Denver Nuggets: Why is JaVale McGee on Team USA?

Denver Nuggets backup center JaVale McGee has been added to the 2021 Team USA roster for the Tokyo Olympics after Kevin Love and Bradley Beal had to pull out.

McGee, alongside San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson, were chosen to replace Love and Beal, the latter who has entered health and safety protocols. Love suffered a calf injury and had spent ten days in Las Vegas for the Team USA training camp.

Johnson was playing for the Team USA Select Team and was a favorite among decision-makers according to ESPN. McGee was a finalist for the main team before missing out. JaVale is a three-time NBA champion and has no Olympic experience. So why was he chosen?

Denver Nuggets: Why specifically JaVale McGee?

Before getting into why JaVale was chosen, it’s prudent to look at why Kevin Love was chosen. Neither player was playing at an elite level for their respective NBA teams and outside of their size, offer different skill sets.

JaVale can block shots, rebound, and dunk the ball. Love can’t block shots but can shoot, rebound, and throw tantrums on the court.

Joe Vardon, The Athletic surmised Love’s addition with two words: Rudy Gobert.

Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich pointed out the importance of spacing the floor against Gobert and France in a training session in Vegas. He said that with no defensive three-second violations in international basketball rules, Gobert can spend as much time in the paint as he wants.

More Rudy in the paint means more Defensive Player of the Year-level defending at the rim.

France was also the team that eliminated Team USA in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. In that quarter-final game, Gobert had 21 points and 16 rebounds while the entire US team had 28 total rebounds. Myles Turner and Harrison Barnes, USA’s starting frontcourt at the time, had a collective three rebounds.

It was this advantage, alongside solid guard play from Evan Fournier and Nando de Colo that saw America leave the tournament early. The loss was the States’ worst since 2004 at the hands of Argentina.

JaVale is another body for Popovich to throw at Gobert and any of the other talented big men in the competition.

Marc Berman, New York Post reported that All-NBA Second Team big Julius Randle was considered for the spot before the team decided to choose McGee.

Initially, the selection is a smack in the face to Randle and New York Knicks fans who may rightly believe that their scoring forward is better than McGee and Keldon Johnson. But when taking a step back, the move isn’t simply to add more firepower to an already stacked Team USA side, it’s to stop a specific opponent.

If Randle was on the roster, he’d command touches in the post, taking the ball out of the hands of Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker to name a few.

In McGee, the Team USA guards now have a pick-and-roll option who doesn’t need to handle the ball to be effective. And if Popovich wants a player to come in, fight for rebounds, and maybe even dirty up the game, McGee is there.

As Pop told Vardon early during the Olympic training camp, the team already respects their opponent, hoping to make up for the missed gold on the last international stage:

"“The first step is that respect for the opponent, which will not be hard to get across to our players.“After that, we go to work, skip no steps and make sure that we keep it simple but efficient and effective. Trying to invent the wheel will not work. We’ve got to take advantage of their abilities, their strengths, and play together, play for each other, with one thought in mind — and that’s winning the whole deal.”"

America plays their Olympic opener against France on 25 Jul. 2021, we’ll find out soon enough if JaVale McGee can make his presence known.