While maybe not the Warriors most surprising signing of the offseason, JaVale McGee was a long shot to make the Golden State roster, and an even longer shot to crack the team’s center heavy rotation early in the season.
After his performance in Golden State’s 125-101 blow-out win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, however, it’s looking like that may be the case. McGee thrived in his first meaningful minutes of the season, scoring 10 points in 15 minutes, while also doing a stellar job protecting the rim on the defensive end, something the Warriors have lacked thus far.
Coach Steve Kerr praised McGee’s performance when he joined the Tolbert and Lund Show on Friday, saying his new center gives the Warriors a different dimension, especially when he plays alongside Golden State’s shooters, allowing him to take advantage of the space down low.
“He obviously gives us a totally different look at that spot,” Kerr said. “He was fantastic, I mean he ran the floor hard, and competed and obviously when you put him with that first group, with the spacing and the shooting around him, there’s just going to be more room in the paint for him to try to get to the rim for those lobs and those rim runs. I thought JaVale was great and we’ll keep putting him out there. I’m excited about it.”
McGee had to wait until the third week of the season to get his chance, something Kerr said had to do with wanting to limit the team’s rotation early on. When the opportunity finally came, he didn’t disappoint.
“We’ve talked a lot about JaVale really since training camp and we knew we were going to give him a chance,” Kerr continued. “I’ve been telling him the last couple weeks to just stay with it, ‘we’re going to get you out there.’ Early in the season it’s hard to play more than nine guys. Once you get to nine you’re really divvying up minutes and risking kind’ve taking away the rhythm of some guys. So I really wanted to give Zaza (Pachulia) and David West a chance to get comfortable and establish some rhythm. After six, seven games we just felt like alright lets give JaVale a chance.”
Listen to the full interview below.