Here’s a dunk-by-dunk breakdown analyzing each of JaVale McGee’s dunks, attempting to answer the vital question: would Zaza Pachulia have been able to dunk the ball in any of these situations?
0:04: There was not much defense on this dunk, so it’s possible that Pachulia would have dunked this if the ball hit his hands perfectly and he was in stride. Unlikely, but possible.
0:12: Again, there were no defenders really in the way of this dunk, but there was a foul, which would have utterly prevented Pachulia from being able to gather himself enough to dunk the ball. He probably would have dropped the pass too.
0:24: This pass was about six inches higher than Pachulia can jump.
0:33: Another pass that’s out of Pachulia’s range even if he jumps as high as possible.
1:04: The initial pass, while not an alley-oop, was thrown too high for Pachulia to retrieve it. The ball would sail out of bounds. If, somehow, Pachulia did manage to grab that pass, he would not have enough power on his second jump to do anything but throw the ball into the side of the rim and then get the pus from his shoulder zits all over everybody.
1:25: No. Just no. P.S. Zaza Pachulia has probably never caught a lob in his life.
So, there you have it. If Zaza would have started this game instead of JaVale, there would be six fewer dunks and this video wouldn’t exist.