JaVale McGee News

Washington Wizards' JaVale McGee defends against Portland Trail Blazers' LaMarcus Aldridge in the second quarter of an NBA basketball game in Washington, Wednesday, Dec.

It took just two games for Ed Tapscott to be confronted by his first conundrum as Washington Wizards coach: How to get more scoring out of the back court?

The easy answer would be to get three-time all-star Gilbert Arenas healthy enough to play, but that won't happen until next month at the earliest. In the meantime, Tapscott has to squeeze more out of what he has.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Wizards' starting back court (four players have started) is averaging 12 points per game this season. No other team's back court averages fewer than 20.

Ed Tapscott has been around basketball in Washington and elsewhere for what seems forever, but I doubt he has ever felt as honored as he does now.

Sitting in his office at Verizon Center after his second practice as coach of the Washington Wizards , Ed Tapscott dug into a plate of chicken, green beans and macaroni and cheese, and savored it.

Ed Tapscott's coaching debut with the Washington Wizards was much more successful than Jamal Crawford 's playing debut with the Golden State Warriors .

Team President Ernie Grunfeld answered a bunch of questions regarding his decision to fire Eddie Jordan this morning and replace Jordan with Ed Tapscott, but the thing he kept coming back to was the team's 1-10 ...

Eddie Jordan was fired as coach of the Washington Wizards on Monday after opening the season 1-10 without injured starters Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood .

Observations from Monday's 94-87 victory over the Wizards at Verizon Center: Shawn Marion as the offensive focus? It sure seemed that way in the first half, when Marion shot 5 of 11 for 10 points.

Nov. 21: Don't be afraid. It's the weekend and the gallery will do its best to put a smile on your face.

ATLANTA, Nov. 19 -- Dee Brown and JaVale McGee didn't know what to expect when Washington Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan walked into the locker room on Wednesday and summoned the two players into his office.

'Coach never really called me into the office before,' Brown said. 'I said, 'Here we go.' Like I was going to meet the principal.'

Brown and McGee weren't in trouble. Jordan was just informing them that they were going to make their first career starts against the Atlanta Hawks. To help get his team out of its rut, Jordan tweaked the starting lineup once more, inserting rookie center McGee and second-year point guard Brown into the starting lineup while pushing Etan Thomas and Juan Dixon to the bench.

Injuries to Josh Smith and Al Horford left Marvin Williams as the only healthy starter on Atlanta's front line.

Not surprisingly, the Wizards lost their second game against the Miami Heat last night at the Verizon Center, ending with a score of 94-87. Sloppy play, a high turnovers rate, and low three-point shot averages ...

Dwyane Wade had 19 points, 10 assists and six rebounds Tuesday night, and the Miami Heat caught a couple of breaks in the final minutes to beat the struggling Washington Wizards 94-87. Wade, who played despite ...

Still a rookie only about two weeks into his NBA career, Washington Wizards center JaVale McGee is inspiring some heady comparisons.

Given a full game's worth of minutes each night, rookie JaVale McGee has the makings of a player who could average 16.8 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks a night.

One of the biggest surprises for the Wizards has been play of JaVale McGee. Unfortunately, with the Wizards at 1-6, there aren't a lot of people that want to invest the time to see him right now.

Eddie Jordan got a little caught up in the moment during the final seconds of Wednesday's 95-87 victory over the Utah Jazz. The Wizards' coach, who is typically restrained once a game is in the bag, raised his arms and exhorted the Verizon Center crowd to applaud the effort of center JaVale McGee when the rookie left the game with 19.7 seconds to play.

'I knew the crowd appreciated JaVale,' Jordan said. 'He was certainly one of the biggest keys of the game, if not the biggest key, but other guys made plays, other guys made shots and stops. But yeah, it was sort of me wearing my emotions on my sleeve a little bit. I got a little overboard with it.'

I have to agree with Wise on this one. Sure he has some awkward drives to the basket.

Dwyane Wade dropped a game-high 24 points and the Miami Heat clobbered the Washington Wizards, 97-77, at American Airlines Arena.

By Neil Tardy Special to ESPN.com November 14, 2008, 2:21 PM Quick click by section: One of life's little satisfactions is being able to say you were first to do something.