Had a brief chat with Wizards center JaVale McGee yesterday about his hopes for the NBA Draft tonight. While our conversation, due to deadlines, didn’t make it into my print edition story – where Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld got ahead of himself – McGee has an interesting perspective on what type of road he sees the Wizards embarking on starting tonight.
“My hope for us is to be young and exciting, like Oklahoma City was last year,” said McGee. “It’s finally time for the young guys to step up and take over, show exactly what we’re capable of.”
This season coming up will be a big one for the third-year center, who averaged 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks after the All-Star break last season. He’s always been one of those guys who can be a total crack-up when journalists’ recorders aren’t going but generally has a bit less to say when it’s on the record. It will be intriguing to see if he becomes more outspoken this year and more importantly, more consistent when he’s on the court.
McGee didn’t have any specific suggestions for guys that he’d like to see drafted, but he endorsed fellow Nevada Lobo Armon Johnson as a sleeper pick in the draft.
“I hope we get players that just want to win and aren’t interested in being superstars, guys that are willing to get along,” said McGee. “We should all mesh together, like a high school team that travels on the bus together and hangs out.”
He said he’s traded messages with Gilbert Arenas and that he’s looking forward to Arenas getting his image back out there.
And, of course, McGee is excited about working with John Wall in Las Vegas next month.
Hopefully, Wall is ready to get on the bus.
