If mike james is as legit as people are seeming to represent. I have one question, y has he been move around more than a Mayflower Moving van. Let's take the last three or four. Houston ships him out for a sub 37% shooter in Rafer because we need a facilitator (yea right). Toronto doesn't resign him because TJ Ford is ready to break his ankles. Okay the Twolves who are so high on him draft a rookie point pg with their top pick, WOW, MJ is looking better by the day. Now back to Houston, we feel like we've struck gold, which I don't think is the case. MJ normally says on the right things until the games start. I trust Steve more than MJ, because MJ still feels under appreciated.
I agree, Mike James is not the answer. Whats crazy is people acting like he is better or equal to Francis, James is a poor mans Steve Francis.... Although, I do love the guys intensity and scoring mentality, in a Bobby Jackson sort of way. 15-20 mins= nice little scoring burst
we traded him cause we had the Van Gundy thing going on and he creams himself for Alston. I thought he signed with the T'Wolves instead of Toronto for the money, and he got shafted in Minnesota. It depends on how you look at it
trust me. Hes good. Sometimes he is a little too cocky and players dont like him or management doesnt like him. Sometimes hes just in the bad situation at the wrong time. But he brings alot of energy to this team. And since juwan left, i look for james and francis to be the leaders on this team.
Maybe that's why the title is lame. Sorry BackNthDay, not to pick on you, but I'm just really sick of thread titles that are completely un-informative. I wish people would stop doing that and actually come up with a descriptive thread title. Hey Jeff, Dr of Dunk, or Clutch, could one of you guys make this a forum rule?
Getting moved around doesn't mean you're not good. In fact, not-so-good players tend to stay, because no team would want him. James is the definition of a journeyman, and gets paid like one which makes his contract fairly easy to move around. James also has the problem of being a PG who can't really pass. Thankfully, he doesn't have to initiate the offense in Adelman's system. As for how good he is, James is a solid rotation player. That's about it. The comparison to Francis is unfair, because they're different players. James is a better starter than Francis because his defense and 3 point shooting skills matches what we need from our STARTING point. Francis, on the other hand, has better pentration skills and better able to create his own shot, which makes him better as an instant-offense bench player.
Who gives a damn. He's a tiny piece of the puzzle. If he decided to retire before the season, I wouldn't be too worried. Same for Steve Francis. No one (except maybe Yao, Mac, Scola) plays a huge part in this team's success anymore. Mike James is a good role player. He plays good D, is great at hitting the 3, and has championship experience. Steve Francis. Well... He can run and jump.
Just hold your mouse cursor over the thread title, and a little popup box previews the first few sentences without you having to click in. I always do this to preview somebodys thread, and if it looks like somebody is talking out of their @ss, I dont even waste my click.
The preview goes away too fast....they should just leave it a permanent preview until you move your mouse away. Can we do a scouting report of the strengths and weaknesses of Francis and James and do a side by side comparison. It's been a while since I've seen these guys for more than 20 games. My imprssion is still that Francis is the way more talented player and should start. Francis can dominate (or at least has more of a chance to) starter point guards. James might not...but, would definitely dominate backup point guards. Steve is better at creating his shot, rebounding, and penetrating. James is normally a better 3 point shooter, but not last year. I'm not sure who is the better passer or if they are passers..but probably Francis. I also am not sure about their defense since they were different on different teams.
James - better spot up shooter, better 3 point shooter, much better defense, can create his own shot, and much smarter than francis. cant penetrate or finish as well as francis though. Francis - can penetrate and create his own shot, good rebounder, but still has no idea how to run a pick and roll.
James can score but doesn't make anybody better. He needs to be in the right situation. Tony Parker has the same shortcoming but he is in the perfect place. The only way James can be effective here is coming off the bench. Otherwise touches for higher percentage shooters will drop.
Regardless of who starts or finishes, we now have versatility and a coach who knows how to make use of that versatility -- something we've lacked over the past five years. I'm really excited about this coming season.
Honestly, I don't like Mike James' attitude. He had one good year with a bad Toronto team and he thinks he's some superstar. I'll throw all that out the window if he comes here and plays his a$$ off. But as of right now, he's going to have to win back my support. People want to talk about Steve being a cancer, well Mike James makes Francis look like Shane Battier.
I hate going to forums w/ threads like "I have a question." MJ could work better now than ever because Adelman seems very conducive for player's offensive 'needs'. Hopefully MJ will buy into the system and realize that on a talent-laden team like this he know where his place is. But ultimately Stevie, MJ, Bonzi, and Scola at this point are still a roll of the die. The positive is those are 4 talented players who have proven themselves at one point or another, and playing percentages at least 1-2 will be really effective.
May be we really need a guy like MJ,for both Yao and T-mac are too nice.Do you remember that MJ sometimes straight the court to disturb their offensive? He can get points when we don't have offensive rhythm.Anyway,he can help us,althought he is not a all-star player.
