JaVale McGee Cut From Men's National Team For The Second Time

JaVale McGee broke the news on his Twitter page that he will not be joining the U.S. Men's National Team when they travel to Turkey to play in the World Championships.

The Bad new is..... I got cut from the USA team :(... But i get to go back and work out again and get better for the wizards

The decision shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given that the team had to cut its roster down from 15 to 12 before the World Championship. The writing was on the wall when received limited playing time in Saturday's match against China.

The good news is that McGee appears to be keeping his time with the team in perspective and doesn't appear to be resting on his laurels. There are still plenty of areas where McGee has room to grow, as encapsulated quite well in this play from Team U.S.A.'s scrimmage on Thursday.

Last night, Team U.S.A. held an inter-squad scrimmage at Radio City Music Hall as part of Nike’s World Hoops Festival. Wizards center JaVale McGee, named to the team as an injury replacement for Brook Lopez, didn’t have such a great game. In fact, John Schuhmann of NBA.com believes McGee will be among the three players cut prior to the World Championships next month, though “there’s at least a bit of uncertainty” about McGee because he and Tyson Chandler are the only true centers on the team:

But what happens if Chandler gets injured in one of the first few games of the World Championship? There are no injury replacements or inactive list. That 12-man roster which needs to be submitted two days before the tournament begins is as final as final can be.

Michael Lee agrees with Schuhmann’s assessment, saying, “McGee […] is likely on the outside looking in.”

Interestingly, Lee writes that McGee did not stay after the game to watch Jay-Z perform. Instead, McGee “was already focused on practicing and preparing at the New York Knicks facility in Tarrytown on Friday,” and expressed an interest in catching the early bus in order to do extra work before practice.

Team U.S.A. must submit its roster by August 26. Keep checking this StoryStream for more updates about McGee’s time with the national team.

UPDATE: I got in touch with Schuhmann to obtain McGee's statistics from the scrimmage, as there doesn't appear to be a boxscore readily available online. Schuhmann says McGee shot 1-of-2 from the field for 2 points, and added 1 rebound, 1 foul, and 2 turnovers in 9 minutes. However, Schuhmann doesn't trust the minutes figure, as the scrimmage was only 24 minutes long and the stat sheet said Durant played 29 minutes. Many thanks to Schuhmann for his help and consideration.

Well, it looks like JaVale McGee's hard work over the summer has paid off. According to Brian Mahoney, Brook Lopez has had to take himself off the team due to mono. His replacement:

Nets center Brook Lopez pulls out of world championships as he recovers from mono. Washington's JaVale McGee named to US team.

This is a fairly amazing accomplishment for McGee, who can do nothing but benefit from playing alongside premier NBA talent. Obviously, the dearth of big men on the team may have played a large part in McGee's selection, but he has made the most of his opportunity, and barring any setbacks, will get to play for his country.

Despite looking impressive in limited minutes in the team's intra-squad scrimmage, JaVale McGee did not make it past the first round of cuts for the U.S. National Team, according to Craig Stouffer.

The team also cut Sacramento guard Tyreke Evans, Charlotte forward Gerald Wallace and Memphis guard O.J. Mayo. The team still needs to cut three more players to get down to 12 before next month's World Championships.

The U.S. Men's National Team wrapped up training camp in Las Vegas on Saturday night with a intra-squad scrimmage. The next step for the national team will be a training camp in mid-August in New York before heading to Turkey to play in the World Championships, which begin on Aug. 28.

JaVale McGee did his best to make a case for an invite to the next round of training for the World Championships.  He scored seven points, blocked a shot and pulled in three rebounds in nine minutes of play, though he also committed three turnovers. Here's what Chris Sheridan had to say about McGee's performance:

JaVale McGee had a dominant 90-second stretch when he first checked in, making three straight buckets and blocking a shot, but did relatively nothing the rest of the night, finishing with seven points.

Despite an up-and-down showing, it appears McGee will get a shot to make his case for an invite to the World Championships in New York, according to FanHouse's Chris Tommasson:

There figure to be about 15 players invited to the New York camp, but Team USA officials said cuts won't come until at least several days after Saturday's public scrimmage. Colangelo expects centers Tyson Chandler, Brook Lopez and JaVale McGee all to get invitations to that camp as officials take their time in evaluating one of the team's key needs, shot-blocking.

McGee outplayed Lopez (who only scored two points and had one rebound in 16 minutes of play) in Saturday's scrimmage, though it's worth noting Lopez is still getting back to full strength after dealing with mononucleosis. Obviously, if Lopez isn't back to full strength, it helps McGee's chances of making the final squad, but he's in a good position regardless of Lopez's condition.

Team USA is really hurting at the center position this year, with most of the team's top players either skipping out or out due to injuries, so there's a chance McGee could make the USA roster even if he doesn't outplay Brook Lopez in the coming weeks.

JaVale McGee finally might be turning the  potential that Washington fans have been salivating over into steady play, and a real shot at making Team USA. Two new reports on McGee's time with the national team are out, and both are complimentary of the strides McGee has made in improving his game, and his chances for making the team due to the dearth of quality big men.

Sekou Smith, from NBA.com's Hangtime blog got to watch ten minutes of scrimmage between the US Team and the Select Team on Thursday, and besides Kevin Durant, the real standout of the practice was McGee:

After Durant, I think the star of the 10 minutes was McGee. The last-minute addition to the roster was active. He had a block, a couple of interior shot-contests and a few strong rebounds, two of them offensive and one of those a huge put-back dunk off a Durant miss. McGee did go 0-for-2 from the line though.

WaPo's Michael Lee interviewed McGee over the phone to get his impression of the experience, and to ask the player how his summer was evolving:

"I feel like it shows someone sees something special," McGee, 22, said in a telephone interview. "So I got to take advantage of it and make sure that no one is disappointed."

Also complimentary of McGee's performance was Team USA Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who declined individual evaluations, but said that McGee had "done a good job." Krzyzewski went on to state:

"He's a shot-blocker. He protects the basket really well and he's seven feet tall," the Duke men's basketball coach said. "He brings more height, jumping ability and shot-blocking.

This all bodes well for McGee, who is going to be a vital part of the Wizards rebuilding plans this year.  The man is also blessed in that he continues to spend his summer with great point guards like Chauncey Billups and Rajon Rondo, and then return home to rekindle the magic that he and John Wall created in Summer League.