Plenty of people changed their opinion of JaVale McGee over the past season. His performance with the Golden State Warriors has been that convincing, as has his attitude.
Not everyone is sold, though. There is, apparently, at least one player on the Cleveland Cavaliers that doesn’t believe McGee has the mental chops to play in the upcoming NBA Finals.
Speaking on ESPN’s The Basketball Analogy Show, ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin relayed the following tidbit to fellow ESPN-er Brian Windhorst (via DefPen.com):
I had a Cavs player disagree with your opinion of (JaVale) McGee, Brian. He postulated to me that he doesn’t even think McGee’s gonna be able to get on the court or certainly not stay on the court because he doesn’t think he’s quote, unquote ‘smart enough’ to be able to play in this series.
Is that you Channing Frye? Or maybe Richard Jefferson?
This unnamed Cavs player implies a valid point: The Cavaliers-Warriors series will operate on a higher battle ground than anything else we’ve seen during these playoffs.
But to say McGee isn’t smart enough to function in this series goes way too far. He finishes lobs and gets back on defense these days. That’s more than enough to stay on the floor. He only becomes truly, wholly, totally nonessential if this best-of-seven set turns into a small-ball measuring contest, in which Draymond Green soaks up most of Golden State’s center minutes. And that has nothing to do with his basketball intelligence—which, at minimum, appears to be at an all-time high.
