Evaluating Javale McGee

If I was comparing 20-year-old Javale McGee [14.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg in his second season at Nevada] to anyone on the Bullets, I’d compare him to Andray Blatche. Like Blatche, McGee is long and lean, tall and thin, athletic and not terribly strong. Like Blatche, he can play the 4 or the 5 and he can step out to 20 feet occasionally and hit a shot, though he will never make a living out there. Also like Blatche, McGee is a good leaper who should be able to block shots [2.8 per game last season, tops in the WAC] and grab a lot of rebounds in the NBA. Also like Blatche, McGee can handle the ball well for a big man and move off the dribble. And again, like Blatche, he can’t do those things well enough to play anything but a 4 or a 5 in the NBA.
One difference between the two of them is that McGee may have the better motor. Blatche doesn’t appear to have a bad work ethic, but it doesn’t appear to be a great one either. McGee plays hard in games and, from all reports, works hard in practice. This could be because hoops is in his blood — McGee’s mother played and coached in the WNBA. He may be a more conscientious basketball player than Blatche. If so, that’s a good thing.
But, basically, McGee seems to repeat a lot of the skills the Bullets already have in Andray Blatche? So why take him at 18 when guys like Darrell Arthur, Kosta Koufos, Mario Chalmers, and JJ Hickson were all still available? I’m not sure. It could be that GM Ernie Grunfeld and Head Coach Eddie Jordan have begun to have doubts about Blatche and want a replacement for him if their doubts prove justified.
In any case, the Bullets just got taller and younger — McGee is the team’s 4th 7-footer [Brendan Haywood, Oleksiy Pecherov, Blatche] and their 5th player who is 23 years old or younger.
Grunfeld passed on a number of promising prospects to take McGee and summed up his thinking this way:

“But basketball they say is a big man’s game and it’s hard to get a 7-footer with a lot of athleticism and the ability to run the floor and a 7-foot-6 wing span. He has all of those qualities.”

Here is what McGee said about being drafted by the Bullets:
“I knew they were going to take me,” McGee said. “They were constantly talking to me, constantly trying to get me to workout for them and constantly in contact with me.”
McGee, like Roy Hibbert, who was drafted at 17, never did work out for the Bullets, probably because his agent believed he would be selected higher in the first round.
My view is that I probably would have gone with Kosta Koufos or Darrell Arthur instead of McGee. Arthur is more ready to contribute quickly and would fit in nicely with the Washington offense. Koufos would add more scoring punch at the 5 position, something the team really needs. McGee needs to put on some weight and add strength. He’s got a lot of talent and he’s a legitimate 7-footer with a frame that can easily handle additional weight, so there is much to recommend him. I wouldn’t expect too much from McGee soon, though.
In any case, we’ll get a look at him this summer when he joins Blatche, Pecherov, Young, and Dominic McGuire in the Summer League games.
Michael Wilbon likes the selection of McGee and writes thusly:

McGee fulfills the most important requirements of being a Big Man. I watched him play a handful of times for Nevada. He’s not afraid to knock somebody down or put a knee in somebody’s chest. He dunks enough, blocks enough shots, takes up enough space to know his address is within six feet of the basket. His position isn’t a mystery. McGee is no tweener. There’s no wondering where he’s going to play or how he fits in. He’s not a 4/5, he’s a Big Man, a run stuffer.

I like McGee better than J.J. Hickson from N.C. State, who went to Cleveland with the very next pick, because he’s only 6-9, 242. I like McGee better than Cal’s very polished Ryan Anderson, who went to New Jersey because the Wizards don’t need another perimeter shooter. I like Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert a bit better because he spent four years in an offense similar to what the Wizards run for Coach Eddie Jordan, but the Pacers ended up with Hibbert just before the Wizards were on the clock.

The Sports Bog gives you some quick facts about the newest Bullet.