John Wall, Flip Saunders Unhappy With JaVale McGee’s Dunk

With their record at 1-11 (by far the worst in the League), and trailing the Houston Rockets by six points yesterday, JaVale McGee (naturally) thought it would be a great time to throw down an unecessary showtime dunk. This did not sit well with teammate John Wall and head coach Flip Saunders, who addressed the silly play following the Wizards’ 12th loss of the season. From SB Nation DC: “Afterwards, McGee wasn’t quite sure what he did wrong, saying he had no regrets about the move. ‘Apparently, if you get a fast break and you throw it off the backboard in the third quarter and you’re 1-11, you’re not supposed to do stuff like that,’ McGee said, seemingly sarcastically. ‘I felt like I was trying to get the team hyped and trying to make a good play, so I felt like we did that, and we went on a run from there.’ His coach did not agree. ‘I told him that’s unacceptable,’ Saunders said. ‘Maybe I’m too old-school, but you see that and the [lobbying] for the All-Star Game, that right there is where we have to get to where we identify with meat and potato basketball. Playing hard, setting screens, playing the right way, and not highlight-type play. We’ve said this many times. We have some players that look for highlights instead of substance.’ As for the rest of the players in the locker room, opinion was mixed. John Wall was on Saunders’ side. ‘A dunk is a dunk. It would have been better if he went in and did a regular dunk. We’re 1-11,’ Wall said. ‘There was no point in doing that. I know he was excited, but if we make a basket, that’s all that counts.’ Veteran Mo Evans also agreed with Saunders, saying the experience reminded him of when he was with the Detroit Pistons and they kept losing in the Eastern Conference Finals. ‘I’ve been on a team in the past where we kind of showboated a little bit, and we were winning and in the playoffs. As a result, we went to Miami that year and got beat the heck up,’ he said. ‘I think that’s something people will look at. We already are struggling to get wins and we don’t need to try to get someone else back.’ But McGee did have one player defending him. Nick Young was diplomatic, but he sided with McGee in this dispute.”