[ST] Jerom James http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002252205_soni25.html James' changes are paying off By Percy Allen Seattle Times staff reporter They were going to fight. Jerome James was sure of it. He sat in Ray Allen's locker last spring at the Sonics training facility intent on making him eat his words unless he heard an apology. The criticisms he said he read in a newspaper report were still fresh in his head: "Jerome James should opt out of his contract. ... No one here likes him. ... We all wish he would leave." Only a few months earlier, they were the best of teammates. But the stress of last season's 37-45 record created a fissure that led to comments that poisoned their relationship and would have sparked a flurry of thundering blows if Rashard Lewis hadn't intervened. "They acted like they liked me in my face because they were afraid of me, and then really talked amongst themselves behind my back," James said yesterday. "Which I can understand. I'm a big dude. Everybody knows I have a temper, so they didn't want to ruffle my feathers and have me jump on somebody." After a season of bickering with management, coaches and teammates, James said he realized this: "You can't war with them and your opponents. You got to make love to somebody." So James sought to make peace, which was the genesis to a season in which he has shown glimpses of unfulfilled potential and flashes of brilliance as evidenced by Saturday's performance in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series with Sacramento. The Sonics center was the difference in the 87-82 victory at KeyArena after notching his best game since joining the team in 2001. He played a complete game, finishing with 17 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks. The performance prompted coach Nate McMillan to say: "I saw a lot of things happen last night that I'm sitting here wondering what took you guys so long." James has a short answer. "I wasn't mature," he said. Skeptics will still point to James' inconsistencies during a seven-year NBA career in which his productivity has never measured up to his size. Yet in hindsight, being released by Sacramento in 2000 may have been the best thing for James, though he didn't believe it at the time. The Kings took a flyer on him that year and invited him to their training camp. He'd spent time with the Harlem Globetrotters after an unspectacular career at Florida A&M. What attracted Sacramento was his height, 7 feet 1 inches, but the team was put off by his weight, 282 pounds, his work ethic and a knee that was slow to recover from injury. On the last day of camp, coach Rick Adelman told him that he was being released and suggested James look for another line of work. With an armed security guard standing nearby, they handed him a garbage bag for the items in his locker and escorted him out of the building. "With me, as dark as that time was in my life, I had to put it behind me," James said. "And in order to put it behind me you got to forgive people. It goes back to the old saying, forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. "When they let me go ... I felt like they were letting go of their opportunity to win a championship. I felt like with me playing alongside Chris Webber, that four-five punch, we could have [done] some miraculous things in Sacramento." With the help of former King Vlade Divac, James landed with KK Buducnost Podgorica in the former Yugoslavia. He played a year overseas with that club and two other European teams before joining the Sonics. "By them letting me go, I was like, 'OK, they'll see one day,' " James said. "I had to forgive them. I had to put it behind me. Today I play for an entire different motivation. "I play for first of all, my sons [Mason, 2, and Dallas, 4] to secure a life for them. Second of all, I play for my teammates who have come to know me and love me this season." There are several flashpoints in James' career. Being released by Sacramento was one and the Sonics selecting Robert Swift in the first round of the draft last year was another. James, a free agent after the season, holds no ill will toward management. "I sucked last year," he said. "I knew they were going to go for a center in the draft. They had no consistency out of me. They didn't know what they were going to get night in and night out, and I hadn't matured as a player. "And, quite frankly, paying a guy $5 million a year and waiting for him to mature sucks. And then for him to come out and still have the same silly childish notions in his head about basketball is very discouraging. So quite naturally, if I was the GM, I would have drafted Robert Swift." Last year's draft began a metamorphosis in James. For the first time, he reported to training camp in shape at roughly 270 pounds and stopped demanding 15 shots and 35 minutes each game. And finally, he mended a fracture with teammates. "I had already been in a tiff with Ray and I went from being one of Rashard Lewis' most liked to being somebody he barely talked to and I could understand why," James said. "Sometimes you got to look at yourself, man. It ain't always everybody else. Sometimes, it's you." The new James said it's not important that his season averages (4.9 points and 3.0 rebounds) are his lowest as a Sonic because he believes he's a better basketball player. And it's not important to him to duplicate his series-opening performance in Game 2 tomorrow. "My role was to be an offensive-minded center as well as attacking the boards," he said of Saturday. "If my role comes out with me being the same type of role that I played [Saturday] night, then great for me and great for the team. "But if it goes back to being something else — which is a screen-setter, a rebounder and a shot-blocker — then, hey, I've played that all season long, and I'm comfortable with that also." Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com
The new James said it's not important that his season averages (4.9 points and 3.0 rebounds) are his lowest as a Sonic because he believes he's a better basketball player. James believes he is a better bb player?
He's hoping to land a large contract. I'm glad the Rockets aren't looking for a Center next offseason.
"With me, as dark as that time was in my life, I had to put it behind me," James said. "And in order to put it behind me you got to forgive people. It goes back to the old saying, forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. "When they let me go ... I felt like they were letting go of their opportunity to win a championship. I felt like with me playing alongside Chris Webber, that four-five punch, we could have [done] some miraculous things in Sacramento." - Dude is an idiot. J
I hope he keeps playing well for the Sonics. This is very good for us actually. Right now the only Sonics assured of returning next year are Fortson, Collison, Lewis, Ridnour and Swift. The more the Sonics want to keep James (they do need a C next year), the more likely they will not match on Reggie Evans. Reggie Evans may be a luxury they can't afford after trying to retain their core (sign Allen and Radm + those returning). They still need a C (James?) and some back-up guards from of AD, Wilkens or Murray. They have so many guys to try to keep and PF is their deepest position--Collison and Fortson will still be under contract--if the choice is Evans or Radm, as solid as Evans has been for them, that is a nobrainer.
What is the obsession with Evans, granted the guy can rebound but what else can he do. can he hit a 15 footer... anything?
No. I lived in Iowa City and watched the guy play for the University of Iowa. Pretty much rebounding and close-in scoring. Great to have at the college level; painful to watch at the free throw line, however.
It's also painful to watch him flop...this dude is a big time flopper...it's like he's in the Matrix when he gets "hit"...he literally flies 7 feet backwards.
So what exactly is the reason why we would want this guy, I mean Unless we can trade him for Vin Baker or Moochie or Ward or all the above, I just dont see the point of it... Please someone, what the hell does *sura faints* refer to?
It is not that Evans is that great. But he is young, and rebounds and defends like crazy. Most importantly, he is one of the few PFs we actually might be able to get this offseason, of the realistic choices do ya'll have better ideas?
If you want a young rebounding big man, you might as well go for Dan Gadzuric instead - he's much better than James.
Marshall, SAR & Evans are the 3 best PF free agent possibilities for Houston this offseason IMO - in that order. We should be able to land one of them. Evans averaged 18.8 Rebs per 48 minutes this year - career is like 16.9 rebs per 48. Other than rebounds all he does is bring energy/hustle. Like Dennis Rodman without the dress & strange hair. No shot, not a good FT shooter, not sure how good he is defensively. He does flop.
Gadzuric is more of a center, doesn't rebound as well or play low block defense as well. Evans is much more of a compliment as our 4th big along with Yao, Howard and Deke. See Micah's post--though I would say SAR, Swift, Evans then DM. Rather have the youth and athleticism. Evans isn't my first choice, but if for our offseason we resigned Deke, Barry and added Evans (plus rooks and minimum young fylers) it would be hard to be dissappointed. We want more options. The better James plays, the more Seattle will want him and have to pay for him, freeing up another option. That simple.
Dont we also need someone who can knock down a jumper ala Howard, I mean rebounding is obviously a need but cant we get a 4 ala PJ Brown, Evans is good granted all he does is rebound but I know we can get someone better than that. We have the MLE and 1st round pick. We need to upgrade the 4 and add depth to our aging role players. 1st priority, Bring back Deke 2nd priority, Bring back all the role players from this years squad 3rd priority, Bring in 2 young players ( 4 and best player available) 4th priority, get rid of Moochie, Baker, and WARD!!
I`d take Gadzuric over Evans anyday... the guy is big and can run the floor, block shots and rebound. They guy is a cheap mans Cato with more athleticism. Say no to Evans people.
there was a thread about chineese jokes a couple of weeks back, all the jokes ended in: Sura Faints. something happened, somebody said something funny, and Sura Faints. It is supossed to be funny in china, or in Manga cartoons. About Gadzuric. He is a pretty good rebounder, and he can run the floor, his shot isn't as bad as evans shot. I wouldn't mind having him with us(ofcourse i wo9uld love to have a country man play for the rockets, we al know how well the last one played ) But he is more a 5 then a 4.
