Javale McGee is the Center we need

[wco81]

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.

In the last two games especially the Raptors hunted for Cousins off switches and he gave up too much.

Not saying McGee would be better off switches.

Lakers did raise McGee's salary significantly, as he's earning more than double what Dwight Howard is getting. It sounds like the Warriors let McGee know that they'd always pay him a minimum deal because of their cap situation and the fact that they didn't give him a lot of minutes.

He averaged 9.5 MPG at GSW and has averaged 19.5 MPG at LAL.

[Little Digger]

I don’t recall anybody on this board being critical of the Cousins-the-gimp signing besides me..I went ballistic

The guy weighs 290+ and was coming off Achilles surgery..We had a great team and just needed a sturdy/solid role player off the bench (like JaVale) Absolutely no need to take a wild chance on a gimpy Cousins ..but I got bashed over and over for being critical



Poor me ..waaaaaaa

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Supposed we used the MlE money ony McGee instead of cousins. Suppose Kerr gets over whatever his problem was with McGee. Suppose all other injuries remain the same.

Warriors win some more regular season games. Warriors win game 6 vs raptors. With no Klay or KD the Raptors still win game 7

[ClutchUp]

Supposed we used the MlE money ony McGee instead of cousins. Suppose Kerr gets over whatever his problem was with McGee. Suppose all other injuries remain the same.

Warriors win some more regular season games. Warriors win game 6 vs raptors. With no Klay or KD the Raptors still win game 7

Even in this scenario I still think we lose game 6. Losing Klay was just too insurmountable.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Supposed we used the MlE money ony McGee instead of
cousins. Suppose Kerr gets over whatever his problem was with McGee. Suppose all other injuries remain the same.

Warriors win some more regular season games. Warriors win game 6 vs raptors. With no Klay or KD the Raptors still win game 7

Even in this scenario I still think we lose game 6. Losing Klay was just too insurmountable.

Two minutes renaining in the 3rd, Klay hits his free throws and leaves the game. Warriors up 5
Warriors play well in the 4 th considerring how lottke help Curry has on offense. Warriors lose by 4

Is the upgrade of JaVale over injured Cousins enough to preserve the 5 point lead? Maybe.

Removing Cousins removes the only proven scorer other than Curry. In those final 14 minutes Raptiors outscore the Warriors 34 to 25. Cousins did have 5 points but he also mised some shots. Draymond scored 5. Iguodala scored 5. Iguodala was a big scorer with the 76ers and had his moments with the Warriors. In theory Quinn Cook was a shooter.

[GQ Hot Dog]

Did nobody watch the Finals? We needed scoring and that's why Cousins played as much as he did. He's someone capable of scoring even when the defense is keying in on him. Or at least he is when not recovering from a torn quadriceps.

McGee can score when the defense is concentrating on three All-Star scorers and he can slip backdoor unnoticed. Where he wouldn't have helped is in the Finals when Curry is the only scoring threat on the floor.

I have trouble taking it seriously when people say they knew Cousins was a bad choice. You knew he was going to be great during the regular season but then get seriously hurt two games into the playoffs? You knew he would be forced back too early to be effective in the hopes of eking some scoring out with KD hurt? I'm not buying the "I told you so" claims I'm hearing.

[Coxy]

Year 1 James Wiseman will be Javale-like. That's what he will give you at a minumum.

Year 2-3 Wiseman, you'll get a stud.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Year 1 James Wiseman will be Javale-like. That's what he will give you at a minumum.

Year 2-3 Wiseman, you'll get a stud.

Mcgee's problem was never raw athleticism. Wiseman's raw athleticism might not be as good as rookie McGee's athleticsm was. Wiseman might be a notch down from McGee in raw athleticsm. But then there is refined athletism like Curry has, creativity, skills, knowledge, basketball IQ, effort level and practice work ethic. Wiseman looks like he already shoots and dribbles better than McGee but he is basically straight out of high school and even Kobe was not fully ready straight out of high school.

[wco81]

Year 1 James Wiseman will be Javale-like. That's what he will give you at a minumum.

Year 2-3 Wiseman, you'll get a stud.

Mcgee's problem was never raw athleticism. Wiseman's raw athleticism might not be as good as rookie McGee's athleticsm was. Wiseman might be a notch down from McGee in raw athleticsm. But then there is refined athletism like Curry has, creativity, skills, knowledge, basketball IQ, effort level and practice work ethic. Wiseman looks like he already shoots and dribbles better than McGee but he is basically straight out of high school and even Kobe was not fully ready straight out of high school.

That's the thing with big men, you never know how aggressive they would be, whether they have the killer instinct.

The ones who do, like Shaq, just rolled over anything in his path, with generous help from the refs who let him throw his weight around in a way no other center has ever been able to do before or since.

If he's willing to play a role, be the rim runner, rim protector, rebounder, maybe develop a pick and pop game from the elbow, Wiseman would help the team right away.

But if he dreams of being a KD-wannabe, a 7 footer trying to shoot midrange off the dribble or taking a lot of 3s, trying to cross over smaller players from like 10-15 feet away from the basket instead of going down low and punishing those switches, then Warriors and their fans will become frustrated.

Even KD took several years to develop his midrange game, probably more time out than the GSW core has left in their contention window.

If Wiseman developed such skills, he'd be playing 3 or 4, not a center.

There have been several big men who've come into the league with reputation for having more skills for the modern game. They all supposedly are good 3-point shooters. But they haven't dominated the paint in rebounding, defense and shot-blocking.

So the jury's still out on many of them -- Ayton, JJJ, Bamba, KP, Cousins, KAT.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

That's the thing with big men, you never know how aggressive they would be, whether they have the killer instinct.

The ones who do, like Shaq, just rolled over anything in his path, with generous help from the refs who let him throw his weight around in a way no other center has ever been able to do before or since.

If he's willing to play a role, be the rim runner, rim protector, rebounder, maybe develop a pick and pop game from the elbow, Wiseman would help the team right away.

But if he dreams of being a KD-wannabe, a 7 footer trying to shoot midrange off the dribble or taking a lot of 3s, trying to cross over smaller players from like 10-15 feet away from the basket instead of going down low and punishing those switches, then Warriors and their fans will become frustrated.

Even KD took several years to develop his midrange game, probably more time out than the GSW core has left in their contention window.

If Wiseman developed such skills, he'd be playing 3 or 4, not a center.

There have been several big men who've come into the league with reputation for having more skills for the modern game. They all supposedly are good 3-point shooters. But they haven't dominated the paint in rebounding, defense and shot-blocking.

So the jury's still out on many of them -- Ayton, JJJ, Bamba, KP, Cousins, KAT.

I hate big men wanting to be guards.
Wiseman may have given a clue who he dreams about being. He said he thought he might be like David Robinson in style or something like that. That's ambitious. Robinson is before Wiseman's time. I was happy that Wiseman knew who Robinson was.

Young Shaq did not get all the calls that Laker Shaq got. Young Shaq was getting called for offensive fouls that would not have been called on Lakers Shaq. But young Shaq was playing a little wilder and trying to do some athletic things that older Shaq stopped doing like trying to drive past Hakeem.

[Scoots1994]

That's the thing with big men, you never know how aggressive they would be, whether they have the killer instinct.

The ones who do, like Shaq, just rolled over anything in his path, with generous help from the refs who let him throw his weight around in a way no other center has ever been able to do before or since.

If he's willing to play a role, be the rim runner, rim protector, rebounder, maybe develop a pick and pop game from the elbow, Wiseman would help the team right away.

But if he dreams of being a KD-wannabe, a 7 footer trying to shoot midrange off the dribble or taking a lot of 3s, trying to cross over smaller players from like 10-15 feet away from the basket instead of going down low and punishing those switches, then Warriors and their fans will become frustrated.

Even KD took several years to develop his midrange game, probably more time out than the GSW core has left in their contention window.

If Wiseman developed such skills, he'd be playing 3 or 4, not a center.

There have been several big men who've come into the league with reputation for having more skills for the modern game. They all supposedly are good 3-point shooters. But they haven't dominated the paint in rebounding, defense and shot-blocking.

So the jury's still out on many of them -- Ayton, JJJ, Bamba, KP, Cousins, KAT.

I hate big men wanting to be guards.
Wiseman may have given a clue who he dreams about being. He said he thought he might be like David Robinson in style or something like that. That's ambitious. Robinson is before Wiseman's time. I was happy that Wiseman knew who Robinson was.

Young Shaq did not get all the calls that Laker Shaq got. Young Shaq was getting called for offensive fouls that would not have been called on Lakers Shaq. But young Shaq was playing a little wilder and trying to do some athletic things that older Shaq stopped doing like trying to drive past Hakeem.

Lakers Shaq had the history of the refs seeing that he was being hacked on every move, and they were not calling them all the time so they gave him some room the other way too. But he TOOK that leeway and ran with it.

Robinson was always a little soft for his era, but super skilled. If Wiseman was a Warrior who duplicated Robinson I think we'd all be thrilled. My concern is more that he straight up avoids contact on both ends and tries to get through with quickness and jumping. Still, with all these concerns he's still the best overall potential prospect for the Warriors ... and I have little doubt they have spent HUGE time evaluating him.