With the season starting Thursday, we're giving you all a chance to predict how every player on the roster will do this season. Scroll down for more community projections.
Is JaVale McGee the kind of guy that needs tough love?
That's the question I keep asking myself as I think about his preseason performance. Statistically, JaVale was very impressive, grabbing plenty of rebounds, scoring efficiently and swatting away a lot of shots. But that stands in stark contrast to Flip Saunders' comments about how McGee is not providing enough substance to be a key piece. Maybe McGee has improved his play because of Saunders' comments. Maybe there's still more we're missing that McGee must improve. But when you contrast Saunders' public comments with McGee to his public comments regarding Yi Jianlian, you can't help but think there's some psychology going on.
The more I think about it, the more I think McGee is poised for a breakout. That might be optimistic, and it might have residual side effects -- like, for example, if McGee's breakout hurts Andray Blatche's production -- but I really like the way he closed this preseason. That said, McGee has teased us for a couple years now without fully breaking through. I understand any and all skepticism you may have in him.
So let's predict his numbers. As always, guess as many or as few categories as you wish.
- Games played
- Points per game
- Rebounds per game
- Blocks per game
- Minutes per game
- Field goal percentage
- Free-throw percentage
- True shooting percentage
- Rebound percentage
- Turnover ratio
- Usage rate
- PER
Bonus question: Where does McGee rank among all the other young big men in the league? By young, I mean guys who either are still playing with rookie contracts or just received contract extensions.