On defense it was harder for teams to drive to the hoop against the Warriors when JaVale was in the game. JaVale is a very good shot blocker. Some people say the reason Kerr did not giveJaVale more minutes was because something was wrong with JaVale's pick and roll defense. I could not really see anything wrong with JaVale's pick and Roll defense that wasn't wrong with almost all center's pick and roll defense. JaVale and all big men can't defend guards at the 3 point line but actually JaVale did better than many big men when he got caught in a one on one Having to defend a guard situation.

The case against my eye test is that no team was willing to pay JaVale as if he is a highly valuable player. I have to assume that NBA management is correct and I am wrong and JaVale is not as good as he looks to me.

[oaktownwarriors87]

Defense? Rebounding? Running the floor? Finishing at the rim? Pick-n-roll? Earning buckets with athleticism and hard work?

Sorry, Steve Kerr would rather have an inefficient black hole that plays no defense like Cousins. Curry, Dray and Thompson look too good with defensive help and the p-n-r, he can't let them get all the credit.

I am not looking forward to Kerr setting up the offense for Wiggins with too much ISO and not enough pick-n-roll. This is what happens when your coach tries too hard to be Jackson/Popovich instead of focusing on his players strengths. God I miss Luke Walton.

[oaktownwarriors87]

We already have a younger version with more potential in Chriss.

McGee is 3" taller and his wingspan is 5" wider. He's a way better rebounder, rim protector, and finisher because of his size and athleticism.

I'm a big fan of Chriss, but he's a different type of player.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

JaVale will be 33 next year. The time will come for him to rely more on Zaza's skill set and less on arhleticism.

But JaVale should have been a Warrior the last 2 years. I blame Kerr. Kerr has enough credit in my bank that Kerr can screw up,a good situation with JaVale and Kerr is still OK with me. Does Kerr deserve any credit for JaVale playing well? JaVale played well for the Lakers. JaVale had a reputation for stupid play before joining the Warriors. Iguodala told the Warriors that the bad reputation was wrong and JaVale is somebody you want to add to your team.

They said McGee would play stupid if he got tired. I never saw any signs of that but Warriors never played JaVale thatbmuch.

They said he woukd fail at pick and roll defense and switches at thev3 point line.. Some of the guys on this board claimed to have seen that type of failure. I never saw McGee failing any worse than other centers in that way. I thought McGee did better than Zaza in pick and roll defense and switches out at the 3 point line.

I think I remember JaVale getting caught 1 on 1 in a defensive dance at the 3 point line against Chris Paul and JaVale managed to countter every Chris Paul move long enough for the Warriors defense to adjust before Chriss Paul was finally able to blow past Javale on Chris Paul's 5th try at getting JaVale to react incorrectly to one of Chris Paul's moves.

[GQ Hot Dog]

Defense? Rebounding? Running the floor? Finishing at the rim? Pick-n-roll? Earning buckets with athleticism and hard work?

Sorry, Steve Kerr would rather have an inefficient black hole that plays no defense like Cousins. Curry, Dray and Thompson look too good with defensive help and the p-n-r, he can't let them get all the credit.

I am not looking forward to Kerr setting up the offense for Wiggins with too much ISO and not enough pick-n-roll. This is what happens when your coach tries too hard to be Jackson/Popovich instead of focusing on his players strengths. God I miss Luke Walton.

Sorry, but I can't let this go unchallenged. Totally unfair of you. I'm sure you're 100% aware that Cousins approached the Warriors and that Myers then went directly to the players to ask their opinion. At no point was Kerr's voice the loudest in the room. If you're going to blame someone for Cousins over McGee, blame Myers first and KD/Curry/Dray/Iguodala a close second. Reports are they all openly lobbied for Cousins.

In hindsight it would have been better to trade Damian Jones to clear up a roster spot and role for McGee but let's not forget he started 22 games that season before getting hurt and was clearly being auditioned to see if he could develop into our long-term starting center. It would have been nice if Myers had known enough to move on from Jones this early but since his prior two seasons had been spent injured and unavailable it doesn't make sense for Myers to have moved Jones before getting a chance to see him play.

[oaktownwarriors87]

Defense? Rebounding? Running the floor? Finishing at the rim? Pick-n-roll? Earning buckets with athleticism and hard work?

Sorry, Steve Kerr would rather have an inefficient black hole that plays no defense like Cousins. Curry, Dray and Thompson look too good with defensive help and the p-n-r, he can't let them get all the credit.

I am not looking forward to Kerr setting up the offense for Wiggins with too much ISO and not enough pick-n-roll. This is what happens when your coach tries too hard to be Jackson/Popovich instead of focusing on his players strengths. God I miss Luke Walton.

Sorry, but I can't let this go unchallenged. Totally unfair of you. I'm sure you're 100% aware that Cousins approached the Warriors and that Myers then went directly to the players to ask their opinion. At no point was Kerr's voice the loudest in the room. If you're going to blame someone for Cousins over McGee, blame Myers first and KD/Curry/Dray/Iguodala a close second. Reports are they all openly lobbied for Cousins.

In hindsight it would have been better to trade Damian Jones to clear up a roster spot and role for McGee but let's not forget he started 22 games that season before getting hurt and was clearly being auditioned to see if he could develop into our long-term starting center. It would have been nice if Myers had known enough to move on from Jones this early but since his prior two seasons had been spent injured and unavailable it doesn't make sense for Myers to have moved Jones before getting a chance to see him play.

-Kerr didn't play McGee
-Warriors let McGee go
-Warriors sign Cousins
-Kerr played Cousins
-Cousins got injured again and took another step back
-Kerr played Cousins again
-Kerr didn't play Bogut (who was awesome)

I highly doubt that the players and management are micromanaging the coach. Just look at how different the team played from Walton to Kerr. The coach makes those decisions.

I can understand taking a chance on Cousins. I'm all for that. However, if someone sucks, they suck. There's no way around it. At some point you have to pull the plug. Preferably before the NBA Finals.

It reminds me of the Clippers series when Jermaine O'Neal had to bench himself because Mark Jackson wouldn't. He was getting destroyed by Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. It cost the team the series.

That's on Mark Jackson, and DeMarcus Cousins is on Steve Kerr. It's just too bad DeMarcus Cousins didn't have a self-awareness to bench himself.

[GQ Hot Dog]

Defense? Rebounding? Running the floor? Finishing at the rim? Pick-n-roll? Earning buckets with athleticism and hard work?

Sorry, Steve Kerr would rather have an inefficient black hole that plays no defense like Cousins. Curry, Dray and Thompson look too good with defensive help and the p-n-r, he can't let them get all the credit.

I am not looking forward to Kerr setting up the offense for Wiggins with too much ISO and not enough pick-n-roll. This is what happens when your coach tries too hard to be Jackson/Popovich instead of focusing on his players strengths. God I miss Luke Walton.

Sorry, but I can't let this go unchallenged. Totally unfair of you. I'm sure you're 100% aware that Cousins approached the Warriors and that Myers then went directly to the players to ask their opinion. At no point was Kerr's voice the loudest in the room. If you're going to blame someone for Cousins over McGee, blame Myers first and KD/Curry/Dray/Iguodala a close second. Reports are they all openly lobbied for Cousins.

In hindsight it would have been better to trade Damian Jones to clear up a roster spot and role for McGee but let's not forget he started 22 games that season before getting hurt and was clearly being auditioned to see if he could develop into our long-term starting center. It would have been nice if Myers had known enough to move on from Jones this early but since his prior two seasons had been spent injured and unavailable it doesn't make sense for Myers to have moved Jones before getting a chance to see him play.

-Kerr didn't play McGee
-Warriors let McGee go
-Warriors sign Cousins
-Kerr played Cousins
-Cousins got injured again and took another step back
-Kerr played Cousins again
-Kerr didn't play Bogut (who was awesome)

I highly doubt that the players and management are micromanaging the coach. Just look at how different the team played from Walton to Kerr. The coach makes those decisions.

I can understand taking a chance on Cousins. I'm all for that. However, if someone sucks, they suck. There's no way around it. At some point you have to pull the plug. Preferably before the NBA Finals.

It reminds me of the Clippers series when Jermaine O'Neal had to bench himself because Mark Jackson wouldn't. He was getting destroyed by Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. It cost the team the series.

That's on Mark Jackson, and DeMarcus Cousins is on Steve Kerr. It's just too bad DeMarcus Cousins didn't have a self-awareness to bench himself.

I'm not understanding what blame you're putting on Kerr. Cousins played 30 RS games late in the season for us once healthy and put up 16/8/4/1.5/1.5 in 26mpg. That's outstanding production. At that point his signing looks like a win and then 2 games into the playoffs he suffers a catastrophic injury. He comes back in the Finals, clearly too early, because we desperately needed scoring without KD. Bogut wasn't going to provide that.

If you're going to blame someone for last season's outcome, it's Myers for depending on 3 players for scoring that finished the season hurt and unable to contribute at all or at the level needed. Which is a crazy thing to blame someone for. If even one of those guys is 100% healthy and firing on all cylinders we have a chance to win it all.

[Flash Falcon X]

Defense? Rebounding? Running the floor? Finishing at the rim? Pick-n-roll? Earning buckets with athleticism and hard work?

Sorry, Steve Kerr would rather have an inefficient black hole that plays no defense like Cousins. Curry, Dray and Thompson look too good with defensive help and the p-n-r, he can't let them get all the credit.

I am not looking forward to Kerr setting up the offense for Wiggins with too much ISO and not enough pick-n-roll. This is what happens when your coach tries too hard to be Jackson/Popovich instead of focusing on his players strengths. God I miss Luke Walton.

Sorry, but I can't let this go unchallenged. Totally unfair of you. I'm sure you're 100% aware that Cousins approached the Warriors and that Myers then went directly to the players to ask their opinion. At no point was Kerr's voice the loudest in the room. If you're going to blame someone for Cousins over McGee, blame Myers first and KD/Curry/Dray/Iguodala a close second. Reports are they all openly lobbied for Cousins.

In hindsight it would have been better to trade Damian Jones to clear up a roster spot and role for McGee but let's not forget he started 22 games that season before getting hurt and was clearly being auditioned to see if he could develop into our long-term starting center. It would have been nice if Myers had known enough to move on from Jones this early but since his prior two seasons had been spent injured and unavailable it doesn't make sense for Myers to have moved Jones before getting a chance to see him play.

-Kerr didn't play McGee
-Warriors let McGee go
-Warriors sign Cousins
-Kerr played Cousins
-Cousins got injured again and took another step back
-Kerr played Cousins again
-Kerr didn't play Bogut (who was awesome)

I highly doubt that the players and management are micromanaging the coach. Just look at how different the team played from Walton to Kerr. The coach makes those decisions.

I can understand taking a chance on Cousins. I'm all for that. However, if someone sucks, they suck. There's no way around it. At some point you have to pull the plug. Preferably before the NBA Finals.

It reminds me of the Clippers series when Jermaine O'Neal had to bench himself because Mark Jackson wouldn't. He was getting destroyed by Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. It cost the team the series.

That's on Mark Jackson, and DeMarcus Cousins is on Steve Kerr. It's just too bad DeMarcus Cousins didn't have a self-awareness to bench himself.

Just wanted to add, GSW was just trying to work with what they had at the big man positions in that 2014 postseason. Bogut was for the Playoffs (hurt his rib when LaMarcus Aldridge rammed into him on a post up in a game right before the Playoffs started,) they were missing their starting center and Festus Ezeli was out the whole season. Jermaine O'Neal then injured his knee in Game 6 when Big Baby Davis dove for a loose ball and dove into JO's leg. Had to play Game 7 without Bogut and O'Neal.

I'm sure you know all that, though. Just wanted to throw that out there again since that 2014 team probably could have made the WCF if fully healthy and I remember that GSW/LAC series vividly lol.

[TB]

Loved Javale on the Warriors. Those were good times.

As for having that type of player on the current Warriors, we could just draft Wiseman. A young Wiseman will provide alot of what Javale does... rim run, block shots, take garbage minute 3s, make mental mistakes.

[Little Digger]

14% chance..im not buying all the talk of Wiseman dropping down to us..

[oaktownwarriors87]

I'm not understanding what blame you're putting on Kerr. Cousins played 30 RS games late in the season for us once healthy and put up 16/8/4/1.5/1.5 in 26mpg. That's outstanding production. At that point his signing looks like a win and then 2 games into the playoffs he suffers a catastrophic injury. He comes back in the Finals, clearly too early, because we desperately needed scoring without KD. Bogut wasn't going to provide that.

If you're going to blame someone for last season's outcome, it's Myers for depending on 3 players for scoring that finished the season hurt and unable to contribute at all or at the level needed. Which is a crazy thing to blame someone for. If even one of those guys is 100% healthy and firing on all cylinders we have a chance to win it all.

Why do I blame Kerr? He had a great center and a terrible center, and he chose to play the terrible one. It's no one's fault but his. He even started Jordan Bell in game 1.

Curry/Thompson/Iguodala/Green/Bogut looked awesome in the Finals, outscoring Toronto by 7 points in 10 minutes. Curry put up 10 points and Thompson put up 14 and both had a TS% over 70%. That's all we got to see of them.

Cousins was slow, and the players on the floor had to sag of their men to help him on defense. Bogut didn't need help on defense, but he played help defense and he matched up perfectly against Gasol.

Cousins and Green also never meshed on either end of the floor. Green averaged 0.80 PPP with Cousins. He averaged 1.18 PPP when he played with Bogut and without Cousins+Durant. Green is most effective when he get's to be the distributor and plays within the flwo of the offense. Cousins and Durant took him out of his rhythm/flow. With Durant that's OK because he's so good, but Cousins not so much.

Also, Kerr constantly double teamed Kawhi. If we don't double team a healthy LeBron with a weak supporting cast we should't double team an injured Kawhi with tremendous supporting cast. Why you would ever send Andre Igudoala help on defense so you can leave one of Torontos amazing shooters open is beyond stupid. As if Kawhi Leonard isn't going to see that and just pass out of it.

If only we had big men like Bougt and Green that could play help defense and protect the rim, giving Kerr the confidence he needed to let Iguodala place full pressure on Kawhi Leonard 1v1.

Also, why did Livingston play 97 minutes? He was a rotating door all year. Literally the worst ISO defender in the NBA. All of his minutes were with Cook or Curry. They didn't even need him as a primary ball handler. The third sting PG that plays no defense and only takes mid range jumpers got more playing time than the only C that can play defense, rebounds, and actually makes the players around him better. How stupid is that?

In Livingston's and Cousins time together (58 minutes in the Finals) they allowed 141 points and had a combined 42% eFG%. Nice.

What could have been. What could have been. Such a better team with Bogut in the floor.

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[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

The way I remember it McGee chose the Lakers over Warriors for equal money. Either way McGee was getting underpaid.

vs the Raptors in the finals I could only get plus minus on a game by game basis. Some games Bogut got good numbers. One game Cousins got good numbers. Sample sizes are too small. 2019 Bogut never looked like healthy 2016 Bogut. Warriors had a lack of shooters. Cousins was shooter. But Cousins was injured. Even Looney was injured.

Bogut was not good vs the Raptors.

[DAWill1128]

Sorry, but I can't let this go unchallenged. Totally unfair of you. I'm sure you're 100% aware that Cousins approached the Warriors and that Myers then went directly to the players to ask their opinion. At no point was Kerr's voice the loudest in the room. If you're going to blame someone for Cousins over McGee, blame Myers first and KD/Curry/Dray/Iguodala a close second. Reports are they all openly lobbied for Cousins.

In hindsight it would have been better to trade Damian Jones to clear up a roster spot and role for McGee but let's not forget he started 22 games that season before getting hurt and was clearly being auditioned to see if he could develop into our long-term starting center. It would have been nice if Myers had known enough to move on from Jones this early but since his prior two seasons had been spent injured and unavailable it doesn't make sense for Myers to have moved Jones before getting a chance to see him play.

-Kerr didn't play McGee
-Warriors let McGee go
-Warriors sign Cousins
-Kerr played Cousins
-Cousins got injured again and took another step back
-Kerr played Cousins again
-Kerr didn't play Bogut (who was awesome)

I highly doubt that the players and management are micromanaging the coach. Just look at how different the team played from Walton to Kerr. The coach makes those decisions.

I can understand taking a chance on Cousins. I'm all for that. However, if someone sucks, they suck. There's no way around it. At some point you have to pull the plug. Preferably before the NBA Finals.

It reminds me of the Clippers series when Jermaine O'Neal had to bench himself because Mark Jackson wouldn't. He was getting destroyed by Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. It cost the team the series.

That's on Mark Jackson, and DeMarcus Cousins is on Steve Kerr. It's just too bad DeMarcus Cousins didn't have a self-awareness to bench himself.

Just wanted to add, GSW was just trying to work with what they had at the big man positions in that 2014 postseason. Bogut was for the Playoffs (hurt his rib when LaMarcus Aldridge rammed into him on a post up in a game right before the Playoffs started,) they were missing their starting center and Festus Ezeli was out the whole season. Jermaine O'Neal then injured his knee in Game 6 when Big Baby Davis dove for a loose ball and dove into JO's leg. Had to play Game 7 without Bogut and O'Neal.

I'm sure you know all that, though. Just wanted to throw that out there again since that 2014 team probably could have made the WCF if fully healthy and I remember that GSW/LAC series vividly lol.

I believe we would have broke through as contenders that year if not for the injuries at center. We went 7 with all three centers out with injuries. I remember Hilton Armstrong playing crunch time minutes and wondering “who the hell is Hilton Armstrong.”

Which reminds me that Kerr played Varejao a lot of meaningful minutes in the 2016 Finals with the Bogut injury. I had never watched much Varejao up until that point but could not believe watching a guy flop up and down the court all game. I get that Varejao was categorized as an irritant but he was massively irritating to me since he would consistently try for flops he would not get calls on and complain while we would play 4 on 5. I almost wonder if LeBron or Dan Gilbert paid Varejao to be that bad, it was disgusting.

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[cdubbz]

Loved Javale on the Warriors. Those were good times.

As for having that type of player on the current Warriors, we could just draft Wiseman. A young Wiseman will provide alot of what Javale does... rim run, block shots, take garbage minute 3s, make mental mistakes.

Agreed, but McGee is a veteran.

Let’s just pretend we still had McGee for the MLE or a minimum contract...I would be much more confident in being risky with our draft pick.