When Hakeem Olajuwon speaks, people listen. And what he had to say about the Denver Nuggets’ JaVale McGee was significant.
“No question, I see him as another star,” Olajuwon said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports in Houston. “That guy should dominate the league.”
McGee has been working out with “The Dream,” and the Hall of Famer center known for his dazzling array of inside moves sees a lot in the athletic but unpolished Nugget.
“He has tremendous talent,” Olajuwon said. “I give him all these moves and he can finish and he’s already skilled. So now just show him how to use that skill to (get) to the next level.”
Then he added: “McGee is incredible because he’s not just a seven-footer, he’s skilled. He’s very agile.”
And Olajuwon said McGee’s range and mobility give him a skill set to blossom into a special player.
“Most of my moves are designed from a shot-blockers perspective,” Olajuwon said. “I am a shot blocker. What are the moves most difficult for a shot blocker? I’m coming from inside out. This move is very difficult for a shot blocker to block.
“The moves that we work on are not for a stiff big guy. With him, he’s agile. The move flows. So I’m excited to see what he’s going to do this year.”
Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri said on a Denver radio station, “Hakeem told me he was just amazed at JaVale’s physical abilities and his athletic abilities. How long he is, how quick his feet are. I saw him working on keeping his feet away from each other and not tangling; just little things that you take for granted. He worked high on his jump hook and on getting his lift very high when he does that. He told him nobody can stop him, nobody is as big as him if he gets his lift and his hand up. There’s so many things Hakeem is teaching him, and we’re very pleased with his work.”
