MVN - Most Valuable Network

JaVale McGee: Contributor or Bench Warmer?

According to stories found at www.washingtonwizards.com, JaVale McGee is progressing just fine in Washington DC and the team has high hopes for the young rookie. 

One person that’s all smiles when talking about McGee is coach Eddie Jordan. Jordan says “McGee will fit in nicely with a
Washington unit primed to go after an NBA championship.”

Jordan went on to say:
“JaVale is a very talented young man,” said Jordan, following the
Philadelphia game Wednesday. “He has all the tools, and his athleticism was a big plus to us. We have a great group of young players, to go with the core of veteran players to make a serious run in the Eastern Conference.”

For those of you who think McGee will be a D-league player this year, Eddie Jordan seems to think otherwise. In my opinion, McGee may very well be the first option for backing up Brendan Haywood this upcoming season for two reasons:

1) Etan Thomas, the current back-up center is not tall enough (6′10″) to guard most Centers in the NBA. He also has a longer wingspan than any other player on the roster (7′9″) which makes him much tougher to score on. He is currently ranked third in blocks per game in the 2008 Summer League game at UNLV.

2) Etan Thomas’ health is in question due to his heart problems and his minutes will most likely be limited. Blatche will definitely see minutes at the Center position, but McGee has the physique and foot speed to be on the floor when coach Jordan needs a defensive stop. In addition, Blatche is the primary back-up for Jamison.

While McGee does not have the offensive game of some of the other players chosen after him in the 2008 draft, his upside is much higher than most of them. The Wizards targeted McGee due to his high talent ceiling and his willingness to work hard on his game, as evidenced by his own words:

“I have to get stronger, because playing the middle is tough in the NBA,” said
Nevada’s fourth all-time leader in blocked shots. “I know there’s high expectations on me to help the Wizards right away, but again it will take time. I’m going to work each day as hard as I can to make the Wizards become a better team.”

Sounds like a man with a plan. Will it translate to the court in the 2008/2009 regular season? Will Coach Jordan go against his normal method of playing rookies sparingly?

Wizards lose Summer opener - lessons learned…

Here are my thoughts after witnessing Washington’s 78-73 loss to Portland last night:

- McGee is bigger and better than I initially thought. He has a spring in his step that is uncharacteristic of a 7-footer. He has very soft hands around the basket, led the team with three blocked shots, has great basketball IQ (as evidenced with his passing ability) and has a nice turn-around jumpshot. He even hit a three pointer! His shot selection was REALLY questionable, but I think that was more due to the coaching staff giving him the green light. MEMO To HAYWOOD: Stay healthy and Watch ya back homie; this guy could be our starting Center before you know it….

- Unless Brandon Rush, Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts are the real deal, Indiana was stupid for trading Jerryd Bayless. This guy is tear it up in Portland.

- Dee Brown is incredibly fast up and down the court; and he gets everyone involved. He will make this roster just as a change of pace PG. Sorry to burst your bubble Wizards blog fans, but he’s not on Tony Parker’s level just yet. Next game, he’s gotta show off this jumper he has supposedly been working on in Europe.

- Jonathan Wallace has a really nice jumpshot. I wish we had more space on the roster, because it looks like his spot will be taken by Dee Brown.

- Nick Young is a player to watch throughout the summer. His silky wet jumpshot is a thing of beauty. I think he will pick-up the shooting slack that Mason left behind rather easily. He needs to work on his defense though.

- Blatche - the best Big Man on the floor last night. Period. Wouldn’t hurt to get him in the weight room though; maybe he could turn some of those finger rolls into tomahawk dunks.

At the end of the day, this was just the first Summer league game and most of these guys have to perform consistently throughout the summer league to even be considered for playing time or a roster spot. Regardless, this start was very promising for the future stars of the Wizards.

Next game: July 16th, 2008 versus Philly (8pm). Hopefully Pecherov plays and Vermeenko shows us why the Wizards even bothered drafting him.

The Wizards 2008 Summer League Roster - Who are these guys?

Breaking news: According to www.mysanantonio.com, Roger Mason Jr. has signed a 2-year, $7.5 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs.

 The Washington Wizards 2008 Wizards Summer League Roster has been announced and there are some familiar and unfamiliar faces on the squad. The young guns from last season like Blatche, Pecherov, Young, and McGuire are heading back to Vegas, but there are some new faces who will help fill-out the rest of the active fall roster going as well. here is the entire roster (courtesy of www.washingtonwizards.com):

Andray Blatche 6-11 South Kent Prep (CT)

Vytas Danelius 6-9 Wake Forest

Dontaye Draper 5-11 Charleston

Frank Elegar 6-9 Drexel

Gary Forbes 6-7 Massachusetts

Dominic McGuire 6-9 Fresno St.

Taj McCullough 6-7 Winthrop

JaVale McGee 7-0 Nevada

Oleksiy Pecherov 7-0 Ukraine

Mike Peeples 6-6 Fairleigh Dickinson

Jason Rich 6-3 Florida State

Will Thomas 6-7 George Mason

Vladimir Veremeenko 6-10 Belarus

Jonathan Wallace 6-1 Georgetown

Nick Young 6-7 USC

This year’s draft pick, Javale McGee, is on the summer roster and I am very excited to see what this guy can do. Will he be the shot blocking, rebound-snatching, defensive presence the Wizards have yearned for? We shall see…

As it stands right now, the Wizards only have 13 players on their active roster; excluding Roger Mason Jr. who just signed with the Spurs. The maximum a team can carry into the season is 15, so will two of these guys make the active roster? Check out the link above for more info on the other players on the summer roster and let me know who you think will make the team in the fall.

Arenas re-signs with the Wizards - declines extra $16MM

According to www.espn.com, Gilbert Arenas has agreed to a 6-year $111 million contract extension. In a surprising turn of events, Arenas took less money than the Wizards offered him in order to keep the team from being bogged down financially in the future. Now that’s something you don’t see in professional sports very often. This news makes me proud to be a fan of the Wizards and really gives me a new found respect for Arenas.

 Now that both Jamison and Arenas are signed for the foreseeable future, the Wizards plan for the future is starting to come into focus. Will it be good enough to win a championship? What pieces do you think they are missing?