Golden State Warriors: Setting expectations for pending free agents

JaVale McGee

As with Clark, it will be fascinating to see how the league gauges JaVale McGee’s performance this season.

Out of the NBA a year ago, the seven-footer was a training camp invitee who barely squeaked onto the Warriors’ roster. He quickly became Kerr’s go-to spark plug off the bench, as his elite lob-catching and finishing was the perfect counterpunch when opponents would find a way to successfully load up on the Warriors’ perimeter stars.

He made 118 field goals off paint touches in just 739 minutes. For context, the next-highest number of paint-touch field goals for a guy under 1,000 minutes was Al Jefferson, with 72 in 922 minutes.

There’s no denying McGee’s insane catch radius and ability to convert dunks from difficult angles. His offensive game is far more limited than Clark’s, but his one skill is far more elite. At the same time, his deficiencies are even more pronounced. While Clark can do enough with the ball to be a serviceable bench piece for most teams, McGee has no way of generating offense outside of being ignored. He also is a dreadful defender, and would be eaten alive on a team with less length in front of him than Golden State.

That doesn’t mean he’ll get paid less than Clark. There’s enough demand for dangerous pick-and-roll finishers among the league’s best teams that McGee is a prime full-MLE candidate. He likely won’t get more than a year at that figure due to his shaky past and sneaky age (he’s 29), though he could take less for a two-year deal.

Projection:  One year, $8.4 million (or two years, $5.2 million)