[NOTE: This is a late, RETRO-active post RE: Wizards vs. Pacers last Thursday. But good news, reads JUST LIKE WIZARDS LOSS TO HAWKS on Saturday night. But it's okay. At this point, they're just games. At least that's what they feel like... robotic, fabricated games. The DC Council -- After each Wizards game: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the bench, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is over the table. Click here for cumulative DC Council 3-star ratings over the course of the season. Game 46 contributors: Adam McGinnis (@AdamMcGinnis), Rashad Mobley (@Rashad20), and Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It).]

Score

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[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?

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After the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Washington Wizards last Friday, coach Byron Scott took his sweet time coming out to meet the media.  Given how his team performed, I fully expected him to step out of the locker room and give journalists the Denny Green treatment. But when Scott finally emerged from the Cavaliers locker room after 20 minutes, he was rather calm in his words.  Perhaps that was because he knew exactly why the Wizards defeated his team.

“I’ve got a few numbers on my mind:  68, 30, 19 and 62.  68 points by their frontline, 30 rebounds by their frontline, 19 offensive rebounds by their frontline, 62 points in the paint… you can’t win if you don’t come with a little bit more of a toughness and a presence in that paint area.  You can’t win.  Blatche and McGee dominated our guys.  That’s something you just can’t account for.  When we have to all of a sudden change a game plan to double team those two guys, you’re in trouble.”

Now, I’m no coach, I didn’t have to address the media after Washington lost in Indiana last night, and given that they have been out of playoff contention since December, I’m pretty emotionless at this point. But after watching the Pacers dismantle the Wizards 136-112, I’m in a Byron Scott state of mind, and I also have some numbers swimming thru my head: 136, 59.5, 54.2, 34, 32 and 10.

136

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The odds were definitely stacked against the Indiana Pacers prior to last night’s game against the Washington Wizards.  The night before in Indiana, the Pacers led the Boston Celtics for three quarters before Ray Allen and Marquis Daniels stepped up in the fourth and led their team to victory.  On top of being demoralized by that late loss and having to deal with the fatigue that goes with playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road, the Pacers were also in the midst of a six-game road losing streak which spanned the entire month of December.

Despite the stacked deck, Indiana played well enough to stay in the game for three quarters once again. But in the end, the Wizards were deeper and more athletic.

After the game, the Pacers locker room looked completely dejected.  You’re probably saying to yourself, ‘Well damn, a post-loss locker room is always dejected, that’s how it should be,’ and you are right.  But the level of dejection and depression I saw in that Pacers locker room was enough to suck the Christmas/New Year’s spirit out of anyone.

Danny Granger (15 points, nine rebounds and two steals) sat in front of his locker with both of his legs in water, and he twice rebuffed the media’s request to talk to him (but finally agreed to talk 15 minutes later — after I left, of course), and barely paid attention when assistant coach Walter McCarty tried to offer words of encouragement.  Tyler Hansbrough sat at his locker room with the same dumbfounded look, and T.J. Ford (eight points and three assists) just kept looking at the final stat sheet and shaking his head.  But no player was more dejected than former Georgetown Hoyas center Roy Hibbert.

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Ok, so we’ve scanned JaVale McGee’s barcode tat and concluded that on offense, when he tries to do things himself, he fares poorly. But when he plays with teammates, he excels. I’m slightly simplifying … yet combining both stats and my personal observations from watching him all year and coming to a more than reasonable conclusion.

Now, let’s scan again to see what we come up with for McGee from a defensive perspective.

It’s no secret that JaVale needs to gain strength. Some of that will come if he puts in the work. Some of that will come naturally as he fills into his long frame. He also needs to learn more discipline in realizing that he can play better defense AND still be an intimidating shot blocker while not being so ready to leave his feet.

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