Los Angeles Lakers: JaVale McGee is the early favorite to win MIP

Is it feasible that Los Angeles Lakers center JaVale McGee could be the early favorite to win the NBA’s Most Improve Player of the year award?

Few NBA players ever had to deal with the nonsense the Los Angeles Lakers JaVale McGee had to deal with over the last few seasons. For some reason the gang at TNT’s Inside the NBA thought it would be funny to constantly make fun of McGee in Shaquille O’Neal’s Shaqtin’ A Fool segment.

Now I know that Shaqtin’ A Fool is an NBA bloopers segment that play bloopers of multiple NBA players, but the segment was extra hard on McGee. The studio analysts would scream Javaaale McGee before his bloopers.

Even viewers at home would tweet their Javale McGee jokes to the analysts for them to read on air. One viewer tweeted the show, “ I’m waiting for Shaqtin’ A Fool aka the Javale McGee show”.

The analysts and viewers making fun a McGee was bad enough, but not enough for Shaq who would call McGee Tragic Bronson as an insult of him being the opposite of Magic Johnson. The name-calling even gotten personal as McGee tried to defend himself online which caused Shaq to reply with several insults. McGee’s mother would later call for the NBA and TNT to fire or suspend Shaquille O’neal.

Luckily for McGee, the nonsense with O’neal would soon end as he would go on to win championships with the Golden State Warriors.

Now starting on his new team the Lakers, McGee has proven that he is not the laughingstock Shaq and Inside the NBA tried to paint him. He has increased his averages from 4.8 points and 2.6 rebounds a game last year to 17.2 points, 7 rebounds and nearly three blocks a game this year.

McGee deserves to be mentioned in the early Most Improved Player discussion. He has been a force to reckon with on the court from blocking shots, to developing a nice hook shot, to catching alley-oop dunks. If he keeps this up, you can pencil him in for the award.