Basketball: McGhee improving in camps this summer

LeBron James was under the spotlight last week as his free-agency decision made… LeBron James was under the spotlight last week as his free-agency decision made headlines.

But if you were to look just outside that spotlight, you could find Pitt senior center Gary McGhee and some of the elite college basketball players in the country attending James’ skills camp in Akron, Ohio.

You might be thinking, the same Gary McGhee who committed three fouls in 18 seconds on Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet two seasons ago? A season in which he averaged just more than one point, one rebound and six minutes of playing time per game?

Well, yes, technically it is the same McGhee. But the center has improved since then and transformed into a much different player on the court.

“It’s really rewarding going from a guy who didn’t play as many minutes my first two years,” McGhee said. “You know three fouls in what is it eight seconds to get invited to something like that with all the top players in the nation. If feels good. It shows that hard work does pay off.”

McGhee, who looks like a changed player so far in the local Pro-Am summer league, was invited to James’ camp after performing well at Amar’e Stoudemire’s camp for centers and forwards last month in Chicago.

Some of the top players at that camp got to go to Akron, but McGhee didn’t even know he would be participating until he got word after his flight home to Indiana for the Fourth of July weekend landed.

After riding a Greyhound bus from his hometown of Anderson, Ind., to Akron, McGhee began working to improve his game amongst players such as Florida’s Vernon Macklin (whom McGhee said was his toughest competition), Duke’s Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith and Georgetown’s Chris Wright.

That type of competition might make some players feel intimidated, but McGhee said that playing in the Big East against other top big men prepared him for the high level of competition.

“On a nightly basis in the Big East, you play against some of the same type of players,” he said. “So it’s just like a regular day.”

He participated in a lot of four-on-four and transition drills and learned from people such as Jay Bilas and Fran Fraschilla, while also playing in a lot of scrimmages mixed in as well. But what he focused on the most was his footwork and offensive skills.

“I tried to work on a lot of footwork stuff, working on moves, a lot of hook shots,” McGhee said. “It was a good experience to learn some things.”

It didn’t take long for McGhee’s teammates to notice a difference in his game.

“He had a big confidence change. He’s playing more aggressive now, and he’s got an array of moves,” sophomore forward J.J. Richardson said. “His footwork got better. He’s more of a leader now.”

Sophomore forward Dante Taylor added that McGhee’s improvement will make him that much tougher to guard in practice, but that it can only help him and the other Panther forwards get better in the process.

“It’s helping me on defense and on offense, too, because I can learn some moves from him,” Taylor said.

McGhee helping the younger players is exactly what former Pitt center DeJuan Blair did to a younger McGhee before he passed the starting spot over to him last season by entering the NBA draft.

He averaged 6.8 points and 6.9 rebounds last season, numbers that should significantly increase this season, and is following in Blair’s footsteps going into his last season as a Panther, as McGhee will also look to be the dominant inside force on a preseason top 10 team.

And while McGhee might not have the stats that Blair had, his work this summer might have just put him on the radar of some NBA scouts, because at 6 feet, 10 inches and 250 pounds, he certainly has the physical attributes needed to be a center at the next level.

That will all play itself out going forward and is uncertain at this point, but Richardson might have put it best when he pointed out something that does seem certain right now after McGhee returned from Akron.

“He came back a changed player.”