The Dallas Mavericks had a major hole at center this offseason after Tyson Chandler left in free agency and DeAndre Jordan ultimately re-signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. In order to try and fill that hole, Dallas decided to bring in some decent options and let them compete for playing time. One of the guys they brought in was JaVale McGee who has dealt with a lot of injuries in recent years, but McGee thinks that he will be getting "back to that elite level," according to Earl K. Snead of Mavs.com.
McGee is one of three centers the Mavericks brought in to try and fix the giant hole they have at center along with Zaza Pachulia and Samuel Dalembert. It is assumed, as of right now, that Pachulia will be the starter, but there are certainly minutes up for grabs and McGee thinks he will be back to his old athletic, disruptive self which would surely earn him minutes.
In the past two seasons, the 27-year-old center has only played a combined 28 games so this was clearly a risk for the Mavericks, but the reward is potentially high, too. McGee said that one of the main reasons he signed with Dallas is because of their training staff.
"That was one of the major things about signing with the Mavericks, with how good the training staff is and all the training materials that they have and other teams don't have, it's definitely a good thing. I'm definitely getting back to that elite level. The injuries really slowed me down, so I'm definitely going to get 100 percent healthy and come out and give it my all," said McGee.
McGee has always had massive upside, but he has rarely been on the court and when he is on the court, he is prone to making embarrassing blunders. McGee had his best season in 2011-12 between the Washington Wizards and the Denver Nuggets when he averaged 11.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in just 25.2 minutes per game.
McGee may have had elite athleticism in the past, but he has never been anywhere close to an elite NBA player. That's fine for the Mavericks, though, as they don't expect McGee to be elite. If he can come in and show that he has re-gained the spring in his step and be disruptive in the paint, the risk will have been well worth it for Dallas and the McGee signing will be viewed as a success.
