BEIJING - Despite his ability to create explosive dunks, Washington Wizards' power forward, JaVale McGee is actually a quiet giant.

However, a Chinese teenagers' dunks wowed him during the 2011 NBA Jam Van dunk contest in Beijing over the weekend.

"It was a big surprise for me, especially the 1 1/2-revolution dunk. I am excited to see China also has such great dunkers," said McGee, the 2011 NBA All-Star slam-dunk contest's runner-up, who came to China for a 10-day tour on June 3.

McGee enhanced his reputation when he and another power dunker, the Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin, fought it out for the slam-dunk title.

Although he lost to Griffin in the final round, McGee impressed fans with a dunk that saw three balls go into the basket in a single jump.

The Michigan native shrugged off the loss and said "a wrong sequence of his dunks" was to blame.

"Actually, I think I could have won the contest if I rearranged the orders of my moves. I should have displayed the three-ball dunk as the final shot. At least I would have had a chance to win."

However, McGee was forced to bring forward his best effort because one of his previous dunks, which he prepared for the contest and showed on the Internet before the contest was "copied" by Serge Ibaka, the Oklahoma City Thunder forward.

McGee said he will continue his fight to be All-Star slam-dunk champion next season but will this time keep his routines "safe".

"Yeah, definitely I will try one more time. But protect my ideas better," said McGee.

Chinese fans are impressed by McGee's creative moves and are behind him for next year's event.

"I think he deserves the dunk contest's title. In terms of innovation, his dunks were the best. I believe he could win next season," said Ai Zhiyuan, a high school student from Hebei province who won the dunk show's championship at the Jam Van.

Above the rim, McGee can do more than just dunk the ball.

Averaging 2.4 blocks per game, McGee finished second in blocking in the NBA last season and has become the Wizards' most reliable defender in the paint. His eight rebounds per game also helped the team a lot.

As the son of former WNBA player Pamela McGee, the 23-year-old attributes his career to his mother's encouragement.

"To become a professional basketball player was both mine and my mom's dream. And she always pushes me to work hard," McGee said.

As a teammate of Chinese forward Yi Jianlian, McGee said he appreciated Chinese youngsters' talents and admitted Yao Ming's injury was a huge loss for the NBA.

"If Yao can't continue his career due to his injury, that will be a big loss for the entire league," he said.

Apart from the Jam Van, McGee also appeared at the 2011 Lenovo NBA Pavillion Tour in Beijing on June 11 after a visit to Chengdu, Sichuan province.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/15/2011 page24)