Los Angeles Lakers: JaVale McGee’s season review in a three-act play
Act Two: A Woeful Winter
Throughout the course of the year, Luke Walton had designed a defense meant to funnel ballhandlers into the lane, where the monstrous JaVale McGee would be waiting. This strategy was likely their best option considering the team’s laughable roster construction, featuring two gargantuan centers, in JaVale and Tyson Chandler, and an array of poor on-ball defenders.
But once JaVale began resorting to the Shaqtin a Fool version of himself, the team’s defense naturally fell off a cliff. During January and February, the Lakers had defensive ratings of 107.6 and an abysmal 116.4, per NBA.com. Some of this is a result of losing Lonzo, the team’s best defender, to injury, but a lot of the slump was due to poor rim protection by JaVale.
The video above features the highlights from a game against a New Orleans Pelicans squad missing their superstar, Anthony Davis. They gave up 128 points to a team they should’ve beaten effortlessly, and many of these easy baskets were a result of JaVale poorly contesting shots.
Throughout the second act of his season, the supremely athletic center’s seemingly innate defensive timing had somehow disappeared. He still possessed the requisite tools to wreak defensive havoc, but he began playing more like a dad standing still with his hands straight up during a one-on-one match with his child.
Against the Pelicans, JaVale missed simple defensive rotations, weakly went up to contest shots, and frankly looked as though he didn’t care whether his team won that night.
Casual NBA fans persecute JaVale for some of his boneheaded plays, which is understandable since these mistakes are what attract the most attention and ignite the most laughter. However, while these mishaps are certainly weaknesses in his overall game, the most frustrating element behind rooting for the big man is his mind-boggling inconsistency.
Over the months of January and February, his obvious stats didn’t look much different. He still shot a respectable 58.3% from the field while blocking 1.2 blocks per game. Yet, when watching his game tape, his overall play clearly had diminished in quality.
Instead of anchoring the defense as he had at the beginning of the season, he allowed countless points at the rim. Instead of rim-running and collapsing defenses during the pick-and-roll, he stagnantly resided by the basket, waiting for easy dump offs after iso-drives.
Unlike the beginning of the season, when JaVale was a definite positive for the team, his plus/minuses for January and February were an astonishing -10.4 and -12.9, per Basketball-Reference. Witnessing slumps for a player is a common experience for every fan, especially in regards to individuals whose talent revolves around shooting.
But, when it comes to fives whose role is merely to defend and dunk, consistency is expected throughout the year. In JaVale McGee’s case, his second act was as drastic of a downgrade from his first that I have ever witnessed.