Lakers Center Javale McGee Says NBA Is Trying To Get Rid Of Players Like Him

TheSportster

By Rodrigo Lobato

Published Oct 5, 2018

Javale McGee is a big man center in an NBA that's going through changes, but he believes the league is trying to get rid of his position.

JaVale McGee could've been a top player in the NBA 15-20 years ago; unfortunately, he plays in an era where centers as we knew them are disappearing and the new Laker knows it.

"It's extremely hard because it seems like they don't want us here," McGee said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com "They're trying to get us out of here. The prime example is them taking us off the All-Star ballot. They literally took the whole position off the All-Star ballot. So just think about that."

15 years ago, the 2003 NBA All-Star game was packed of frontcourt players. Big men such as Yao Ming, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Ben Wallace, and Jermain O’Neal were one of the most voted guys back then. Even Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Brad Miller were All-Star players in those days, centers who were definitely not known by their entertaining game. But the odds for a big man to be voted for the All-Stars game have been reduced since the league decided to cut the frontcourt spots in the game’s ballot in 2012.

"We don't even have a choice," McGee added. "We have to go against guards, and we're not going to score 40 [to get the same All-Star consideration]. It's just, we work hard, though, so we have to adjust our game the way everybody else does; so now we don't stay back [by the rim] as much, we're up [on the perimeter] more, we know how to switch.

"So, it's just the evolution, I guess."

The game had drastically changed the role of the centers when teams started to play small, and the three-point shots became the most common weapon in the league. A big man with limited offensive characteristics is useless for today’s game because the NBA has turned into a more offensive-friendly league. If we go back to 2003 we can see this perfectly. Guys like Ben Wallace and Brad Miller weren't even scoring more than 15 points per game. The last All-Stars game all the big men were averaging at least this amount of points.

"Before, it was easier just because everybody was doing the stay-back-and-block-the-shot-at-the rim [defense]," McGee said. "So I was just, 'Cool, I'll just use my athleticism.'

The NBA is not trying to delete the center position, what they are doing is prompting the big men to adapt their game to a more offensive one. Being a great back-to-the-basket player, a rebounder or a great defender is no longer enough for a center to be successful in this league.