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Experiencing a career resurgence in Golden State, Warriors big man JaVale McGee has proven this season that he could be a valued and impactful player in the NBA. The Warriors have simply been a perfect fit for McGee as he has come in for shorts stints and used his crazy athleticism to block shots, serve as a rim protector, set screens and convert on lobs with rim-rattling dunks. McGee occasionally has those moments that earned him a weekly spot on Shaqtin’ A Fool, but overall in Golden State, the Warriors big man’s positives greatly outweigh his negatives.
Despite this, an anonymous player reportedly disparaged McGee leading up to the Finals, stating that the Warriors big man was not smart enough to play against Cleveland. Unsurprisingly, McGee was asked about this report during media availability on Wednesday.
From ASAP Sports‘ transcription of the interview McGee’s to Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group:
Q. Are you aware of the report? It seems like a disrespectful thing to say.
JAVALE MCGEE: I don’t know who said it and they don’t know who said it, so I don’t know, it might not be disrespectful, depending upon who it’s coming from. Or it might not be real at all.Q. Do you care who said it?
JAVALE MCGEE: Not really.Q. It seems to be a strange thing to say to not put a name to it, it seems to be strange?
JAVALE MCGEE: Yeah, yeah, definitely if there was a name — that’s even if it’s true, if a reporter was making it up just to stir some stuff up.Q. Did it tick you off for even five minutes?
JAVALE MCGEE: No, it’s an anonymous person. How can an anonymous person tick me off?Q. Does it add any fuel to your fire at all?
JAVALE MCGEE: No, I done made it this far, so I don’t need nobody fueling my fire, my fire is going.Q. I was going to say you seem pretty fired up anyway.
JAVALE MCGEE: Yeah, right man. We had almost 10 days off and I’m just ready to play.
Despite reporters’ varied attempts to get McGee to reveal some sort of animosity towards this unnamed Cavs player, he didn’t take the bait. So perhaps McGee truly doesn’t care about this reported criticism, and his internal fire hasn’t been stoked by it.
But, of course, for McGee to truly silence the haters, he will need to continue his strong play in the Finals. And if he helps Golden State win a championship, then any criticism McGee used to receive will in essence become a mute point as he will be an NBA champion.
(Bay Area News Group; h/t ASAP Sports)