Denver's McGee Not Just Any Tall Drink of Water Explaining JaVale McGee to the uninitiated can be difficult. McGee, a 7-foot center with the Denver Nuggets, has off-the-charts athleticism and one of the N.B.A."s widest wingspans. Over the course of six seasons, he has dazzled fans with highlights and frustrated coaches with blunders. His tendency to provide memorable moments, good and bad, has many saying he is one of the best reasons to follow the N.B.A. McGee has been sidelined since November with a stress fracture in his left tibia, and it would seem reasonable to assume that he has faded into the background. But that would fail to account for how colorful he can be. McGee has been on the sideline with his teammates, often dressed in suits that inspire as much head-shaking as his unique ability to block shots. Whether it is a short hem on his pants showing off his lack of socks, or a comically oversize bow tie, the 25-year-old McGee has been hard to miss. McGee has also stayed in the spotlight through his Twitter account, @JaValeMcGee34, where his approach is far different from that of most professional athletes. Others may be content to have a public relations professional manage their social media presence, but McGee has created his own world, in which every message is written as a retweet of himself and he regularly reposts fan photos that were taken with him around town. All of it is done under his alter ego, Pierre. For the last year, McGee has also used the account to promote the simple idea that drinking water is good for you. Many fans bemoan the thug life of some players in the N.B.A., and McGee's answer to it is Jug Life. His goal every day is to drink a gallon of water in 12 hours. His passion for Jug Life and his love of Twitter have turned into a bit of a phenomenon, with fans taking photos of themselves with their own emptied-out milk containers full of water, tagged #JUGLIFE. McGee retweets many, if not all of them. Recently McGee took things to the next level by starting a business, called #JugLife, which intends to promote drinking tap water, while also raising money to help provide clean drinking water around the world. The offerings of the business are fairly minimal at this point, with foam signs and knitted hats advertising the #JugLife name. According to a company spokesman, there are plans to introduce a reusable jug for fans to buy, but the company is working to decide what material is best, taking into consideration concerns about whether plastic is safe to use repeatedly. While it may not seem to be the most solid business plan to ask fans to drink a product they already have in their homes, and then to funnel some of the money raised in merchandise sales into a planned nonprofit to promote clean drinking water, it should not be a surprise from McGee, who despite the many headaches he has caused coaches in his career has been known for generosity. "He has always been passionate about healthy living and helping others," Kez Reed of #JugLife said. He gives money to the homeless, has turkey drives at Thanksgiving time, speaks at elementary schools, donated a van to an A.A.U. basketball team, etc. Altruism is a lifestyle for him and not a shift.