Posts for category ‘JaVale McGee’

[Mike Wise and Pam McGee - photo: K. Weidie]

When the basis for an article is interviewing a mom about her son, you know what’s bound to happen: irrationality entrenched in unconditional love. No big deal, it’s to be expected. But when the Washington Post’s Mike Wise loads his pen with the ink of JaVale McGee’s mom, Pamela, talking about her son: a media firestorm fueled by irrationality. Oh what, if anything, will Ted Leonsis’ blogging fingers say about these maternally induced pixels, seeing that through the conduit of Wise, Pamela calls out his coach and his franchise? The Wizards may wind up miffed because of Wise’s article, but they certainly can’t be surprised. Difficulties with JaVale McGee’s mom — the “Little League parent,” Wise calls her — are well-known throughout the organization.

She calls out Flip Saunders for “throwing JaVale under the bus” in criticizing his recent backboard dunk, a feat she says was done to “break up to monotony” of losing. (Does she realize how much Saunders bites the bullet to defend McGee already?) We also know that Flip didn’t even take McGee out of the game because of that dunk against Houston. He played the next five minutes of the third quarter and about the first three minutes of the fourth… before getting the hook for completely losing track of Jordan Hill for a points and then subsequently shooting a bad jumper.

Read more »

First of all, we know Houston’s Chandler Parsons got a put-back dunk on JaVale McGee, circling his crotch and balls around Epic ‘Vale’s head for good measure. McGee was more than posterized, he was GIF’d…

In video form, if you will…

Then, of course, in true JaVale fashion, there was this, a dunk off the backboard when down 64-60 early in the third quarter against Houston:

Read more »

There are many incomprehensible facets to JaVale McGee, but the talent and seeming potential is unquestionable.

How did he make that BLOCK!??! (Or was it a steal?)

Read more »

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, but the Lost NBA Season (now in full effect) leaves us with a bit less to be thankful for this year. On the bright side, it gives us an opportunity to remember what we can of the past. Shall we?

When the Goodman and Drew Leagues faced off in their inaugural summer league exhibition game back in August, one of most intriguing battles turned out to be the face-off between Washington Wizards center JaVale McGee and Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins. McGee showed off his athleticism and shot-blocking prowess, while Cousins countered with his strong power post-up game and rebounding dominance.

Although their physiques are obviously different, both players do have some similarities. No one can question their elite athletic ability, as they do things on the basketball court few at their size can pull off. Yet, both also sometimes think they’re guards; JaVale is famous for showcasing his dribbling “talents,” and deep down Cousins loves to launch threes.

Both have had fisticuffs with teammates that led to team-sanctioned suspensions. Goodman League commissioner Miles Rawls has nicknamed Cousins “Bad Attitude,” with good reason, and McGee constantly possesses an on-court scowl. Both love to raise the blood pressure of their coaches with mental lapses and by taking plays off. Most importantly to fans, both have potential to be solid performing anchors for their respective franchises for a long time.

The following video contains highlights of the duo from that D.C. summer evening at a packed Trinity University that I recorded with my Flip Cam, so bear with me on some of the grainy footage.

Read more »

This may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back which then caused that camel to fall on the puppy holding a bouquet of flowers for his puppy girlfriend while they nuzzled wet puppy noses in a field of porcelain angels surrounded by butterflies and rainbows, and ice cream.

Did you hear what JaVale McGee did?

Maybe you read about it. Maybe somebody told you. Or, you can listen to JaVale McGee himself over a tape recorder, via the L.A. Times website, saying, “There’s definitely some guys in there saying that they’re ready to fold, but there are some guys, a majority of us, are ready to stand strong,” when asked by a reporter outside of a National Basketball Players Association meeting if players are standing strong against the NBA lockout, or if some are saying that they’re ready to go back to work.

Maybe McGee was earnest and right, but a negotiator with media concerns in mind he is not.

Read more »

[JaVale McGee, backboard head - photo: K. Weidie]

You’ve likely heard about ESPN.com’s #NBArank project of ranking all NBA players. Yes, this isn’t the first of it’s kind — the idea of assigning numerical order in a rather arbitraty way even though it involes input from wide-ranging subjects — and it won’t be the last.

Ranked at No. 99 JaVale McGee was the first Washington Wizard to be ranked in the top 100; John Wall is the only unranked Wizard left as they continue to be unveiled. And while we would certainly hope to mention/cover the rankings of other Wizards, McGee’s gets its own post. Clearly he is of utmost importance to the team’s future, as a participant or an assest. McGee is also, clearly, at a stage of player development where he more interested in his own good, rather than the good of the team. Either way, he deserves the attention he craves and more. Thus, I’ve asked four contributors to the TrueHoop Network/Truth About It.net three questions about McGee and his #NBArank…

1) JaVale McGee’s #NBArank came in at #99, nestled between Wesley Matthews (#100) and Shane Battier (#99), among others — Was this about right, too high, or low, and why? If the entire league were re-drafted, about where would McGee fall?

Read more »

Pictures, commentary, links, more pictures…

WE HAVE HERE: JaVale McGee dunking over Gary Neal at Capital Punishment, but John Wall should also look out below…

Read more »

[Fort Stevens Rec Center - NW Washington, DC - photo: K. Weidie]

As I get ready to take an extended summer vacation off to a location across the ocean, I can’t help how different this NBA summer feels. Yes, the lockout… But I’m also thinking about NBA players — who they are, how they are, where they are. Oh yea, and they’re also jumping across the pond lately.

NBA players are… themselves, for better or worse. Real people. I’ve known this. Covering the Wizards closely over the past couple of seasons has enforced this. It’s not breaking news.

It’s the coverage and opt-in exposure surrounding professional athletes as a whole, much less NBA players, that is vastly different now. Although, delving through the late David Halberstam’s brilliant book The Breaks Of The Game — about the world of pro basketball and the 1979-80 Portland Trailblazers — has helped me realize that while the times change fast, many principles simply get updated and don’t change much.

Read more »

Hi there Internet. Why yes, this here site has doled a lot of criticism toward JaVale McGee in the past X amount of time. While some of it has certainly been flagrant, it is not baseless.

However, one might counter that we have not given young McGee enough praise. This may be true and to that we will say this, he is a keeper… despite all the basketball disruption that his alter ego, I’m assuming his name is “Pierre,” has caused to the playpen of team functionality and trust. He’s not a bad kid. He is young, after all, but many times disappointingly young in comparison to some contemporaries. Still, no one said an investment in youth is easy, but it’s usually always worth it, especially given McGee’s athletic parameters.

Speaking of… let’s get back to that reported/tweeted rumor the other day from Jonathan Givony of Draft Express: Read more »

Tension arises from the final Washington Wizards game of the season. Many fans were content with the loss to Cleveland. The 100-93 defeat on Wednesday means they stand-alone with the fourth-worst record in the NBA, and not tied with two other teams (New Jersey and Sacramento) for the fifth worst record, which could have had major implications on the NBA Draft Lottery. Other the other hand, they lost to Cleveland and looked pretty terrible in doing so.

Here’s where the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” conflict arises. During the game, Comcast’s television play-by-play man Steve Buckhantz mentioned multiple times how Flip Saunders instructed his players before the game that he wanted them to treat it like a playoff affair. But removing John Wall, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee from the fourth quarter equation (when Washington went into the final period with a 74-71 lead), and then later taking out Jordan Crawford three and a half minutes into the period (the Cavaliers having taken an 81-76 lead), clearly swings the philosophy from treating it like a playoff atmosphere to tanking for the lottery. Worth mentioning that Wall “tweaked” something or another during the game (didn’t look major, better to be safe than sorry), Blatche and McGee were playing like they didn’t deserve to stay on the floor (we’ll get to them), and Crawford was 2-14 from the field (the lackadaisical demeanor assumed by some on the team clearly having an effect on the unit as a whole).

Flip Saunders told the Washington Post:

“I thought our first, main group played really well. I probably would like to see them play the whole game, the way they were playing. We were moving the ball, we were really active and pretty much dominating in many aspects. But it was a good opportunity for us to see a lot of the young guys.”

Read more »