Larry Brown Sports

JaVale McGee tried to do an extremely nice gesture for some of his fans, but in typical McGee fashion, he screwed it up.

McGee, who is lauded for his talents but derided for his screwball ways, sent a tweet on Monday to spontaneously offer Chipotle to 10 of his Twitter followers. He’s deleted the tweets, but they were snagged by Black Sports Online:

RT @javalemcgee34 1st 10 people who meet me at chipotle in 5 mins get free meals! #OMMthe one in Denver on 16th!

— JaVale McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) September 10, 2012

You mean to tell me that McGee gave his fans a five-minute warning to claim a meal and he hardly got a response?

RT @javalemcgee34 IM IN LINE ORDERING ! NOBODY HERE… #WELP

— JaVale McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) September 10, 2012

There’s a shocker.

One dude did eventually show, and McGee treated him to lunch. McGee shared a photo of the two together at the restaurant, and the lucky fan later thanked McGee via Twitter.

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JaVale McGee has cultivated a reputation for being a talented player whose goofball tendencies mar his accomplishments. In one moment he can make a highlight-reel block, and in the next he’ll be benched for throwing an alley-oop to himself. That’s what made Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon’s comments about the big man so perplexing.

Olajuwon has been working with McGee at his big man camp in Houston and glowed about his pupil.

“No question, I see him as another star,” Olajuwon said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports in Houston. “That guy should dominate the league.

“He has tremendous talent. I give him all these moves and he can finish and he’s already skilled. So now just show him how to use that skill to (get) to the next level.”

Sure, McGee has the talent to be one of the league’s top centers, but Hakeem is dreaming. That’s like me saying “all Carlos Zambrano needs is a level head and he could be a Hall of Famer.” It’s just too far off from happening. McGee is a good player, but he has a long way to go to put it all together.

via Rotoworld

JaVale McGee, who was born in Flint, Michigan and is an American citizen, may end up playing for the Philippines’ national basketball team, even though he has no apparent ties to the country.

A bill has been filed in the House of Representatives in the Philippines to naturalize the Nuggets center and make him eligible to play for the country’s team. The bill was filed by Antipolo City representative Robbie Puno and cites McGee’s “remarkable track record in the United States’ professional basketball scene.” Apparently they’ve never seen this video.

McGee traveled to the Philippines twice during the lockout and expressed interest in playing for the country. He wrote the following on Twitter in January:

heard from @coachot that d Phil national team is about to be formed. Would love to represent d Phils if given d chance

— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) January 7, 2012

It’s nice that McGee feels strongly about the country and that they seem to like him (the country is full of basketball fans — including Manny Pacquiao), but everything about this strikes me as wrong. How can an athlete with no ties to a country end up playing for it? Why are ringers allowed for international athletics competitions? This undermines the purpose of countries competing against each other.

I didn’t like this years ago when Chris Kaman, who apparently has German roots, was playing for Germany. I don’t like it now. FIBA — or whatever organization is in charge — should stop this.

Chest bump SB Nation via Pro Basketball Talk
Photo Credit: Thomas Campbell-US PRESSWIRE

JaVale McGee gets benched more than a high school showboat who laughs in the face of his coach. Professional athletes getting benched is pretty rare in general, but McGee has already pulled it off twice this season — with two separate head coaches. You may remember earlier in the year when he was benched for throwing an alley-oop to himself. The video you see above, which features McGee goaltending a ball with authority on Wednesday night against the Kings, resulted in another benching.

“I think Javale’s coming out,” announcer Phil Chenier said as the Washington Post pointed out. Head coach Randy Wittman could be seen scrambling to find someone to put into the game at that point.

There are players in the NBA on horrible teams that just can’t seem to get it. McGee is the head of that association.

Wizards center JaVale McGee had two of his best statistical games of the season recently. The fourth-year player from Nevada posted a season-high 24 points in a loss to the Heat Friday and 22 and 11 in a win over the Pistons Sunday. A new asthma medication is being credited for his recent success.

McGee learned he had asthma two years ago. Last week he returned to the doctor that diagnosed him after his coaches noticed he was getting tired quickly.

“They said I was breathing at like 75 percent,” McGee said. “If you can’t breathe, you can’t do nothing.

The doctor prescribed him a new medication that seems to have helped.

“I just couldn’t breathe,” McGee said. “I feel a lot better. I feel I can stay out there longer now. I got to just take my medicine.”

McGee played 35 minutes in both games which is much more than the 28 minutes per game he’s been averaging. Maybe when a guy gets tired on the court, it’s not always because he’s out of shape, but sometimes because of medical issues. Too bad for JaVale the asthma can’t also explain his mental lapses.

Perhaps he was just trying to inject energy into a team that has lacked any type of passion or motivation through the first chunk of the NBA season.  When Javale McGee threw a pass off the backboard to himself and slammed it home on Monday, Wizards coach Flip Saunders benched him.  Apparently Saunders wants the team to stop being horrible before they start contributing to any highlight reels.  On Tuesday, Jalen Rose blamed ESPN for McGee’s dunk.

“You know who I blame? I blame the Worldwide Leader,” Rose said on Sportscenter according to Game On! “When you’re a team that’s struggling, get the 2 points, get back on defense, rebound, block some shots, make some multiple efforts. Because you’re the Washington Generals when you’re 1-12. Now, when you’re 12-1, then you’re the Wizards or the (Harlem) Globetrotters.”

Rose said it is the fault of the “MTV Generation” that plays like the McGee one happen.  He also said that the producers of ESPN’s “Top Plays” are simply looking for the best plays of the day, regardless of team accolades.  He has a point.

In one sense, I agree with Rose and Saunders that it was a bonehead move by McGee.  He probably should have just settled for a standard dunk rather than trying to spice things up.  However, there’s a possibility McGee was trying to provide a spark for a struggling team and wake up a miserable home crowd.  Clearly it didn’t work — as evidenced by the fact that they lost again — but you can’t blame a guy for trying.

Wizards big man JaVale McGee was benched Monday for throwing himself an alley-oop in the third quarter of his team’s loss to the Rockets. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for McGee to understand that showboating on a 1-12 team is a bad idea, but he doesn’t seem to get it.

“Apparently, if you get a fastbreak & throw it off backboard in the 3rdQ & you’re 1-11, you’re not supposed to do stuff like that,” he said after the game.

Coach Flip Saunders complained “You know we have some players that look for highlights rather than substance.”

Given everything McGee did to get a triple-double last March, this video doesn’t surprise me. It’s not like throwing yourself an alley-oop is an egregious offense to the basketball gods, but when you’re just struggling to get wins, settling for the high-percentage dunk is probably the smarter move.

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