The Sports Xchange

OVERVIEW

JaVale McGee was born to play basketball. Just take one look at his family tree.

The son of Pamela McGee and George Montgomery, JaVale McGee's mother and her twin sister, Paula, were Kodak All-Americans who led Southern California to NCAA titles in 1983 and '84.

Pamela also played and coached in the WNBA and is now a high school coach in the Sacramento area. His father played college basketball at Illinois and was a second-round selection of the Portland Trailblazers in the 1985 NBA Draft.

Known for his long, lanky frame, McGee is a versatile athlete with experience at all three frontcourt positions. He is an excellent shot-blocker who finished his career ranked fourth on the Nevada career list with 122 blocks after just two seasons.

McGee started 31-of-66 games he played in, ending his career seventh on Nevada's list for career field-goal percentage at 54.2 percent (234-of-432). He also averaged 8.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game during his career.

McGee attended Hales Franciscan High School as a senior, playing for head coach Gary London. Earlier in his career, he attended and played at Providence Christian High and Detroit Country Day School in Michigan.

In his final season, he earned second-team All-State and first team All-City and All-Area honors. That year, he led Hales Franciscan to a 19-6 overall record, a 4-0 league mark and a top ranking in the city of Chicago. His best prep season came as a junior, when he averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds per game.

As a true freshman at Nevada in 2006-07, McGee appeared in 33 games and was the team's leading scorer off the bench with 3.3 points per game. He ranked second on the team and ninth in the Western Athletic Conference with 0.9 blocked shots per game, as he blocked 30 shots on the year. He also averaged 2.2 rebounds per game and shot 60.0 percent from the field (45-of-75), which set the school single-season record for field-goal percentage by a freshman.

As a sophomore, McGee garnered second-team All-WAC honors and was named to the WAC All-Defensive Team. He started 31 of 33 games and led the team and ranked second in the WAC with 7.3 rebounds per game. He finished second on the squad and tenth in the WAC in scoring with 14.1 points per contest.

McGee paced the conference and ranked 14th in the nation with 2.79 blocks per game. He also tied for eighth in the WAC in field goal percentage, knocking down 52.9 percent of his attempts from the field (189-of-357). His 92 blocked shots rank second on the school season-record list and were the most ever by a sophomore. He improved his scoring by 10.8 points and his rebounding by 5.1 boards per game from his freshman campaign.

On March 30, McGee decided to enter the 2008 NBA Draft, forgoing his remaining two years of collegiate eligibility. He ends his Nevada career ranked fourth on the school career charts with 120 blocked shots, as he went on to average 8.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 66 career games for the Wolf Pack.

SCOUTING REPORT

Positives: Blessed with an impressive blend of length, athleticism, reach and athleticism ... Has large hands, big wingspan and a frame that continues to develop (could add at least another 25 pounds with no loss in quickness) ... Instinctive player who is smooth in his stride when moving in the post ... Has the speed to get up and down the court rapidly, but there is concern about his lack of hustle ... Needs to improve his overall strength, but shows good balance and ability to get in front of a defender ... Shows good foot speed and balance in the open floor, along with the fluid hips to smoothly pivot in the paint ... Has the large, soft hands to palm the ball, elevate, extend and shift the ball from one hand to the other to put in a strong dunk ... Shows a soft touch and the range to connect from long distance ... Still a work in progress, but is developing decent back-to-the basket skills ... Not comfortable facing up, but showed late in his sophomore year good spot-up ability and determination driving to the basket, drawing contact along the way ... Scouts have been impressed with his ability to handle the ball and create his own shot off the bounce ... Is a bit inconsistent, but his potential to develop good form and touch as a shooter is evident ... For a player his size, he shows good touch and elevation taking the 3-point attempts ... Has an effective hook shot in the post and gets good elevation ... Good finisher off the glass, and gets good arm extension ... Has enough range on his jumper to be a consistent 3-point threat at the next level ... Has the ability to put the ball on the floor and protect it...His quickness and fluid stride running the court helps him recover and challenge shots in the paint ... Has the ability to elevate his soft shot over the bigger defender or flip in the one-handed jumper off the glass ... Still developing upper-body strength, but will crash the offensive glass and shows very good elevation and length when working as a shot-blocker ... Solid rebounder, taking advantage of his 90-inch wingspan ... With his length, shooters have a tough time shooting over him when he is in position ... Working to improve his low-post game and he has a decent mid-range jumper...Capable of creating his own shot off the dribble ... Good leaper who fluidly gets off the floor and has more than enough foot speed to finish around the basket ... Has a bit of a European flavor to his game, as he is a rare big man that with time and patient coaching, could be a very capable passer, long-range shooter and a finisher working on the open floor.

Negatives: Needs to mature, both on and off the field ... Gets a bit lazy in training habits and needs to be monitored, as he lacks NBA strength and must add bulk to his lanky frame to play either the "4" or "5" at the next level ... Gets into foul trouble too often and needs to learn self-discipline on the floor ... Likes to crash the boards by outjumping opponents, but will shy away from contact at the slightest hint that the defender is going to get physical with him ... His judgment is questionable and he shows little patience with the ball in his hands, taking ill-advised shots rather than looking to create for others ... Will be drafted early on the basis of his athleticism, but his game has yet to catch up to that ability and his work ethic is worrisome for a general manager looking to use a first-round pick on his pure potential ... Does not take well to hard coaching and will go into a bit of a shell when his physical limitations are challenged ... Is tentative at times when attacking in the post and must show more aggression when trying to finish in this area ... Lacks an array of moves and because of his lack of strength, he will not be able to drive to the basket at will, like he did vs. the inferior competition he faced in the Western Athletic Conference ... Must develop more power, as his post-up game is not NBA-ready ... Gets overaggressive, which led to a rash of turnovers down the stretch of his sophomore season...Tries to play the game like a guard, but as a 7-footer, he doesn't protect the ball well and is prone to turnovers ... Has the ability to make free throws but has little regard for working on improving in this area ... Has virtually no passing skills and shows poor awareness on the defensive end of the floor ... Seems to be a bit selfish with the ball, leading to poor shot selection and an alarmingly bad assist-to-turnover ratio (averages 0.8 assists per game, but turned the ball over more than three times per game) ... Received bad advice when he declared for the draft and signed with an agent before getting a good evaluation of his skill level vs. top competition at the Orlando camp ... His obvious lack of strength makes him easy to clear out in the paint ... Must improve his footwork and doesn't have a good feel for the game on the defensive end ... Shies away from contact too much and has a noticeable left-handed weakness when trying to finish off the block ... Still trying to develop even adequate low-post skills on the offensive end ... His shot selection is among the worst in the game ... Would much rather work on his 3-point shot than improve his accuracy from mid-range or improve his foul shooting ... Gambles too much on defense and has poor footwork mirroring to defend on the perimeter ... When he gets into a bad rhythm, he will just keep rushing his shot rather than feed teammates ... Rare to see him compete defensively, mostly due to a lack of hustle ... Constantly backed down when facing stronger opponents ... Gives up too much cushion in the post, as he seems to think that his natural length and elevation will get him back into position to alter the shot ... For a player his size, he can easily be outrebounded.

Compares To: PATRICK O'BRYANT-Golden State ... Some experts liken McGee to Brandan Wright. Both are passive, and McGee also fails to maintain position vs. tougher opponents in the paint. He has excellent athletic skills, but might be the biggest enigma in this draft. Is his perceived lack of hustle a product of his lack of experience and youth, or is his frustration over his physical limitations going to be a huge liability? Either way, he needs to mature, both on and off the court. He is certainly going to be a major project of the boom-or-bust variety.

CAREER NOTES:

McGee started 31-of-66 games at Nevada, hitting 234-of-432 field goals (.542) from two-point range while making 16-of-45 3-point attempts (35.6 percent). He also had 90-of-175 free throws (51.4 percent), finishing with 574 points, an average of 8.7 points per game ... Snatched 314 rebounds (4.8 per game), as he added 23 assists (0.3 per game) and 32 steals (0.5 per game) ... Had 105 turnovers, but blocked 122 shots (1.8 per game) ... Became the sixth player in school history to block more than 100 shots in a career, as his 122 rank fourth in Nevada annals behind Nick Fazekas (192 in 131 games, 2004-07), Edgar Jones (142 in 101 games, 1975-79) and Matt Williams (135 in 113 games, 1987-91) ... His 92 blocked shots in 2007-08 rank second on the school single-season list behind Edgar Jones (96 in 1977-78) and broke the old school record for sophomores (previous mark was 51 by Nick Fazekas in 2004-05) ... Shot .600 from the field (45-of-75) in 2006-07, setting the school season-record for field-goal percentage by a freshman, topping the old mark of .524 by Nick Fazekas (2003-04).

2007-08 SEASON

Earned second-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors and was a first-team choice for the WAC All-Defensive squad ... Played in 33 games, starting 31 contests ... Ranked second on the team and 10th in the league with 466 points (14.1 ppg), as he connected on 189-of-357 two-point field goals (52.9 percent) and shot 33.3 percent from 3-point range (14-of-42) ... Successful on 52.5 percent of his free throws (74-of-141) ... Led the Wolf Pack and ranked second in the WAC with 242 rebounds, an average of 7.3 per game ... Credited with 20 assists and 26 steals ... Had 80 turnovers, but blocked 92 shots (2.8 per game), the second-best season total in school history (92 blocks also ranked 14th in the nation and led the WAC) ... Led the team in rebounding in 18 games and in scoring in seven contests...Paced the squad with eight double-doubles.

2007-08 GAME ANALYSIS

Scored a career-high 26 points on 12-of-14 shooting vs. Louisiana Tech...Pulled down a career-best 18 rebounds vs. Central Florida, which was the most rebounds for a Pack player since Nick Fazekas had 18 in a 2007 win over Utah State...Blocked a career-best seven shots and had 12 rebounds vs. Northern Iowa ... Blocked six shots and had eight rebounds to go with nine points vs. Central Florida ... Scored 20 points, blocked three shots and had five re4bounds vs. Cal-Irvine ... Pulled down 13 boards while putting up 20 points to go along with a pair of assists vs. Nevada-Las Vegas ... Had nine rebounds and 19 points vs. California center DeVon Hardin, followed by 13 points, two blocks and six rebounds vs. Pacific ... In the second meeting vs. Central Florida, McGee had 18 rebounds, two assists, three blocks and 15 points ... Chipped in 11 rebounds and 18 points vs. Cal State, Stanislaus ... Had six turnovers, but scored 10 points with 12 boards vs. Hawaii ... Added 12 rebounds and 15 points in the Utah State game and delivered 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and 20 points in the Wolf Pack's second encounter vs. Hawaii ... Had 20 points and nine rebounds vs. Idaho, followed by 14 rebounds and 23 points vs. Fresno State ... In the WAC Tournament, he turned in 22 points and 10 rebounds in Nevada's victory over Fresno State ... Tossed ion 15 points while pulling down five rebounds vs. New Mexico State and closed out his career with six rebounds, two blocks and 12 points vs. Houston.

2006-07 SEASON

Appeared in 33 games as a true freshman, coming off the bench in each contest ... Set the school record for freshmen when he shot 60.0 percent from the field (45-of-75) and was successful on 2-of-3 3-point attempts ... Was Nevada's leading scorer off the bench with 3.3 points per game (108 total), as he made 16-of-34 (47.1 percent) of his free-throw attempts ... Ranked second on the team and ninth in the WAC with 0.9 blocked shots per game (blocked 30 shots on the year)...Also averaged 2.2 rebounds per game (72 total) as he was credited with three assists and six steals ... also had 25 turnovers.

2006-07 GAME ANALYSIS

Scored a then career-high eight points at Louisiana-Lafayette...Matched that total at Louisiana Tech (also had six rebounds), making all four of his field-goal tries, and again in the WAC Tournament quarterfinals vs. Idaho...Had seven points at San Jose State and again at Idaho, pulling down a season-best six rebounds vs. the Vandals while also blocking four shots in that contest.

INJURY REPORT

HIGH SCHOOL

Attended Hales Franciscan (Chicago, Ill.) High School as a senior, playing for head coach Gary London ... Earlier in his career, he attended and Providence Christian High and Detroit Country Day School in Michigan ... In his final season, he earned second-team All-State and first team All-City and All-Area honors ... That year, he led Hales Franciscan to a 19-6 overall record, a 4-0 league mark and a top ranking in the city of Chicago ... His best prep season came as a junior, when he averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds per game.

PERSONAL

General Studies major ... Son of Pamela McGee and George Montgomery ... Mother and her twin sister, Paula, were Kodak All-Americans who led Southern California to NCAA titles in 1983 and '84...His mother also played and coached in the WNBA and is now a high school coach in the Sacramento area...Father played college basketball at Illinois and was a second-round selection of the Portland Trailblazers in the 1985 NBA Draft...Born JaVale Lindy McGee on 1/19/88 in Flint, Michigan.