JaVale McGee Handed Keys to Denver Nuggets

hands11 · Post #1 » by **hands11** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 3:34 am

This Week’s Sign the Apocalypse is Upon Us:

http://www.truthaboutit.net/2013/07/thi ... more-30154

So this is it people. The Nene for Nick and McGee trade will be in full evaluation this year.

Will McGee take the league by storm and supplant Shaq as the most foolish talented big man in the leagues history, or will he take down Denver as a franchise.

truwizfan4evr · Post #2 » by **truwizfan4evr** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 4:32 am

Dat2U · Post #3 » by **Dat2U** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 1:05 pm

The post and the article are a bit of an exaggeration. Getting a starting role or a few more minutes a night is a bit different from being handed the keys to lead the team.

hands11 · Post #4 » by **hands11** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 1:29 pm

Dat2U wrote:The post and the article are a bit of an exaggeration. Getting a starting role or a few more minutes a night is a bit different from being handed the keys to lead the team.

I think part of the argument is that they connect the dumping of their head coach and trading their starting center as part of it.

Management went out and signed McGee to 10M to 12M. Management wants him to start. Their head coach wasn't doing that. Now he is gone.

McGee started "Zero" games last year. Now he will be featured as the starting center on a playoff level team.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #5 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 1:41 pm

TAI's Adam Rubin lost me at the start with this:

Is anyone else paying attention to what is happening in Denver? The Nuggets have turned over their entire franchise to JaVale McGee. This is no exaggeration. They fired their future hall-of-fame coach—who had just won the Coach of the Year Award—because he would not play McGee.

George Karl lost in round one of the playoffs. Something that is about as routine as leaves falling in autumn. George Karl, after his GM left, and realizing he had only one year remaining on his contract, demanded a new deal with a raise. Karl forced the issue into being fired.

The quote above is just more Javale McGee bashing and it is totally inaccurate.

fishercob · Post #6 » by **fishercob** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 1:46 pm

If only we had a thread to track former Wizards.

Oh, wait.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #7 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 1:51 pm

Karl was asked specifically about his handling of McGee’s minutes and his answer (especially the last two lines) foreshadows a potential problem for new coach Brian Shaw:

Q: Looking back, is there any way to have regrets about not playing McGee major minutes, knowing that they paid him big money?

A: “I’m sorry, I’ve never had management tell me that money’s important (for playing time). Every team I’ve ever coached, it was, ‘It’s your job to distribute minutes.’ I think JaVale built a foundation that next year is going to be very good with him. I don’t think our relationship was in a bad place. It wasn’t in a great place, but it wasn’t in a bad place. … I felt pretty good that JaVale, with a good summer with us, probably would have been the starter next year. But, in the same sense, I don’t think JaVale and Kenneth fit. They have similar limitations. I still think having a passing point guard for JaVale, like Andre Miller, is an asset.”

If Karl is right (and his concerns don’t seem unreasonable), Shaw may find himself in a tough position next year. McGee and Faried are both energy players with limited offensive skills. Both players score their points off hustle plays. If it turns out a McGee-Faried front court places too much pressure on Denver’s perimeter offense, will Shaw have the freedom to move JaVale back to the bench or must he find a solution that does not impact McGee’s minutes?

Denver won more games, and Karl coached great in the regular season. He lost Gallinari's outside shooting. This season's Denver perimeter offense IMO suffered with Iguodala being ball dominant and not a great perimeter scorer. In the past Lawson ran it up and they had bombers firing away. I suspect Shaw is going to have more of that and he'll have players like Evan Fournier coming into their own.

The interesting thing is that my favorite player in the 2011 draft, Kenneth Faried, really does have limitations with his offense. He needs to develop perimeter skills. McGee, OTOH, is going to have to become a far more sound defender. Koufos was flat out more effective.

I am going to be very interested to see what Shaw does, but I bet McGee turns into a far better offensive player this season. (I'm not sure at all about his defense ever improving significantly.)

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #8 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 1:52 pm

fishercob wrote:If only we had a thread to track former Wizards.

Oh, wait.

IBTM

closg00 · Post #9 » by **closg00** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 2:15 pm

IBTL, how-many McGee threads do we need?

hands11 · Post #10 » by **hands11** » Tue Jul 9, 2013 7:19 pm

fishercob wrote:If only we had a thread to track former Wizards.

Oh, wait.

McGee is more then just some former Wizards like DSleezy.

There was a huge debate about the Nene and McGee trade.

Just figure people might be interested in chiming in. Personally I think this is going to be really interesting. Ol Mr McGee might actually make a splash. Maybe he is ready. Then again, maybe not and Denver crashes from last years record.

No biggy if mods want to merge this though.