GO BLUE!>............................

[Rett]

another really good game...down to the wire...with a win over Purdue!


we're baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

[Rett]

Remind me to...


"Press the mute button the next time Steven Tyler sings the National Anthem!"
Oracle




It was vintage Steven Tyler.....
the ONLY way to be!!

[merc]

Wonder if Mr. Tom "bargain basement" Gores would shell out the kinda cash Mr. I has?
Still disappointed he didn't buy the team.

[merc]

Flip, might need your help with this one... We now know why Joe hasn't heard the grumbling

Joe's residence for the past three years...
[Only admins are allowed to see this image]

^ Insert JD in his bubble

[Sissy1946]

Merc: Anyway you can put Joe's face or body in there? Would be hilarious, or do we have to ask for Flip's help?

[deusXango]

There seem to be growing support for Harrison Barnes as our first pick. I've even read where some clown suggested that if we had the first pick it should be used on Barnes. What am I missing? The only player in America under 6'10" that the Pistons should be thinking of taking, if Davis is gone, is Thomas Robinson! It's not as if Barnes is the second coming of Kevin Durant, but Robinson is a David West clone.

[frankied]

There seem to be growing support for Harrison Barnes as our first pick. I've even read where some clown suggested that if we had the first pick it should be used on Barnes. What am I missing? The only player in America under 6'10" that the Pistons should be thinking of taking, if Davis is gone, is Thomas Robinson! It's not as if Barnes is the second coming of Kevin Durant, but Robinson is a David West clone.

DX,
you are exactly right on robinson. kidd-gilchrist will be in the conversation, but if i had a top 3 pick and both drummond and davis are gone, robinson is probably the guy. i love his game!

[frankied]

have to say that i am mystified by the harrison barnes love. i mean, i like him and he's a good player, but he's not all that. as i have said before, imho, kidd-gilchrist will be a better pro. he is much more than a scorer.

[deusXango]

have to say that i am mystified by the harrison barnes love. i mean, i like him and he's a good player, but he's not all that. as i have said before, imho, kidd-gilchrist will be a better pro. he is much more than a scorer.

True 'dat Frankie D, true 'dat! Kidd-Gilchrist is scratching at the surface, and I get the uncomfortable feeling Barnes is who he's going to be.

[deusXango]

What's the deal with Fab Melo? Big dude on a top rated team that can't stay basketball eligible. Who is he, what's his game about, and where is he going? From what little I saw of him, if we can go ape shit over JaVale McGee, we wouldn't be wasting a second round pick on Mr. Melo. He's sure to come out, I just hope he's not Reggie Harding in the 21st century.

[Murph]

See...now this is exactly what I'm talking about. I would seriously rather have Javale McGee than Meyers Leonard, straight up. IMO, Leonard is a high risk pick; he might work out, or he might turn into Cole Aldrich.

Meanwhile, you know what you're getting in JaVale McGree. He's a guy that's going to give you some efficient scoring, 9 rbds a game, and is going to block 3 shots a game, which is 2nd in the NBA among centers.

Harrison Barnes I can understand. Eventually, after he works his way up through the depth chart past Prince and Singler and Jerebko and Daye...after a couple of years, Barnes is going to turn into a big, very productive SF.

But Meyers Leonard??? Come on...

[Murph]

Thomas Robinson kind of reminds me of that other Jayhawk, Markieff Morris. Morris is having a solid, if unspectacular rookie year. He's coming off the bench to score 7.5 pts and pull down 5 rbds a game for Phoenix. Eventually, Morris should turn into a solid starting PF in the NBA.

[Murph]

You know what I hope to see? I hope UNC meets KY late in the NCAA Tournament, so that we can see a Harrison Barnes vs Kidd-Gilchrist matchup for ourselves. That matchup would answer a lot of questions as to which of those two SFs should go first in the draft.

[deusXango]

You know what I hope to see? I hope UNC meets KY late in the NCAA Tournament, so that we can see a Harrison Barnes vs Kidd-Gilchrist matchup for ourselves. That matchup would answer a lot of questions as to which of those two SFs should go first in the draft.

Hey Murph, thanks for the thoughtful response yesterday, I really appreciated that. No fluff, just facts; you stayed inside your game. On to the mornings discourse; regardless of the outcome of a collegiate matchup, Barnes will be a better pro SF, but should Kidd-Gilchrist continue working on his deficiences he'll be one hell of a pro SG. Who'll be a better pro? Kidd-Gilchrist hands down! He brings so much more to the game than Barnes does. I hope both those young men stay healthy. Those are "team need" players.

[Sebastian]

You know what I hope to see? I hope UNC meets KY late in the NCAA Tournament, so that we can see a Harrison Barnes vs Kidd-Gilchrist matchup for ourselves. That matchup would answer a lot of questions as to which of those two SFs should go first in the draft.

Hey Murph, thanks for the thoughtful response yesterday, I really appreciated that. No fluff, just facts; you stayed inside your game. On to the mornings discourse; regardless of the outcome of a collegiate matchup, Barnes will be a better pro SF, but should Kidd-Gilchrist continue working on his deficiences he'll be one hell of a pro SG. Who'll be a better pro? Kidd-Gilchrist hands down! He brings so much more to the game than Barnes does. I hope both those young men stay healthy. Those are "team need" players.

Fellas, I reside 9 miles from Chapel Hill in the great city of Durham and have seen Barnes play on a number of occasions. The dude is a stiff and has an extremely nonchalant approach of playing the game of basketball. I would draft Kidd-Gilchrist over Barnes any day of the week and especially on Draft night.

Kidd-Gilchrist is an active player that opposing teams will have difficulties scouting, because the guy plays the full floor. He does everything: attacks the basket, a developing mid-range game, plays outstanding defense, and he is a leader, and has yet to reach the ceiling of his game.

Joe better draft Kidd-Gilchrist!

Meanwhile, Joe needs to figure out a way to swindle McGee from the Wizards.

[Sebastian]

If I were a betting man, I would bet that Dwayne Wade returns to play for the Heat tonight, while playing OUR guys at the Palace.

The reason, why Wade will play tonight, is because he will need to get a good "practice" in before the Heat play the Knicks on Friday.

Doesn't Joe see that with OUR inferior roster--during this compressed, shorten season--opposing teams are using OUR guys for practice (yeah, I;m talking about practice).

Joe needs to do something to make OUR roster more competitive and quick, fast, and in a hurry!

[Murph]

Actually, KY and UNC met last Dec. 3 in Lexington. KY came from behind to win the game by 1 point, 73-73. In that game, Barnes had 14 pts and 2 rbds, while Kidd-Gilchrist had 17 pts and 11 rbds.

And while were on the topic, in that game, John Henson had 10 pts, 8 rbds and 3 blks, while Anthony Davis had 7 pts, 9 rbds and 2 blks.

[frankied]

See...now this is exactly what I'm talking about. I would seriously rather have Javale McGee than Meyers Leonard, straight up. IMO, Leonard is a high risk pick; he might work out, or he might turn into Cole Aldrich.

Meanwhile, you know what you're getting in JaVale McGree. He's a guy that's going to give you some efficient scoring, 9 rbds a game, and is going to block 3 shots a game, which is 2nd in the NBA among centers.

Harrison Barnes I can understand. Eventually, after he works his way up through the depth chart past Prince and Singler and Jerebko and Daye...after a couple of years, Barnes is going to turn into a big, very productive SF.

But Meyers Leonard??? Come on...

i've just seen small bits of leonard, and i've taken a look at youtube stuff.
he looks like a very skilled big man. much, much more skilled than aldrich. the only thing they have in common is their skin color, and the problem of being categorized as big, white stiffs.
leonard has small forward-type skills in a 7 foot body. he reminds me a lot of the kid milwaukee just drafted out of wisconsin, jon lauer, though leonard appears to be a bit bigger. it will be interesting to see what he measures out to, at the combines.
aldrich's biggest problem is his size. he's only 6'9", though he has a nice wingspan. but unlike some guys who are his size, he doesn't really have a lot of skills to compensate for his lack of size. he plays a seven footer's game, without the size. he could get away with it in college, but not in the pros. most PFs and C's are bigger, and there are lots of wing guys who are right near his size. i'm surprised that OKC took a shot at him, as they've done a great job with their drafting. maybe he will still find a niche, but he will have to adjust, imho, his game accordingly. he can't be the biggest, baddest guy out there anymore. he will have to add a few more skills.
if aldrich had leonard's ball skills, he'd have been a top 5 pick.

[cool breeze]

There seem to be growing support for Harrison Barnes as our first pick. I've even read where some clown suggested that if we had the first pick it should be used on Barnes. What am I missing? The only player in America under 6'10" that the Pistons should be thinking of taking, if Davis is gone, is Thomas Robinson! It's not as if Barnes is the second coming of Kevin Durant, but Robinson is a David West clone.

DX,
you are exactly right on robinson. kidd-gilchrist will be in the conversation, but if i had a top 3 pick and both drummond and davis are gone, robinson is probably the guy. i love his game!

Frankied Robinson is playing better than he was projected to play this season. However, he is only 6 feet 8 inches tall. I do not want the Pistons to take Barnes if they have the chance to do it though. Detroit needs to make some trades to rid the team of some of the high priced vets who do not fit and exchange them for more draft picks. Detroit needs to get more than one player in the first round. The selections should both be big men. Most of the bigs will have defects in this draft but they will still be upgrades from what the Pistons currently have under contract.

[cool breeze]

33 yr old, 6-6, Lebanese swingman Fadi-al-Khatib

Is Fadi al-Khatib NBA material? It’s a question that has been continuously asked by basketball fans on the internet, considering his huge contribution to the success of the Lebanese national team over the past 10 years.

The answer to the question has come from the Detroit Pistons, who have recently been exchanging emails with Fadi, as “The Tiger” confirmed to The Daily Star in a phone call. A contract may be signed as early as this summer.

“It’s true. I have been exchanging emails with Joe Dumars [Detroit Pistons’ President], who has asked me to come in summer,” revealed Khatib, who is 32 years old.

He added: “I don’t know yet if I am going. Playing in the NBA is something professional players dream of, but I have a family and I am starting a new project here.”

[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Flip you have done it again. "It's amazing, so amazing". I wonder if Mr. Gores will hire that announcer to replace either Greg or George next season when the amazing Fadi arrives to the Palace. I noticed that Charlie V would fit in well with both of those teams. He could be considered an average defender on their standards. Great job Flip!!

There will be more of what you saw last night Piston fans once Joe signs his secret weapon, the Incredible Swingman from Lebanon, FADI-Al Khatib. There will be only one condition in his contract. Khatib must be granted a private room to dress before all home games complete with ashtray and all the cigs he can smoke. The private room is also a place where his fine women can hang out before and after the games. Flip this might be your best piece of work ever. We must keep Khabib on Joe's radar or he might forget.

So easily you posters forget the sleeper in this draft. FADI-AL Khatib is the real deal according to Supersized Joe Dumars. Joe has his eye on the best talent in America. However, Michael Jordan is losing all those games for a good reason. He wants the Amazing so Amazing Khatib and the announcer who described that amazing game on the video provided by Flip. We are in good hands with Mr. Dumars. He will fit in well with Maxiell and Daye. Who needs a big man? This guy can score.

[frankied]

You know what I hope to see? I hope UNC meets KY late in the NCAA Tournament, so that we can see a Harrison Barnes vs Kidd-Gilchrist matchup for ourselves. That matchup would answer a lot of questions as to which of those two SFs should go first in the draft.

Hey Murph, thanks for the thoughtful response yesterday, I really appreciated that. No fluff, just facts; you stayed inside your game. On to the mornings discourse; regardless of the outcome of a collegiate matchup, Barnes will be a better pro SF, but should Kidd-Gilchrist continue working on his deficiences he'll be one hell of a pro SG. Who'll be a better pro? Kidd-Gilchrist hands down! He brings so much more to the game than Barnes does. I hope both those young men stay healthy. Those are "team need" players.

Fellas, I reside 9 miles from Chapel Hill in the great city of Durham and have seen Barnes play on a number of occasions. The dude is a stiff and has an extremely nonchalant approach of playing the game of basketball. I would draft Kidd-Gilchrist over Barnes any day of the week and especially on Draft night.

Kidd-Gilchrist is an active player that opposing teams will have difficulties scouting, because the guy plays the full floor. He does everything: attacks the basket, a developing mid-range game, plays outstanding defense, and he is a leader, and has yet to reach the ceiling of his game.

Joe better draft Kidd-Gilchrist!

Meanwhile, Joe needs to figure out a way to swindle McGee from the Wizards.

@sebastian:
i certainly haven't watched barnes as much as you have, but you just expressed exactly what i've thought of him. i've always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but so far...you nailed him for what he's been, as a college player.
i cannot imagine barnes being the kind of guy who actually leads a team to an ncaa title or an nba title. he might be a leading scorer on one of those teams, but he'd do it the same way byron scott used to score for the lakers, as a complimentary player, rather than as a leader on the team.
kidd-gilchrist, on the other hand, i can easily imagine as the guy who actually leads a team to a title.
big difference.
and i definitely agree about mcgee. if i'm joe, my number one priority would be to somehow get mcgee away from washington, while an opening might exist.
below is a column from the washington post, entitled: "JaVale McGee ‘is not a knucklehead;’ just ask his mom"
it gives an interesting perspective on mcgee.
in the article, both mcgee and his mom talk about the fact that they wanted mcgee to have the benefit of a big man coach.
d'oh! the pistons have exactly what they need, right on the roster. and if they are smart, when ben is done playing, he'll just take up a spot on the bench in a suit. a couple of years under ben's tutelage, could turn mcgee into a defensive monster.
i hope joe goes at him aggressively. a couple of years ago, he could have probably stolen deandre jordan because the clippers had a surplus of big guys and jordan and the clippers were not happy with each other. then kamen got hurt, jordan got lots of PT, proved his value, and the clippers decided, smartly, that it made a lot more sense to trade the older guy, and keep the younger guy.
the chance to steal a young guy passed by.
that same sort of chance is there, imho, with mcgee, right now.
i hope joe takes advantage of it.

[frankied]

this is from the washington post....



JaVale McGee ‘is not a knucklehead;’ just ask his mom

By Mike Wise, Published: January 19

This is the night the hammer comes down, you’ve decided. This is the night to call out the brain lock and the boneheadedness — everything embodied by their starting center’s inability to understand that you don’t throw down a showboat dunk when you’re down six points and about to be 1-12 on the season.

This is the night to eviscerate that kid, just in time for his 24th birthday on Thursday.

Until you meet that kid’s mother.

“He is not a knucklehead,” Pamela McGee says, sitting behind the basket an hour before her son, JaVale, and the Wizards would stun Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder on their best night of the season — albeit the worst start to a season in franchise history. “JaVale is a good kid. My son is special. He has gifts you can’t teach: hands, height and heart. If I’m the Wizards and I’m really trying to build a franchise, really committed to rebuilding and developing, I would nurture that talent. I would help a kid like JaVale the best I could.”

When McGee felt the need to lob the ball off the backboard for a look-at-me dunk in a loss on Monday instead of just routinely depositing the ball through the rim on a breakaway, he became the latest flashpoint for the Team That Doesn’t Get It.

The same goes when he is pining for all-star votes on Twitter after the Wizards fell to 0-7 against the Knicks earlier this month. Or when he euphorically high-fived teammates after a mad scramble to record his first triple-double a year ago — at the embarrassing end of a game his team would lose by 19 points.

You want to give him the Knucklehead Treatment all day, and then you run into Mama McGee.

“I know people are making a big deal of that play,” she says. “Look, JaVale does that to break up the monotony. Wouldn’t you if you were losing like this? He’s been here for four years and it’s been same ol’, same ol’. I don’t want him to get institutionalized to losing. My son is the future of the NBA. I don’t want him to be part of this culture of losing forever.”

Now Pamela McGee’s pupils have enlarged. Grabbing your arm, she becomes more animated, as if she were back running the floor with her sister Paula and Cheryl Miller on Southern California’s national championship team, as if she was trying to win a WNBA championship or trying to hang onto her playing career in Europe.

“The one thing I never did as a coach, never not once in my career, was throw my players under a bus,” she said angrily in a clear reference to Flip Saunders’s criticism of McGee’s play earlier this week. “If I had a problem, I would take that player in the locker room and would let them know and we would work it out. I would never throw my player under the bus.”

This is her first-born; this is personal. Where you see a guy prone to goaltending and poor rebounding position, she sees the player who leads the league with three blocks per game.

“One game, he goes in for 20 minutes; the next almost 40 minutes,” she says. “Sometimes he can’t even get into a flow, they’re yanking him in and out so much.”

(The club cites the Elias Sports Bureau in saying McGee averages the ninth-most minutes among NBA centers with 10 starts.)

“They aren’t running any plays for him,” Pamela continues. “With a 7-footer with hands like that, the kid is averaging a double-double without plays run for him; he gets those points off garbage.

“Now, let me ask you: If Orlando gets Dwight Howard and they bring in a big man like Patrick Ewing to work with him, and the Lakers get Andrew Bynum and they bring in Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] to work with him, you would think it would make sense to get a coach like that for JaVale, right?”

Asked if she addressed the concerns with anyone, she nods yes (JaVale’s agent said it would come at McGees’ expense). The club maintains that assistant coach Don Zierden acts as a big-man coach for JaVale and other post players, and they were unaware of Pamela’s specific concerns.

Pamela and JaVale actually paid UCLA assistant coach Scott Garson to work with McGee over the summer, which he credits for his improved footwork and swooping hook shot. Reached by telephone in Los Angeles, Garson said he found McGee to be a “very hard worker who did everything I asked of him.”

“I brought him into the UCLA Hall of Fame and showed him films of Kareem,” Garson says. “He picks things up very, very quickly. The thing about a kid that talented and that size, you have to grab his attention. I don’t know the situation there, but if I were a big-time future center, I would want to learn from someone who’s been to where I want to go.”

JaVale? “I think that would definitely help me,” he said after Wednesday’s win. “Working with Coach Garson, some days I went through whole workouts without a single jump shot.”

Of the play that brought him so much criticism, he adds, “I understand: Because we were losing, it looks bad. If we’re winning, no one says anything about it. It bothers me when people want to label me after something like that, like that’s all I stand for or I’m part of a group — when I’m my own man.”

JaVale also acknowledges, yes, Pamela can be a Little League parent sometimes: “You know she’s takin’ my side on things. That’s my mom; we’re close.”

His mother was his AAU coach from 9 years old to sixth grade, getting up at 6 a.m. to work on drills with him. Trying to toughen up her son in the post when the ball dropped below JaVale’s chest as a child, “I hit him in the chest with my fist,” Pamela said.

“You’re my mother,” the boy would wince, “how could you do that to me?”

Pamela: “You stinkin’ up the gym, that’s why. I’m your coach right now.”

JaVale quit till his friends that trained with Pamela made varsity. He started up again in ninth grade with a caveat from Mom: “I’ll take you back, on one condition: When I say jump, you say how high. It wasn’t about basketball; it was about life. It was about discipline.”

Even then, Pamela McGee does not want her son “institutionalized in losing.” She couldn’t even deal with him finishing second to Griffin in the last year’s All-Star Weekend dunk contest.

“We don’t do second,” she said. “We win championships. He’s a McGee. He has to come back to All-Star and represent.”

You realize after 30 minutes there is no sense bringing the hammer down on the kid’s 24th birthday. Mama McGee won’t have it. Her child just needs time to learn and grow, maybe from a big man he respects. After all, she knows best. Just ask her.


[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

[cool breeze]

It appears that Michael Jordan is trying his best to lose basketball games for the shot at getting Drummond or Davis. Detroit needs to keep pace with Charlotte and Washington this year. However, I have my eye on Perry Jones as a sleeper who might be available later on in the draft maybe around where Detroit would have a chance to get him. I really want Dumars to demand that Frank play the rookie Macklin and Daye now. It is silly to be on the fringe of the losers. Be a big loser so you might have a chance to build the team into something better. Trade or release Gordon. Trade or demote Charlie V to the D league. Let Stuckey rest his bad leg for the rest of the season. Reduce Prince's playing time to 15 minutes and give the rest of the time to Daye. Play Maxiell at center and give Big Ben the rest of the year off. Detroit could allow all the young guys a chance to get a lot of experience while losing the remainder of the games. I don't see the downside of this strategy. Can Joe outsmart Michael Jordan? I doubt it. Joe took Michael's advise to select Rodney White instead of Joe Johnson. I guess that we will see a lot of the same stuff with Detroit getting the 8th -10th pick. Maybe Jones will still be available but I doubt it. Maybe Mr. Gores reads stuff on this forum. Perhaps he can direct the team in a positive way. Monroe, Knight, JJ, Macklin and Daye need to play most of every game this season and the Pistons need to suffer though more loses to get better.

[cool breeze]

Everyone who subscribes to PASS should record this game and watch it after the Pistons game. One of those teams will be forced to win this game. Both are sandbagging to get one of the top two picks. By the way, this will give us all another change to watch Mcgee in action. Regardless of the fact that other Piston fans hold him in high regard (maybe not as high as his Mother), I still believe he is an ass and will always be a guy who hurts team chemistry. However, I will watch him tonight with an open mind.

[Sebastian]

this is from the washington post....



JaVale McGee ‘is not a knucklehead;’ just ask his mom

By Mike Wise, Published: January 19

This is the night the hammer comes down, you’ve decided. This is the night to call out the brain lock and the boneheadedness — everything embodied by their starting center’s inability to understand that you don’t throw down a showboat dunk when you’re down six points and about to be 1-12 on the season.

This is the night to eviscerate that kid, just in time for his 24th birthday on Thursday.

Until you meet that kid’s mother.

“He is not a knucklehead,” Pamela McGee says, sitting behind the basket an hour before her son, JaVale, and the Wizards would stun Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder on their best night of the season — albeit the worst start to a season in franchise history. “JaVale is a good kid. My son is special. He has gifts you can’t teach: hands, height and heart. If I’m the Wizards and I’m really trying to build a franchise, really committed to rebuilding and developing, I would nurture that talent. I would help a kid like JaVale the best I could.”

When McGee felt the need to lob the ball off the backboard for a look-at-me dunk in a loss on Monday instead of just routinely depositing the ball through the rim on a breakaway, he became the latest flashpoint for the Team That Doesn’t Get It.

The same goes when he is pining for all-star votes on Twitter after the Wizards fell to 0-7 against the Knicks earlier this month. Or when he euphorically high-fived teammates after a mad scramble to record his first triple-double a year ago — at the embarrassing end of a game his team would lose by 19 points.

You want to give him the Knucklehead Treatment all day, and then you run into Mama McGee.

“I know people are making a big deal of that play,” she says. “Look, JaVale does that to break up the monotony. Wouldn’t you if you were losing like this? He’s been here for four years and it’s been same ol’, same ol’. I don’t want him to get institutionalized to losing. My son is the future of the NBA. I don’t want him to be part of this culture of losing forever.”

Now Pamela McGee’s pupils have enlarged. Grabbing your arm, she becomes more animated, as if she were back running the floor with her sister Paula and Cheryl Miller on Southern California’s national championship team, as if she was trying to win a WNBA championship or trying to hang onto her playing career in Europe.

“The one thing I never did as a coach, never not once in my career, was throw my players under a bus,” she said angrily in a clear reference to Flip Saunders’s criticism of McGee’s play earlier this week. “If I had a problem, I would take that player in the locker room and would let them know and we would work it out. I would never throw my player under the bus.”

This is her first-born; this is personal. Where you see a guy prone to goaltending and poor rebounding position, she sees the player who leads the league with three blocks per game.

“One game, he goes in for 20 minutes; the next almost 40 minutes,” she says. “Sometimes he can’t even get into a flow, they’re yanking him in and out so much.”

(The club cites the Elias Sports Bureau in saying McGee averages the ninth-most minutes among NBA centers with 10 starts.)

“They aren’t running any plays for him,” Pamela continues. “With a 7-footer with hands like that, the kid is averaging a double-double without plays run for him; he gets those points off garbage.

“Now, let me ask you: If Orlando gets Dwight Howard and they bring in a big man like Patrick Ewing to work with him, and the Lakers get Andrew Bynum and they bring in Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] to work with him, you would think it would make sense to get a coach like that for JaVale, right?”

Asked if she addressed the concerns with anyone, she nods yes (JaVale’s agent said it would come at McGees’ expense). The club maintains that assistant coach Don Zierden acts as a big-man coach for JaVale and other post players, and they were unaware of Pamela’s specific concerns.

Pamela and JaVale actually paid UCLA assistant coach Scott Garson to work with McGee over the summer, which he credits for his improved footwork and swooping hook shot. Reached by telephone in Los Angeles, Garson said he found McGee to be a “very hard worker who did everything I asked of him.”

“I brought him into the UCLA Hall of Fame and showed him films of Kareem,” Garson says. “He picks things up very, very quickly. The thing about a kid that talented and that size, you have to grab his attention. I don’t know the situation there, but if I were a big-time future center, I would want to learn from someone who’s been to where I want to go.”

JaVale? “I think that would definitely help me,” he said after Wednesday’s win. “Working with Coach Garson, some days I went through whole workouts without a single jump shot.”

Of the play that brought him so much criticism, he adds, “I understand: Because we were losing, it looks bad. If we’re winning, no one says anything about it. It bothers me when people want to label me after something like that, like that’s all I stand for or I’m part of a group — when I’m my own man.”

JaVale also acknowledges, yes, Pamela can be a Little League parent sometimes: “You know she’s takin’ my side on things. That’s my mom; we’re close.”

His mother was his AAU coach from 9 years old to sixth grade, getting up at 6 a.m. to work on drills with him. Trying to toughen up her son in the post when the ball dropped below JaVale’s chest as a child, “I hit him in the chest with my fist,” Pamela said.

“You’re my mother,” the boy would wince, “how could you do that to me?”

Pamela: “You stinkin’ up the gym, that’s why. I’m your coach right now.”

JaVale quit till his friends that trained with Pamela made varsity. He started up again in ninth grade with a caveat from Mom: “I’ll take you back, on one condition: When I say jump, you say how high. It wasn’t about basketball; it was about life. It was about discipline.”

Even then, Pamela McGee does not want her son “institutionalized in losing.” She couldn’t even deal with him finishing second to Griffin in the last year’s All-Star Weekend dunk contest.

“We don’t do second,” she said. “We win championships. He’s a McGee. He has to come back to All-Star and represent.”

You realize after 30 minutes there is no sense bringing the hammer down on the kid’s 24th birthday. Mama McGee won’t have it. Her child just needs time to learn and grow, maybe from a big man he respects. After all, she knows best. Just ask her.


[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

One thing about it frankied, if Joe was to get off of his rump and figure out how to wiggle McGee from the Wizards, the Palace would have at least one more ticket holder (Pamela). His mother is a true JaVele McGee fan.

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