JaVale McGee struggles to navigate Mavericks defense

Author of a very good exercise with the Suns last year, JaVale McGee is losing momentum in Dallas. Recruited this summer for his qualities displayed in Phoenix, the one to whom the post of titular pivot was promised by Jason Kidd is playing less and less.

After seven starts at the start of the season, he had to give way to Dwight Powell. Then after three games without playing, partly linked to neck discomfort, the pivot reappeared in the last two meetings of the Mavs, against the Nuggets in both cases.

A first outing with 10 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes in the big victory, then 2 points and 1 rebound in 10 minutes during the lost revenge, two days later, against another veteran, DeAndre Jordan (8 points and 17 rebounds), tenured in the absence of Nikola Jokic.

Frustrated, the three-time NBA champion? ” I don’t really know when I’m going to play but I’m a professional. Whatever my team thinks they have to do to win, I’m on it. If they think I shouldn’t start, I’ll cheer them on from the bench. If they think I should start or however many minutes they think I should play I will play my best and do everything I can to win retorts the 34-year-old veteran.

While his racket partner, Christian Wood, also questions his playing time, JaVale McGee believes that the two men should play together more often. “ I really like our five when I’m with him. I feel a lot more comfortable having a 4 scorer on the pitch with me, I feel like our joint playing time has been amazing this year “Thinks the former player of the Warriors or the Lakers.

Difficulties after the “pick-and-roll”

But the concern in his personal case is the defense. ” The difference between last year and the way I dominated in defense compared to this year is playing high (on the ball carrier). I’m not used to doing it all the time. But I get used to it. This is the 15th game. My minutes weren’t long enough for me to find my rhythm and get used to it. But everything is fine. »

In the second match against the Nuggets, we saw him having trouble positioning himself against Bones Hyland when picking and rolling, for example, including when the Mavs crossed the zone. On the other hand, when Bruce Brown attacked him frontally in the circle, the pivot was not asked to counter it.

Despite these adjustment difficulties, JaVale McGee recalls that he is a ” winner » and that he « gives it all ». « And on all the teams I go to, you tend to win a lot of games and have a lot of camaraderie. I don’t know if it’s me, or what it is, but I plan to bring that energy this year too “, he promises.