There are times when JaVale McGee misses Washington, misses the Wizards, and yet he’s happier about his future more than he is sad about the past.

“It’s on 10 right now,” said McGee of his happiness scale. “I’m always happy, never sad. Even when we were losing I was upset, but I wasn’t unhappy.”

He is a Nugget now, and he’s enjoying it, as the team fights to make the playoffs with a huge game today at Phoenix.

Still, he knows there is an in-limbo aspect to what’s happening. The Nuggets acquired McGee in March from Washington but due to restricted free agent status he doesn’t know if he’ll be in the team’s uniform in October. He’s settled into what coaches are requiring of him, but said he has an expanded game inside yearning to be unleashed.

“I’m just here doing whatever they want me to do,” McGee said. “They said they wanted me to rebound and block shots. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”

He’s got 26 blocked shots in the 16 games he’s played with the Nuggets, an average of 1.63 per game, which leads the team. He’s altered countless other shots, along the way displaying pretty much none of the blatantly questionable on-court decision-making that became his m.o. in three-plus tumultuous seasons with the Wizards.

“Under the circumstances,” Nuggets coach George Karl said, “I think he’s helped us win games.”

When Karl finally put McGee in a game, against Detroit on March 21, it immediately became hard to get him off the court. Though he had no knowledge of the Nuggets’ offensive and defensive schemes, he busted out with 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. From that point on, he had at least two blocks in every game he played in March and he got at least 20 minutes playing time in each of them.

Recently, though, those minutes have thinned as Karl and the coaching staff search to find out just what they have in the 24-year old McGee, a 7-footer with a 7-foot-6 wingspan.

“We’ve kind of found a niche with he, Andre (Miller) and Al Harrington in the game together, giving us the lob ability,” Karl said. “And if they overhelp on the lob we’ve got the 3-ball. I think he’s very close to finishing games or playing more minutes. It’s trying to figure out how to make him comfortable in more situations. How do we get him to where his size and athleticism is effective?”

McGee shrugs off questions about where he’ll be next season, saying, “I let my agent handle it.”

He acknowledges, however, he wouldn’t mind a return to the Mile High City. The Nuggets can match any offer he receives.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said of a possibile return. “It’s a great atmosphere. It’s definitely a great organization.”

He and ex-Wizards guard Nick Young (now with the L.A. Clippers) were friends in the nation’s capital and remain so. McGee is fond of his new teammates. “We all get along, and we’re all figuring stuff out together on the floor,” he said.

With averages of 9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in a Nuggets uniform, he’s playing the part of a patient player.

“I think I can be great,” McGee said. “All of the coaches that have coached me have wanted me to play a certain role, so I just play that role. But eventually I definitely want to expand my game.”

Where?

“Probably not shooting threes, even though I was shooting threes in college,” said McGee, who played at Nevada-Reno. “But at least shooting mid-range shots and things of that nature.

“I don’t think people understand what exactly I do or my game. But I’m really not in it to prove to them what I’m trying to do. I’m basically just playing what the coaches want me to play, trying to play the role that I’ve been given.”