Should the Warriors Sign JaVale McGee?
By Ben Pickman
If you lived in a vacuum with 24 hour video access to YouTube, and heard that a gifted athlete who happens to be 7-feet tall is currently a free agent and available for a minimal cost, you would have to be interested. If I told you he could do this, you might be more interested.
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If I told you that person was JaVale McGee, and the team that might possibly sign him has 46 wins and only 12 losses, then you might be less interested.
It was only two seasons ago, when McGee averaged a near double-double per game, in a contract year. As a result, he got paid, and has since reverted into the JaVale McGee that makes bone-head play after bone-head play, making a fool of himself on a nightly basis. Just take a look at some of his best highlights.
The Warriors need a backup center. Even after Festus Ezeli’s best performance against the Nets in which he scored 14 points and pulled in eight rebounds, the Warriors still could use some depth at the center position.
To bring in the McGee, the Warriors would have to know that McGee would fit on a team that’s success has been highly predicated on chemistry. He would have accept a backseat and take the benefit of winning with the downside of possibly not playing.
McGee has acted in a very professional manner since getting initially traded to the Sixers. This past Sunday, when McGee was asked about whether he would want a buyout from the struggling Sixers, he said,
"“I don’t want to get bought out. That’s not a positive thing. When you think about it, you don’t get all of your money when you get bought out. So it doesn’t make sense why someone would want to get bought out unless they are older- and they want to go to a contender or something. Im’ not that old. I just want to play basketball.”"
He added that he viewed himself as a real leader of the young Philly roster and could serve as a mentor for them as well.
But McGee was bought out.
And even though he has said all the right things off the floor, he still lacks the maturity on the floor to make him enticing enough for the Warriors to sign him.
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An interesting name to throw into the mix is former UConn center Emeka Okafor. Okafor has not played a game in the NBA this season due to a neck injury, but back in January countless teams indicated interested and reached out to the aging center. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported back in January that he is likely to delay his return until next season, but in the slight chance he does return, he would provide the Warriors with the defensive rim protection that they want from the center position.
At this stage in the season, maintaining chemistry off the court might be as close to maintaining it on the court, and the Warriors cannot afford to bring in a chemistry killer like JaVale McGee.