WASHINGTON D.C. - As fans, I think it's safe to say that we've seen far more instances of JaVale McGee making a good post move in the past month or so. His scoring average increased to 13.2 points in March and 12.8 points in April, after three straight months of it being in single digits. He's been getting more chances and capitalizing on them.
In light of all of this, I decided to ask McGee about how he felt his post game has developed this season. His answer made it sound like he wasn't pleased with the number of chances he was getting earlier in the year.
"I always had a post game," McGee said. "I just wasn't getting the touches."
Normally, McGee's answers are short, and I was expecting this one to be too. But to my surprise, he continued.
"The more touches you get, the more you get to show your skills. You get two touches, and you make two bad plays, everyone's like 'Oh, you have no post game.' You get 10, and you're 8 for 10, it's totally different."
Honestly, I was so taken aback that my only follow-up was just to say something dopey along the lines of "So you're feeling more confident now?"
"It's definitely a confidence booster being able to get the ball more and have plays being run for you," McGee said. "Before, it was just like 'Get your own.'"
Anecdotally, McGee is certainly getting a lot more post touches. Inevitably, this means he's converting on a lot more of them, and he has also improved his scoring efficiency. So maybe he's right that he merited more touches before. Still, you'd think that he'd at least mention his hard work improving his skills in practice and/or give credit to assistant coach Gene Banks and others for helping him.
As for the behind-the-back pass? It worked this time, but it probably won't again.
"I'm just happy it went down," John Wall said. "Usually it don't, and he goes and sits down on the sideline."