National Basketball Association

Why we should all want JaVale McGee to make the team

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

NBA fans should hope that JaVale McGee earns a spot on the Golden State Warriors for a very specific (and very fun) reason.

The Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant during the offseason. In doing so, they had to let go of some key players from their historic team. Among those casualties of free agency war were their top two (traditional) centers, Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli.

The Warriors don’t have very many flaws. It’s hard to find a weakness in a championship-level team that added a top-3 player in the world to a roster that has Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. They will have an incredible offense with a lot of length, quickness, and discipline on the defensive end.

But the Warriors do lack size. They signed Zaza Pachulia to be the starter and they re-signed Anderson Varejao. Newcomer David West and James Michael McAdoo will probably see some time at the backup center spot. They’ll all be trying to eat up time before Steve Kerr rolls out Green at the center spot as a part of their Super Death Lineup.

Outside of Green, though, none of their centers can really protect the rim. This is where JaVale McGee comes in. The Warriors offered him a chance to make the team out of training camp. While his seemingly low basketball IQ and inclination for silly plays can turn a lot of people off, he’s still freakishly athletic. He also could fill the team’s needs best out of the four training camp invitees.

Everyone should support McGee’s quest to make the team. No, not because the two-time Shaqtin’ a Fool MVP would mean endless laughs for all of us. It’s something much more serious than that. Ready?

2K17. Yes, we should all hope for JaVale McGee to earn a spot on the Golden State Warriors for a video game. Think of how much fun that would be. The Warriors will already be a ridiculously overpowered team with their four All-NBA players. It’ll be fun shooting three-pointers from wherever you are on the floor. But sometimes it’s nice to throw down an occasional dunk.

Imagine pushing the ball with Steph Curry in the next installment of the video game. On your left side, you have Klay Thompson. On the right side, you have Kevin Durant. Trailing the play is none other than JAVALE MCGEE (I reeeeally hope you read that in a Shaq voice). You have so many options.

Basketball IQ doesn’t translate all that well to a video game so McGee can be a very effective player in the game. It would make a fun team so much better. Unfair threes mixed with jaw-dropping alley-oops is definitely a good time.

Also, if he can contribute to the real-life team too, that’d be great. But do it for the video game cheese, Bob Myers!