Paula and Pamela McGee, aunt and mother of JaVale McGee [photo via mlive.com]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I was going to throw this in a link post (ShareBullets), but it seems worthy on its own. ESPN’s Chris Sheridan has posted a full update from Team USA training camp day two on TrueHoop, but I’ll quote one particular aspect that’s certainly of interest to Wizards fans. Sheridan writes:
After practice, I spent some time chatting with JaVale McGee, who was cut from the team after mini-camp in Las Vegas but then was invited back when Brook Lopez withdrew. McGee had an interesting story to tell about rifling through the dresser drawers at his grandmother’s house when he was a young boy and coming upon the Olympic gold medal was won by his mother, Pam McGee, for the 1984 U.S. Olympic women’s team. McGee’s aunt, Paula — the twin sister of Pam — was cut from the ’84 team, and McGee’s younger sister, Imani Stafford, 16, won a gold medal earlier this summer for the United States at the under-17 girls World Championship in France.“He’s trying to do what he can do,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said, “and if we don’t make the final roster decision here, which I don’t think we will, I hope he continues on with us because he’ll keep getting better. At that spot, Tyson (Chandler) is really playing well, and you know what Lamar (Odom) will do when he gets into game shape. But if something goes wacky, to have another big guy is not a bad thing. That’s where he fits in. He’s in the discussion. And when we started camp in Vegas he wasn’t even invited. So he’s made that much of an impression.
Yi Jianlian and Team China didn’t fare too well last night … they got routed 86-62 by Andy Rautins and Team Canada in an exhibition match held in Vancouver. (Worth typing again) … China got routed 86-62 by Canada and ANDY RAUTINS! (who led his team with 19 points). The Canadians were up 41-16 at halftime by the way, so China actually won the second half 46-45.
“It’s like we fell asleep in the first half,” Yi Jianlian told the press … not exactly what you want to hear from your number one player. You can read more about the game here, here and here, but basically Canada dominated most aspects of the game — they out-rebounded China 44-25, out-shot them 56.4% to 29.1%, and out-scored the Chinese in the paint 42-10. Wow… miss Yao Ming much?
Yi scored 15 points and only grabbed five rebounds in 28 minutes to go along with two assists, one turnover, one block and two steals. Even worse, he shot 3-12 from the field (1-3 from three, 8-12 from the free-throw line). Reports say Yi was doubled … a lot. And I imagine he will see most international defenses focus on him since he’s China’s best player. In such a scenario, it’d probably help if Yi found his teammates more (or, perhaps, played inside more). Again, Yi only had two assists, and has never been known as the best passer anyway — his NBA career 1.2 assists per 36 minutes is worse than Nick Young’s career rate of 1.7/36 … that speaks volumes. Worth noting that China only had nine total assists as a team.
[Editor's note: While I was out in Las Vegas for the summer league, I caught up with David Thorpe to discuss Yi Jianlian, who Thorpe trained earlier this summer in Florida. Below is what I gathered from my initial discussion with him. Unfortunately, the second part of the discussion was nowhere to be found on my recorder, evidently replaced by around 42 minutes of summer league gym sounds instead. Oh well, I'll try to catch up with Coach Thorpe for a follow-up at some point, but I can't thank him enough for what he has already provided. -Kyle]
{image via bscup.tom.com}
His friends back in China call him “Lian,” says David Thorpe, NBA analyst for ESPN’s Scouts Inc. and executive director of the Pro Training Center in Clearwater, Florida. Thorpe has worked with countless NBA stars, college prospects and overseas basketball talents. And for five weeks earlier this summer, he worked with new Washington Wizard Yi Jianlian.
Back in February, when things were beginning to meltdown for Jianlian in New Jersey — his minutes per game stayed high at 30.8 over 13 games, but his averages dropped to 9.2 points on 34.1% shooting and 7.5 rebounds; this was down from 33.2 minutes, 15.4 points on 42.9% shooting and 6.7 rebounds per over 18 total games in December and January — the player’s group of advisers, including agency Lagardère and agent Dan Fegan, started talking with Thorpe.
Reports have surfaced that Yi Jianlian injured his arm playing for China in an international competition, the Stankovic Cup, held in Liuzhou, China, while getting ready for the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey [hat tip to Matt Moore of ProBasketballTalk]. Initial reports only indicated that Jianlian suffered an “injury” to his right arm, and that forced him to sit out the second half of China’s loss to Slovenia. However, Jianlian came back and played in the next game against Iran.
In their first game on July 28th, China lost 64-63 to Australia. Jianlian led the Chinese with 17 points and 10 rebounds in just over 17 minutes of game time. But Australia’s David Andersen, who was recently traded from the Houston Rockets to the Toronto Raptors, scored a basket in the game’s final 10 seconds to give the Aussies a one point victory. Andersen finished with eight points and seven rebounds. Patty Mills led Australia with 13 points.
On July 29th the Chinese faced Iran and defeated them 86-64. Jianlian had 16 points (7-12 from two-point land, 0-1 from three, 2-2 from the free-throw line), 10 rebounds (two offensive), three blocks, one steal, two assists and three turnovers in 28 minutes of action.
[Team USA Men's Basketball played an intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday night. Below is a recap/assessment of the instances where JaVale McGee had an impact on the game.]
JaVale McGee’s presence at USA Basketball camp hasn’t come without skeptics, mainly Rob Mahoney of ProBasketballTalk and the ESPN TrueHoop Network Dallas Mavericks blog, The Two Man Game.
Mahoney also contributes to Hardwood Paroxysm, a general NBA blog on the TrueHoop Network. On Friday, Mahoney wrote on HP:
Honestly, I’m not sure what JaVale McGee would bring to the World Championships. McGee, impressive Summer League dunker though he may be, isn’t a very good rebounder, defender, or even a consistent offensive threat. He can’t create his own shot, and aside from picking up blocks, really isn’t to the point where he can contribute defensively against top-flight competition. McGee may be a center, but it’s not like he’s going to be some great interior defender. He’s still a bit too lean and too jumpy for that.
[Editor's note: After his initial profile of him, TAI's Adam McGinnis (also known as Adam Douglas) has become the unofficial Emir Preldzic/Turkish League correspondent. Who is Emir Preldzic? Well, he's the overseas prospect the Wizards got from Cleveland as part of the Antawn Jamison deal. Read Adam's follow-up piece on Preldzic below.]
With John Wall mania at fever pitch levels, and only going to crescendo even higher as this Thursday’s draft approaches, it’s a good time to check in on one of the Wizards’ own Euro-stash prospects, Bosniak Hero, Emir Preldzic. The 22-year old, 6’9″ point-forward’s rights were acquired from Cleveland in the Antwan Jamison deadline deal. The last time we left Emir, his team, Fenerbahce Ulkler, had failed to qualify for the Euroleague playoffs but was still competing for the crown of the top tier Turkish Basketball League (TBL), where Preldzic was a key performer.
What in the name of Eva Perón are these two doing here?
Well, with a glimmer of the Sun of May in their eyes, and perhaps fueled by a well-aged Malbec, these two Argentinians seem to be re-enacting the final match of the U.S. Open with household fireplace tools, celebrating a big win by fellow countryman Juan Martín del Potro over Rodger Federer.
Carry on boys, see you on the hardwood.
(Speaking of … the Wizards and Spurs will first face off on November 21st in San Antonio, and the return favor will be on January 2nd in D.C.)
In case you missed it last week, NBA commish David Stern strolled into a Harlem barbershop and displayed a skill he’s masterfully crafted, that of the silver-tongued politician. Watch for yourself.
I love how he tells almost everyone “you are right,” before making his own point, or says things like “good question,” while avoiding being patronizing.
Funny, when I say those things in public I come across as a condescending S.O.B. … guess I shouldn’t be telling the homeless guy ‘good question’ after he asks me for some change. Read more »
Now that the greatest Olympics of my lifetime (of 28 years) has concluded, it’s time for me to wonder, why do team sports get slighted in terms of medal events?
The dedication it takes for one to succeed at an individual event is truly amazing. All of the worldwide buzz and attention shed upon Michael Phelps and his accomplishment of eight gold medals is more than justified. At no point have I felt over-saturated with the media coverage surrounding Phelps.
However, something must be said about the unity and cohesion it takes to succeed as a team. It’s a display of the true human spirit of being able to work together to accomplish one goal. In my opinion, this is more difficult to achieve than striving for Olympic success alone….if only slightly, because my intent is not to subtract from individual competition.
