[Film Breakdown] James Michael McAdoo, AKA the McGOAT and leader of the McAttack Trio

Yes kids, James Michael McAdoo is quite simply the GOAT, and the best McAttack on the Warriors by a slim margin (over McJunior. McCaw and Grand McDaddy McGee), which is quite an achievement considering how GOAT the other Macs are also.

But in all seriousness, I'm pretty happy to see McAdoo get more time and prove that he does belong. Let's dig in. Hope you all enjoy this breakdown!

Okay, he's actually not that good of a player

James Michael McAdoo is 6'9, and only has center skills (can't shoot, dribble, pass, etc.) That basically means he's only playable at the 5, and this makes him a HUGELY undersized center, where he struggles to keep bigger players off the glass, and finish over them.

But he hustles and he's fast, and that is valuable!

One thing that McAdoo has always been good at is catching the ball and finishing very quickly. But what he's improved at is finding his own niche in the offense which lets him leverage that skill into consistent production.

He's been very effective against slow traditional centers. Here, you see that he's matched up against Zach Randolph.. Notice that they both start at the same relative position. However, McAdoo simply runs faster and gets his body between Zach and the basket, performs a seal to get an passing angle, and gets an easy dunk.

It isn't even bigs he's beating. Sometimes, he punishes opposing guards who get lazy. Here, he blocks Cameron's Payne's shot. Again, they both start at the same position. However, he hustles ahead of Cameron, forcing a 2v1 with Livingston right under the rim. Cam is forced to help, and Livingston dumps it off for an easy dunk. Again, while Livingston handled the ball and made the pass, it was McAdoo's hustle and getting to the right spot which generated this easy look.

He's really improved recognising what the defense is doing, and taking advantage of it

And this has allows his teammates to find him for easy dunks.

Here, he executes a very basic dribble hand-off to Klay. He recognises that both Klay's and his defenders are glued to Klay. So he quickly cuts to the basket for an easy dunk. You can also see the beauty of Kerr's offense as well. When the DHO happens, KD is spaced to the left and Livingston/Dray is executing a screen/curl which their two defenders have to pay attention to. With the help defense all occupied, McAdoo gets the wide open dunk as no help defenders are available.

Here, he sets an off-ball screen for Klay.. His defender has to show to prevent Klay from shooting off that screen. But notice he cuts to the basket immediately as the defender shows, giving him a huge head-start, creating an easy passing angle, and finishing. This is a very similar play to one that Klay/JaVale executes on an off-ball screen which leverages Klay's gravity to generate easy looks for the big. McAdoo has really nailed the timing on this play, and is effective when plopped into the JaVale role now.

Here's another similar play, from the baseline instead of at the top of the key. Exact same thing. He's really learned how to use Klay's gravity to his advantage in these plays.

He's not perfect at this of course. He still struggles to finish over people, and can't consistently pass when the help defense comes. The second pass after the initial roll is a staple of the Warriors offense and it's what makes guys like Draymond, Andre, and Zaza such dangerous roll men. On offense, this will be the next step he needs to improve. Will he? Who knows. But if he does, he becomes that much more useful to the Warriors offense.

He's quick on defense, and that's important in the Warriors defensive scheme.

Quickness in a center is hugely important, especially against teams with a talented shooting PG (pretty much every Western contender, lol).

Why? Well, because centers tend to hang back on defense. When they do, they give up gobs of space for wide-open jump shots.

But if they move up too far to try to contest those shots, PGs will typicall drive right past big men

I use JaVale as an example in these clips, but these are problems which pretty much all the Warriors big have, from Zaza, West, Looney, etc. The Warriors can try to negate this by being aggressive using a trapping scheme (see Zaza's defense vs Portland against CJ), but an aggressive scheme like this means any mistakes will be punished by capable offenses, and so it's not something you'd like to do consistently.

The bedrock of the Warriors defense is switching, which is the easiest way to neutralize the offense. However, in order to be effective at switching, the bigs MUST be able to be at least give a token of resistance to wings/guards. They must be able to guard the perimeter well, and be quick enough to deter drives to the rim and not be a traffic cone (as Zaza and JaVale sometimes are.)

McAdoo, with his quickness, is able to do this. Here, he is guarding Marc Gasol. Z-Bo gets the ball however, and Yan goes to double. McAdoo recognises this, and switches to Ian's assignment, Toney Douglas. The Grizzlies swing the ball out. McAdoo is aware that Yan is now on Marc, and goes to help. The Grizzlies smartly notice this and swing the ball to an open Toney Douglas but...McAdoo recovers very nicely, and forces Douglas to hesitate, get him out of rhythm, and forces the miss. This is really good defensive recognition by McAdoo and good speed to recover to the 3pt shooter.

Here, he's switched onto Cam Payne. Cam tries to attack the mismatch and drives, but notice that he's able to keep contact, and slows him down just enough so that Draymond can come to help. Again, his quickness is allowing him to contribute to the Warriors switching defensive scheme.

Another aspect which he uses his quickness to his advantage is by FRONTING THE POST. Fronting the post is when a undersized defender stays in front of the post player he is guarding to deny the pass, since he knows he has no chance if the post player receives the ball. McAdoo is undersized, but he's actually isn't a terrible post defender because he fronts hard and denies the entry pass. Look at him tangle with Zach Randolph. He's not giving up an easy angle for that entry pass. and actually causes a turnover. Another example where he's using his quickness and hustle to help contribute to this team defensively.

He's also become a lot more aware on defense

Going through some of his defensive possessions in the vs MEM and vs OKC games, I've noticed that McAdoo's defensive rotations have improved considerably.

Here, he recognizes Vince Carter cutting, and moves to help position immediately as Zach fires off that pass. This quick reaction is important, because it allows him to be in position as Carter begins to go up for that layup to contest it. McAdoo demonstrates pretty good defensive instincts here.

Another example of a good defensive rotation.. Just look at the timing of him sliding to take the charge as the offensive player commits. If he goes in earlier, the offensive player would simply give up the ball. If he's late, it's a foul on him. But due to his perfect timing, he draws the charge.

He's become a solid weakside shot blocker. Again, notice his timing on his weakside block. He helps at just the right time, after the offensive player has committed, and not so late as the shot isn't already gone. Another display of good defensive instincts and timing. In fact, in the last 5 games, he's averaging a solid 1.2 blocks per game. Pretty good!

Conclusions

James Michael McAdoo is a very limited player. However, he's really found his niche on this Warriors team, and has really figured out how to maximize his talents and use what he's good at to make solid contributions to the team. I'll be honest, I didn't think he was an NBA calibre player at the beginning of the season. But he's definitely proven me wrong, and I'm really happy for him.