Mike James should start at PG right now: who agrees?

I know you watched the game last night; yeah MJ can score and is a good streaky shooter. I think he is a glorified SF3 he dribbles so much and waits till the shot clock is down b/f he passes.

Rafer: I am one who cant stand raffer as a shooter but you have to admit he is a great facilitator, this year he'll get a lot of assist but as long as he doesn’t shoot the ball he's good at the point. I guess it just depends on what you’re looking for in a guard.

 

I cannot agree.

Of course Mike James is a lot better than Rafer Alston now but :
-We need a playmaker on the team, a player who will fid Tracy Yao Shane, maybe Scola in the open spot and Rafer's best basser than James, he's quicker

- We need that MJ's scorin' mentality of the bench more, when other players has to step up and carry the team. Bonzi+MJ

 

he is not quicker.

 

Mike James is the spark plug off the bench just like Ginobili is the spark plug off the bench for the Spurs. Yes James is better than Rafer, but he's so much more important coming off the bench when we need instant scoring.

 

Agreed, but I do think that Mike James has better lateral movement.

 

I thought was Rafer waving TMac off. I liked the move. If it's Mike James, I think he made the right call to clear the floor for him or Yao. I always think there are too much movement around Yao when he was guarded (double teamed or not.) so it's hard to pass to him.

 

look, if MJ starts then he'll take shots from T-Mac and Yao, or T-Mac and Yao will take shots from MJ. that is lose-lose. Rafer starts because he doesn't need to shoot. His game is setting up players, which perfectly completments T-Mac and Yao.

Because Rafers starts, T-Mac and Yao can get their shots early, then when MJ comes, the scoring won't dip one bit.

I know one thing. If im playing against the Rockets i'd be much happier with Rafer coming off the bench than MJ.

 

I think they are both fairly decent defenders. Rafer gets into trouble when he plays guards who are physically strong or big which is where James helps out a lot. Rafer still has some issues fighting through picks and keeping his man in front of him but if the people we are playing are that quick I don't see James as much help there. When we are playing the Jazz or other physical point guards James will help bunches. Actually, I wouldn't be suprised to see James start against Utah. When we play someone like the Suns I see Rafer getting more time. Like I said, it is nice that we have the options available.

 

I agree in principle. The double badness last year was that we had a 4 that shot a high percentage - but only from 1' away from the hoop. Having Scola around should help Rafer out a lot this year.

 

Who said keep him off the floor? The question is about who should start. You don't think we need scoring off the bench? You think Alston can give you that? You see MJ as a distributor? The only blatant stupidity apparent is your own.

 

let james come off the bench, but don't get rafer play in pressure situations, the laker game was the perfect examples, he turns over soon they doubled him and lakers were left him open for the 3 a few times and each time he missed

 

LOL!!
Game! Blouses!

 

Look at it this way. Would you be more afraid seeing Rafer and Battier coming off the bench, or seeing MJ and Bonzi coming off the bench?

 

i said bonzi because him and battier are similar to rafer and james. bonzi is obviously a much better scorer than battier but we have him off the bench because, like james, he also provides an offensive spark.

 

MJ is a better player but I don't mind Rafer starting since Adelman can pull him out when he's killing us. Last night both finished the game but neither distinguished themselves. Rafer became unsteady and had two bad TOs in crunch time while MJ choked on two FTs. Eventually I hope to see Scola finishing with Rafer on the bench. Even Tracy contributed to the 12-0 choke job by having the ball ripped out of his hands.

I'll admit when Rafer is playing very well, he should get more time on the floor. But instead of locking him into 35-40 mins every game, he can slide between 15-30 mins depending how he is doing.

 

Who said keep him off the floor? All of the uneducated rejects on this BBS that try to act like he's some "super ball hog" that "waives off T-Mac" and only looks for his own shot. It's lunacy.

I don't think Rafer fits in with this team. Do I think we need scoring off the bench? Of course I do -- Bonzi, Francis, Head, Scola provide that.

....and Mike James is quicker than Rafer. He drives to the basket with ease whereas the best prayer of that from Rafer is the ugly floater that barely ever goes in.

 

The way I interpreted "MJ Waves off Tmac", was that Mike was not waiving him off the play but to space into the corner (which Tracy rarely does) to initiate our offense, which is essentially cutting and requires a clean entry pass to Yao. It's nothing other than the offensive principle of spacing, a fundamental postulate to the basketball theorem.

It's hard to say who looked to quicker to me, they both looked about as quick as anybody else on the floor (Farmar maybe had a step). I fear the idea of starting Rafer only because it seems too reminiscent of JVG days, and I dread the idea of him taking all those threes again. Now, I don't think he will actually end up with near that many attempts because of the main difference between this year and last year: Rafer will share minutes. Mike James, as understood by most on the board, is a diagnosed ballhog who looks to shoot first and in the starting role (assuming he gets the bulk of rafer's minutes too) would detract from Yao/Tmac offense that we all depend on, love to death, but realize the vulnerability of.

The idea here is to move past the stages where it's all on me (where me should apply more to Yao than Tracy as we grow) and to surround them with scoring help. Mike James starting does less, than off the bench PERIOD. He comes in fresh-legged, and after the defense has had looks to shoot from Rafer (IDEALLY, that Skip passes up the majority of these shots), then hopefully MJ can come in with that offensive spark: the penetration and the jumpshot.


I'd much rather have had MJ take all those threes Rafer did last year, damn that trade kicker. But the idea now, is a point guard tandem. If Rafer limits TO's and hits a decent amount of his shots, and James provides the scoring punch then PERHAPS both of them together, more rested is as appealing as any single point guard out there.

 

I think that says it all.

 

the question isnt who should start, but who would you rather come off the bench?

I know i would much rather have Mike James come off the bench than Rafer.