The hands-down greatest basketball player of all time, JaVale McGee, turns 25 today. Unfortunately, while his greatness is self-evident to some, there is a contingent of basketball fans who is unconvinced of his supremacy over other players. My boss, Jared Dubin, is in this misguided group who does not count themselves among the ranks of #TeamPierre. In an email exchange, we try to figure out why.
Jared: I hate JaVale McGee. Everyone else loves him. I hate him because he’s never really been very good at basketball or had a positive impact on his team’s performance while on the court with the exception of last year’s playoff series against the Lakers and the early returns in this season but everybody still loves him. Why does everybody love him? Is it the ridiculous antics and lack of basketball IQ? Is it just the athleticism and potential? What am I missing?
Sean: I like JaVale because he’s the kind of basketball player I’d be if I played in the NBA. I would probably come up with an alter-ego called Pierre and retweet myself like I was JaVale retweeting Pierre. I would totally throw the ball at the opposing team’s rim to get myself a triple-double, because getting a triple-double seems cool. I’ll bet goaltending a shot 20 rows into the stands is pretty satisfying, just to be able to knock a ball that far with your bare hands. I see a lot of myself in him.
Jared: So basically… yes, it’s because of the antics and the lack of basketball IQ. Fair enough. I just can’t get into that. What especially irks me is when everyone and their mother freaks out at every. little. thing. he. does. JaVale dunks, Twitter goes nuts. JaVale gets a block, Twitter goes nuts. JaVale smiles, Twitter goes nuts. If I have to see one more #TeamPierre tweet in my lifetime, that’ll be one time too many. Seriously, what other player gets treated like this? What other player would we forgive mostly horrible defense just because he blocks shots into the 20th row? Everyone gets mad at Dwight for that. Serge Ibaka is 10 times the defender McGee is and people kill him for the pump-fakes thing. No one cares about JaVale’s faults (of which there are plenty). He’s like a hometown hero for the entire Internet for no apparent reason. It drives me crazy.
Sean: I think when he has a dunk or a block or a game like those two games against the Lakers in the playoffs last year, it’s a vindication for everyone who loves him for the other stuff. He’s the most-GIF’d player in the league, and it’s not close. Those of us who are fans of his because of the entertainment value get really excited when he makes a positive basketball play, because for that moment, we can say “See? He isn’t just a novelty act.”
Jared: But… he kind of is anyway if everyone freaks out every time something happens, right? I’m not sure what it is, but I just can’t get worked up about a guy who chases blocks at the expense of defense, who rarely if ever boxes out, who tries to do too much offensively, and whose teams have always been better when he’s on the bench than when he’s on the court. Every other guy that fits those descriptions, it seems the Internet treats them appropriately. But with JaVale, he gets the kid gloves. Maybe it’s the Wizards thing. He was in that awful environment so he gets a pass? But wasn’t he also a big part of that awful environment? My head is spinning.
Sean: His eccentricities didn’t help matters in Washington, but I don’t think it’s fair to put him in the same category as legitimate malcontents like Andray Blatche. JaVale by himself isn’t going to derail a team’s chemistry if it’s already solid. He’s just a goofy guy. As for the treatment he gets in the blogosphere, you build up a certain amount of goodwill when you ride Segways and pull a picture of a platypus off Google Images and pretend you bought it on twitter. That’s probably the funniest thing any NBA player has done in the last several years. Plus, he was totally robbed in the 2011 dunk contest because of the fact that it makes more sense for Kia to market Blake Griffin jumping over a car than him. The dunk contest sucks, but his performance was one of the most legitimately impressive and innovative entries in recent years. So he has all of that extracurricular stuff going for him. If he were completely talentless, it would be easy to dismiss him. But even you have to admit that he clearly is not untalented as a basketball player, dumb tendencies or no. Him dunking or making impressive plays makes us think about his self-retweets or that running-backwards-on-defense gif and the number of lulz those things created, so we get excited.
Jared: *engages curmudgeon mode*
Yeah… I still don’t buy it. First off, I can’t believe you pulled out the dunk contest as a reason to like JaVale. So we’re all supposed to love Nate Robinson now, too? Pass. Also, Segways aren’t cool, man. Come on. Neither are platypii. Give me Chris Kaman’s animal Twitter pictures over JaVales any day of the week. Pretending you have a platypus isn’t even funny. You know what’s funny? Kobe’s Twitter. #mambatweets > RT @JaValeMcGee34 every day of the week. You can’t get this from JaVale’s Twitter. Who still says ‘shorty rock?’ That’s right. KOBE. And this one-two might be the best of all. That stuff is funny. Platypii aren’t funny.
*out of curmudgeon mode*
I still don’t get why his dunks or blocks reminding you of the stupid stuff he does makes you like him more and not less.
Sean: #TeamPierre
Jared: I’ll take that as a “You’re right. He’s the worst. I just love him anyway.” Whatever. I still don’t get it. Happy birthday JaVale.