Javale McGee Shows Unlimited Potential

I would hate to see Javale McGee turn into another Josh Smith, J.R Smith, or even worse Vince Carter. Those are all great basketball players who have brought it year-in-and-year-out to be effective contributors to their teams but I remember a few years back when the two Smiths were oozing with talent, and still do, and everybody was talking about how great they are and how much better they were going to be. JR was synonymous with 'instant offense' and could put on a scoring show like a Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant, even at such a young age he could create his own shot. A sixth man at the time with the Denver Nuggets, JR didn't have has high expectations as the other Smith but was still expected to improve. Currently he's pretty much the same player, not starting, only known for scoring and not trying on defense.
In contrast, Josh Smith is one of the top defenders in the league and is one of the most intimidating forces in the low post. He, like JR, can jump ridiculously high and is almost as good as a perimeter defender as a post defender. As far as raw athletic talent, this Smith was close to a Lebron James level, but never could seem to put it together on the offensive end. Even though he loved to jack up up threes, he was terrible at it and just recently realized and started to calm down from behind the arc. He never developed a shooting touch at all or an arsenal of post moves, but is still an all-star caliber player who was maybe just a tad overhyped (who wouldn't be after watching his dunk contest performances).
This is what leads me back to McGee, a young stud who's tremendously gifted and blessed as a seven footer that hasn't been hit by the injury bug. He just received his first big contract and expectations have been high, with McGee relatively living up to them. He showcased his talent last night when he threw an alley-oop to himself off the backboard and hopefully will keep working hard to improve. McGee doesn't have the best reputation as being a hard-nosed, smart player and I can't emphasize the smart part enough. But nobody can deny that he has all the right tools to become a top center in a league where decent big men are scarce and a talented, athletic one like McGee doesn't come around very often at all. Not only that, but he thrived in last season's first round match up against the heavily favored Lakers, even being the biggest reason the Nuggets won some of those games.
I (somewhat) believe that McGee will continue to develop his skills, realize his weaknesses, mature a little bit (I know that's hard to ask for in the NBA), and I think he will surpass players like Roy Hibbert, Tyson Chandler, and Serge Ibaka eventually.