Posted by playa2:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/news/story?id=3323168

One of the things JaVale has done here is he has still grown physically. He is still maturing physically," Fox said about the 240-pound 20-year-old. "The common thing I got from NBA people is that Mother Nature is going to take its course and he is going to fill out physically."

Pam McGee, now a high school coach and teacher in Sacramento, led Southern California to two NCAA titles and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics. She reminded reporters on Monday she went professional the same year Michael Jordan did.

"I have insights that other people don't have," she said. "I have long-term friends who are now general managers and owners."

"When I talk to them, they basically give me an honest opinion that my son is a stock option. They understand he is going to be a pro and there is no limit on what he can do," she said.

"The deal that really puts him on the table is he's a great kid. You don't have to worry about my son off the court. You won't see him on any news lines. And if you do, call me."

"So when they start talking to me and start saying lottery, early lottery, late lottery ... I felt we had to do what is best for my son,"

LaVale McGee has hired Roosevelt Barnes and Eugene Parker at Maximum Sports Management as his agents.

"You might as well know, they are calling him the 'Big Secret,'" Pam McGee said. "So the secret is out. He's the Big Secret."

Javale is top 3 in terms of ceiling in the draft and IMHO a no-brainer for a top pick and that will become apparent when they go toworkouts. Y

The top 5 are
Rose
Beasley
Lopez
Mcgee
Ranolpdh and next is Griffin

Unlike some --I dont care where I get the high ceiling player and I would be willing to trade Lee[especially so I dont have to pay him 5-6 years at 10mm oper and perhaps rid myself of another contract and get two of these guys a C and a PF--offer a frontloaded MLE to JR Smith he takes it or not and Im done.

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by playa2:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/news/story?id=3323168

One of the things JaVale has done here is he has still grown physically. He is still maturing physically," Fox said about the 240-pound 20-year-old. "The common thing I got from NBA people is that Mother Nature is going to take its course and he is going to fill out physically."

Pam McGee, now a high school coach and teacher in Sacramento, led Southern California to two NCAA titles and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics. She reminded reporters on Monday she went professional the same year Michael Jordan did.

"I have insights that other people don't have," she said. "I have long-term friends who are now general managers and owners."

"When I talk to them, they basically give me an honest opinion that my son is a stock option. They understand he is going to be a pro and there is no limit on what he can do," she said.

"The deal that really puts him on the table is he's a great kid. You don't have to worry about my son off the court. You won't see him on any news lines. And if you do, call me."

"So when they start talking to me and start saying lottery, early lottery, late lottery ... I felt we had to do what is best for my son,"

LaVale McGee has hired Roosevelt Barnes and Eugene Parker at Maximum Sports Management as his agents.

"You might as well know, they are calling him the 'Big Secret,'" Pam McGee said. "So the secret is out. He's the Big Secret."

Javale is top 3 in terms of ceiling in the draft and IMHO a no-brainer for a top pick and that will become apparent when they go toworkouts. Y

The top 5 are
Rose
Beasley
Lopez
Mcgee
Ranolpdh and next is Griffin

Unlike some --I dont care where I get the high ceiling player and I would be willing to trade Lee[especially so I dont have to pay him 5-6 years at 10mm oper and perhaps rid myself of another contract and get two of these guys a C and a PF--offer a frontloaded MLE to JR Smith he takes it or not and Im done.

I was interested to hear your opinion regarding this kid, if for no other reason than how you called Bynum.
The interesting thing about big men, is that even if they aren't ready they take up a lot of space and can have a defensive presence (as Bynum has had).

Can you compare the two as far as ceiling, athletic ability, etc?

Thanks,
EMS

NCAA Weekly Performers, 1/4/08-- Part Two
January 5, 2008
Nevada’s sophomore big men has made some huge strides from his innocuous 3 point, 2 rebound, 10 minute per game freshman season. Coach Mark Fox has him up to nearly 28 minutes per game this year now that Nick Fazekas is off to the NBA, and McGee has responded with an excellent 13.4 points, nearly 9 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game.

In terms of pure upside, it’s difficult to find that many players in college basketball who are as intriguing as McGee. Standing 7-feet tall, with a pterodactyl wingspan, McGee is already in a class of his own in terms of his physical tools. He’s also an incredibly mobile player for his size, showing great fluidity and outstanding quickness, running the floor extremely well, and being super quick getting off his feet to finish around the basket or challenge shots.

More than just a physical marvel, McGee also drops some stunning glimpses of potential from time to time. He can palm the ball like a cantaloupe and swoop around the post to throw in a soft one-handed jumper off the glass, or use his outrageous extension to pull off some circus style dunks. His incredible reach also makes him an outstanding offensive rebounding threat, being able to just outreach everyone else on the floor and tip the ball to himself, sometimes to catch the ball and finish with a terrific put-back dunk, all in one fluid motion. It’s hard not to come away extremely impressed by some of the plays he makes from time to time, and you only wonder how good he might become if he can somehow learn to deliver them on a more consistent basis.

Offensively, McGee has nice touch around the hoop, and shows some glimpses of a jump-hook shot or a turnaround jumper. It all comes in very small doses, though, as he lacks the strength to establish (and hold) any real position for himself in the paint, and looks very uncomfortable banging in the post and trying to finish against opposition. His footwork is quite average, and he rushes his shots badly, lacking a great feel for how to set his man up and often preferring to fade away softly from contact rather than go up and finish strong. He’s particularly ineffective trying to finish moves from the left block, as his left hand is just non-existent and he makes a mess trying to force up difficult shots with his right.

Even though McGee has a hard time finding good shots for himself in the paint, he’s still somewhat of a black hole, as his 0.8 assists compared with 3.0 turnovers per game average might suggest. Once the ball go towards his direction, it’s very rarely going to come out, as he is more likely to just heave a bad shot up on the rim rather than survey the area using his height and maybe kick the ball out.

Despite being 7-feet tall, McGee looks pretty comfortable facing the basket, showing surprisingly good ball-handling skills putting the ball on the floor to create his own shot, and shooting range that extends all the way to the 3-point line. These are incredibly intriguing skills that could be developed into real weapons down the road, but for now, McGee has no idea what his limitations are seemingly, and sometimes does more harm than good with his forays out to the perimeter. His shot selection is poor, and he often overdoes things with his dribbling, making him a true feast or famine type of player who follows up one good play with one bad one. It doesn’t seem like he’s completely resolved to the fact that he’s 7-feet tall and not a guard, at least based off some of the moves he tries to execute at times. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that his basketball IQ is questionable, and he surely lacks a great deal of high level experience. He’s shooting only 50% from the field (pretty poor for a 7-footer), and just 59% from the charity stripe, which is usually a sign that he’d be best served working on his free throw shooting before he tries to impress with his 3-point stroke (where he is 4 for 16 so far on the year).

Defensively, McGee has game-changing potential thanks to his combination of size, length and athleticism. He also has pretty good timing on top of that, making him quite a force at times with his shot-blocking. He’s had three games this year for example with 6 blocks or more, and is averaging three per game on the season in under 28 minutes.

With that said, McGee has a long ways to go on this end of the floor as well, blocks and steals aside. His lack of strength is a hindrance when trying to deal with physically developed players, and he often gets pushed around in the paint with his obvious lack of bulk and toughness. McGee suffers from the same problem that a lot of young shot-blockers do—he gives up excessive space in the post thinking he’ll be able to compensate with his length and quickness to send the shot back as soon as it goes up. This is sometimes indeed the case, but at the next level it won’t be as easy, and he already has a tendency to bite on pump-fakes and get caught with his hand in the cookie jar. We’re often lacking a certain degree of activity from McGee, as he shows poor awareness on the defensive end and doesn’t always play as hard as one might hope. He gets outhustled occasionally going after rebounds, and doesn’t fight back at times when smaller players are pushing him around.

All in all, McGee is a superb prospect who is in dire need of a great deal of maturing and developing (and playing time) before he can even begin to think about the NBA. He could probably get drafted in the first round solely based off his potential, possibly this year already, but sitting on the bench for a few years is probably the worst possible thing you could wish upon a player like him. He reminds of somewhat of a mix between Brandan Wright and Patrick O’Bryant at this point in his career, but is obviously getting better day by day and still has a huge amount of upside left to tap into. It will be very interesting to see how he continues to develop.

Posted by earthmansurfer:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by playa2:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/news/story?id=3323168

One of the things JaVale has done here is he has still grown physically. He is still maturing physically," Fox said about the 240-pound 20-year-old. "The common thing I got from NBA people is that Mother Nature is going to take its course and he is going to fill out physically."

Pam McGee, now a high school coach and teacher in Sacramento, led Southern California to two NCAA titles and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics. She reminded reporters on Monday she went professional the same year Michael Jordan did.

"I have insights that other people don't have," she said. "I have long-term friends who are now general managers and owners."

"When I talk to them, they basically give me an honest opinion that my son is a stock option. They understand he is going to be a pro and there is no limit on what he can do," she said.

"The deal that really puts him on the table is he's a great kid. You don't have to worry about my son off the court. You won't see him on any news lines. And if you do, call me."

"So when they start talking to me and start saying lottery, early lottery, late lottery ... I felt we had to do what is best for my son,"

LaVale McGee has hired Roosevelt Barnes and Eugene Parker at Maximum Sports Management as his agents.

"You might as well know, they are calling him the 'Big Secret,'" Pam McGee said. "So the secret is out. He's the Big Secret."

Javale is top 3 in terms of ceiling in the draft and IMHO a no-brainer for a top pick and that will become apparent when they go toworkouts. Y

The top 5 are
Rose
Beasley
Lopez
Mcgee
Ranolpdh and next is Griffin

Unlike some --I dont care where I get the high ceiling player and I would be willing to trade Lee[especially so I dont have to pay him 5-6 years at 10mm oper and perhaps rid myself of another contract and get two of these guys a C and a PF--offer a frontloaded MLE to JR Smith he takes it or not and Im done.

I was interested to hear your opinion regarding this kid, if for no other reason than how you called Bynum.
The interesting thing about big men, is that even if they aren't ready they take up a lot of space and can have a defensive presence (as Bynum has had).

Can you compare the two as far as ceiling, athletic ability, etc?

Thanks,
EMS

From what I can see--the only clear difference is weight/strength. They have very similar vertical athletiscm--the same tremenoud reach[that makes them play much taller than 7-0/7-1] they both have great hands and touch. Mcgee is a better ballhandler and from what I ahve read this is what has gotten him in trouble from time to time. Instead of just dominating in the post--he will use those ball skills to launch 2-3 3pointers a game. In the NBA--this will be a no-no and once they make him a pure post and he gets strong--there will be many teams that cry again over it.

But think about it--if we cried about Bynum and they took Frye--what is the chance of taking Mcgee anyway with an even higher pick? The Knicks will go for whoever can help them in year 1 the most.

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by earthmansurfer:

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by playa2:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/news/story?id=3323168

One of the things JaVale has done here is he has still grown physically. He is still maturing physically," Fox said about the 240-pound 20-year-old. "The common thing I got from NBA people is that Mother Nature is going to take its course and he is going to fill out physically."

Pam McGee, now a high school coach and teacher in Sacramento, led Southern California to two NCAA titles and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics. She reminded reporters on Monday she went professional the same year Michael Jordan did.

"I have insights that other people don't have," she said. "I have long-term friends who are now general managers and owners."

"When I talk to them, they basically give me an honest opinion that my son is a stock option. They understand he is going to be a pro and there is no limit on what he can do," she said.

"The deal that really puts him on the table is he's a great kid. You don't have to worry about my son off the court. You won't see him on any news lines. And if you do, call me."

"So when they start talking to me and start saying lottery, early lottery, late lottery ... I felt we had to do what is best for my son,"

LaVale McGee has hired Roosevelt Barnes and Eugene Parker at Maximum Sports Management as his agents.

"You might as well know, they are calling him the 'Big Secret,'" Pam McGee said. "So the secret is out. He's the Big Secret."

Javale is top 3 in terms of ceiling in the draft and IMHO a no-brainer for a top pick and that will become apparent when they go toworkouts. Y

The top 5 are
Rose
Beasley
Lopez
Mcgee
Ranolpdh and next is Griffin

Unlike some --I dont care where I get the high ceiling player and I would be willing to trade Lee[especially so I dont have to pay him 5-6 years at 10mm oper and perhaps rid myself of another contract and get two of these guys a C and a PF--offer a frontloaded MLE to JR Smith he takes it or not and Im done.

I was interested to hear your opinion regarding this kid, if for no other reason than how you called Bynum.
The interesting thing about big men, is that even if they aren't ready they take up a lot of space and can have a defensive presence (as Bynum has had).

Can you compare the two as far as ceiling, athletic ability, etc?

Thanks,
EMS

From what I can see--the only clear difference is weight/strength. They have very similar vertical athletiscm--the same tremenoud reach[that makes them play much taller than 7-0/7-1] they both have great hands and touch. Mcgee is a better ballhandler and from what I ahve read this is what has gotten him in trouble from time to time. Instead of just dominating in the post--he will use those ball skills to launch 2-3 3pointers a game. In the NBA--this will be a no-no and once they make him a pure post and he gets strong--there will be many teams that cry again over it.

But think about it--if we cried about Bynum and they took Frye--what is the chance of taking Mcgee anyway with an even higher pick? The Knicks will go for whoever can help them in year 1 the most.

Thanks, and great last point. If we don't get one of the top two picks, but say we get 3 or 4 and a chance at Mayo or the like, they are going to go with what they (Isiah) have been doing...
UNLESS we have new management and there is always the chance we do trade Lee and somehow get another Lottery selection. I'm really afraid of Isiah digging this hole deeper.