JaVale McGee

His shot-blocking ability caught the attention of New Orleans’s Chris Paul in Europe during the preseason. His above-the-rim acrobatics produced an immediate fan in former slam dunk champion Dwight Howard. And his ability to take a physical pounding and keep coming back led notorious big-man-belittler Shaquille O’Neal to offer some rare praise for a young center.

But McGee’s assortment of eye-popping dunks and front-row delivery rejections hasn’t been able to mask an important fact: The raw 21-year-old is still learning how to play.

"He’s shown some flashes of what kind of ability he has. Obviously there are lot of things he needs to work on," Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld said about the player he drafted 18th overall out of Nevada last summer. "He still has a long way to go, as with a lot of young players. But the potential is there for him to be a very solid NBA player."

If not for injuries to Brendan Haywood and later Etan Thomas and Andray Blatche, the 7-foot, 240-pound McGee likely wouldn’t have had opportunities to dazzle. "I didn’t think I was going to get any minutes or anything, but it happened," McGee said. "I just tried to take advantage of the situation. I could’ve been better, but I don’t have any regrets. I’m just happy to be here."

McGee has started 13 games at center this season, recorded four double-doubles and had 16 games with 10 or more points. But his inconsistency and lack of upper body strength caused him to drift in and out of what interim coach Ed Tapscott likes to call his "Palace of Good Play."

"JaVale has some wonderful tools," Tapscott said. "I see a guy whose athletic gifts are terrific. It’s just a matter of him learning the pro game, learning how to read and react, getting used to the fact that his athletic ability is a tool, but it isn’t the end-all and be-all."

McGee has averaged 6.3 points and four rebounds in just more than 15 minutes in his first season. Aside from getting shoved around by bigger centers and trying to grasp the nuances of the NBA game, McGee said the greatest challenge he has had to overcome was dealing with what he called "very interesting minutes."

"It’s been ups and downs," McGee said, when asked to describe this season. "Just being thrown out there and then pulled out. I started to realize it’s a business and you just got to keep working hard and deal with it. I’m just trying to make the best of it and keep working hard and look forward to next season and work harder in the summer."

The Wizards plan on having McGee play in summer league games, while McGee said he will spend the offseason focusing on getting a better shooting touch on his jump shot, developing some consistent post moves and adding more muscle. "I’m never going to be as big as Shaq. I just feel I need to get bigger," McGee said.

Tapscott said he’ll settle for McGee someday developing half of O’Neal’s strength. "He doesn’t have to be a beast. We don’t need to make him 320 pounds," Tapscott said. "His game will always be speed and quickness, but he will need more strength."

Said Grunfeld, "It’s going to be an important summer for him, as it is for all of us."

When asked if he leaned on anyone to help him deal with the rough patches this season, McGee said, "Nah, I just sucked it up."

Since Haywood returned to the lineup on April 1, McGee has played a total of 14 minutes the past three games. McGee, however, said he welcomes Haywood’s return as a way of helping him improve in practice. He also has begun to reveal a side of his personality that has been under wraps to those outside of the Wizards’ locker room.

The first sign came on Feb. 27, when President Obama watched the Wizards’ 113-90 win over the Chicago Bulls. McGee took note of DeShawn Stevenson’s hand wave over his face, and decided to do something special for the president. After a dunk, McGee saluted, and it has become his signature post-dunk ritual.

McGee said people now salute him at the mall and at home games.

He later added a choreographed pre-game dance with teammate Nick Young. Then McGee, an admitted electronics junkie, recently posted on YouTube a video of himself, Young, Andray Blatche and Mike James dressed in silly costumes, dancing, dunking and reenacting an old Nike commercial where players performed various dribbling tricks with a basketball. "We was just fooling around," said McGee, who came up with the concept. "I’ve been doing it since high school, music and videos and stuff. [The YouTube video] is getting a lot of love. It’s entertaining. People are just laughing about it."