George Karl on JaVale McGee: ‘Lazy and crazy isn’t going to make it work’
Washington Wizards fans can tell you that watching JaVale McGee on a nightly basis can be incredibly frustrating. The 25-year-old center has amazing potential, but he makes far too many bone-headed mistakes like this that cost his team. Now, he is a Denver Nugget. And from the sound of it, George Karl is already frustrated with his big man.
“He’s got to understand that lazy and crazy isn’t going to make it work,” Karl told the Denver Post. “We want solid and we want fundamental, and we want spectacular but only when it happens, not forcing the action where sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.”
McGee is a lot of things, but solid and fundamental aren’t two of them. Denver signed him to a generous four-year, $44 million deal last year and at the moment he is coming off the bench. As highlight-reel blocks like this remind us, McGee is one of the most athletic seven-footers in the NBA. There’s a reason Hakeem Olajuwon said JaVale should be dominating the NBA.
But, he’s not. Instead, McGee rotates between SportsCenter’s “Top 10” and “Not Top 10.” He’s averaging around 10 points per game this season, which is consistent with where he has been for most of his career. McGee could be considered a major underachiever given his skill level, or he could just not have the intangibles a player needs to dominate the NBA as a big man and a post presence. The more games that go by, the more likely it is that the latter is true.
