JaVale McGee will be a nice veteran presence to have around for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
JaVale McGee‘s trade acquisition, paired with a 2026 second-round pick, by the Cleveland Cavaliers wasn’t making national headlines, and that was understandable. Nonetheless, McGee should fill in as a quality backup 5 for Andre Drummond.
McGee isn’t a player that’s going to be putting up the most gaudy numbers in the world, though. We know that.
Last season with the Los Angeles Lakers, McGee had 6.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in 16.6 minutes per outing. So to reiterate, it’s evident that aside from injury situations/potential back-to-back absences perhaps in relation to Drummond, McGee will be filling in via rotational role.
Granted, Drummond and/or McGee even himself (who is set to expiring, too), but particularly Drummond, could seemingly be moved at some point next season via trade.
Drummond especially could be in-play in that realm, and some opposing NBA executives reportedly believe that he will be dealt at some point, and could “perhaps” be moved before the start of 2020-21.
Albeit it’d still appear Drummond could be traded more so after at least a good chunk of next season, but either way, it’s evident that the Cavaliers will know what they have in McGee via reserve 5 role. It’s pretty clear to me, though, that McGee will be similar to Matthew Dellavedova for Cleveland.
We’ll detail how McGee will have a Dellavedova-esque impact for the Cavs.
Firstly, the leadership/locker room element comes to mind with McGee, who has been a part of three championship squads in the past four seasons with most recently the Lakers, and previously, the Golden State Warriors. KJG’s John Carter previously alluded to that as well.
And recently, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff touched on that, and also emphasized, via The Athletic‘s Kelsey Russo (subscription required) that McGee “brings great energy, a high IQ and an intellect” about basketball that will help others.
Russo would then further express in her report how McGee is bought into aiding Cleveland from a leadership standpoint, and to me, that again leads me to the Delly comparison in that way.
Dellavedova, who re-signed via one-year, minimum deal with the Cavs, is reportedly viewed by the Cavaliers as “an important culture piece” per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, and will seemingly serve as an extension of Cleveland’s coaching staff. McGee would seem to be a similar presence to have from a locker room/mentorship perspective, too.
That should be crucial for Kevin Love/Larry Nance Jr. to have another leadership presence around for young guys such as Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Dylan Windler and Kevin Porter Jr., and to an extent, Collin Sexton still. That’s with Tristan Thompson no longer on the roster, in particular, as is the case regarding Delly, too.
So how about the on-floor perspective, then?
McGee, a true 7-footer, is not similar to Dellavedova, a reserve point guard, no, but it’s due to how McGee will not be trying to overextend/potentially force things outside of his role. That sort of thing is Delly-esque, really.
McGee is not going to necessarily be a key scoring presence in his minutes-share, let alone notable on-ball player to create his own offense. McGee will be a roller/lob threat and screening presence, both on and off-ball in that way, and he’ll get the job done in doing so.
McGee might occasionally shoot a mid-range jumper, but he’s not one to do that too often, albeit he is a highly capable finisher still, even at 32 and with him set to enter his 13th season. For his career, McGee has hit 70.7 percent of his shots in the restricted area, which has been the vast majority of his shot attempts.
So, similarly to how Dellavedova looks to often pass/get others involved when he’s out there (he had 7.9 assists per-36 minutes last season), and is self-aware, McGee has grown to be the same. There were “Shaqtin” moments earlier on for McGee in his career, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, at least at all frequently, anymore.
And lastly, although Dellavedova is not nearly the same on-ball guard defender he once was, he still is generally pretty sound from a positional standpoint in a team sense, and is still pretty competent a decent amount of the time on-ball. Dellavedova aids Cleveland’s team defense, frankly, when he’s out there still.
When it comes to McGee, he’ll be knowledgeable as a veteran rotator on the interior, and he should help Cleveland’s team defense as a rim protector/shot altering presence. McGee, who has a 7-foot-6 wingspan, has had 3.2 blocks per-36 minutes for his career, and had 3.0 blocks per-36 last season with L.A.
McGee, who has always had his share of fouls (4.5 per-36 lifetime), will get his share of whistles called on him, sure, but in a rotational role, his presence on the defensive interior will help Cleveland and his awareness defensively will aid perimeter players.
Moreover, McGee, who should be in action some in Cleveland’s last preseason game at the New York Knicks on Friday, and joined the Cavs a week ago as of Thursday, both per Russo, should be Delly-esque.
That will be in regards to him being a veteran leader to have in the locker room for the Cavaliers, and with how he’ll help defensively and not overextend offensively/play to his strengths as a roller/screener. As a brief side note, let’s hope Dellavedova, who is out Friday, is cleared from the NBA’s concussion protocol (to go with Nance, who also has a sprained jaw), soon, too.