Well, a weird place to find him I guess. But anyways, as I was listening to the station, he was on for a good 20 minutes + with the guys at the station, and they asked him all kinds of different questions. They asked him about what he thought was the Rockets' most overriding need in Free Agency this off season, and MJ responded that he thought the Rockets needed a "big, strong 2-guard" who would help T-Mac on offense AND defense to alleviate some of the stuff T-Mac has to do for the Rockets, because McGrady is being asked to do too much in his opinion. He was asked about the PF position, and he said jokingly, "Well, you know, I think there we need a nice, younger PF who is tall and athletic and can run the floor, and I ain't going to say a name or anything like that (then he quickly said "Stromile Swift" in the middle of the sentence and everyone in the station laughed)". He was asked about the draft, as to whom he thought the Rockets should go after in the draft, and he said, "Oh, man, trade it! Or trade up! Because, you know, this is a veteran team we got, and JVG ain't no rookies' coach, you know what I mean? I don't think a young guy would get minutes on this team, we are trying to win now! We don't need a young cat from the draft, we can maybe trade it and try to get free agents" or something along that line. He then mentioned that he knows "Andre" (I think that's his name) is a hometown kid in Houston and all, and that he is sure people would like to see him in a Rockets uniform. He also mentioned that he didn't think the draft is a good place to look for impactful players anymore like it was in the past, when young kids stuck around colleges and stuff to develop their own skills further before joining the league. As for H-town, he talked about how much he loves Houston and how H-Town "gave me the confidence I needed to explode man". Then he mentioned that he is a loyal dude, but only to those who "show me loyalty man", and that's why he is opting out of his contract after this season (I believe he has a players' option after this coming season???) to "get paid, man! You know, I gotta feed my family, I would like to get a nice big house in H-Town and all man, but I definitely would love to stay in Houston. But even if Utah goes after me and offers up a big payday, I am gonna take it." Anyways, the one thing I got from the guy was that he is oozing with confidence, he will definitely go to the highest bidder once his short contract is up (even if it's Utah, as he jokingly said, which obviously makes sense to me since he never got a big payday, yet), and also that he is enjoying his time in the city, and he is looking forward to "big things" in Houston as far as the Rockets go. The interview was kinda funny, and multiple times he would jokingly talk about how some people keep telling him, "Mike James WHO?!" , and basically he says that at times to people who don't know him just to mess with 'em. Long interview (kinda), very informative, and the guy is obviously not bashful at all about sharing his thoughts about the team, etc. I wish you guys had listened to it, or at least if 97.9 had the segment available online. Anyways, he was on to promote something he is doing tomorrow I believe (a charity or something), and also mentioned something about Billups and how I guess people thought they didn't like one another or something Thought you guys would be interested to know, and if not, too damn bad I am sharin' anyways! I am out!
You do make a pretty solid point. I like Mike James and it would be nice to see him on our bench next season, but if he is definitely going to leave, then maybe we should look at packaging him for a long term player (if we aren't already).
how much will he be offered? no more than MLE level. we might as well keep him because players allways have thier best year when looking for a big pay day. after the year we will offer around the MLE money no team will give him more than that. if someone does, and he leaves then it would suck, but we would still have out MLE to replace him.
So you don't mind spending MLE money on a backup PG? I sure wouldn't. Maybe a backup C/PF. James + Ward for Antonio Daniels
That houstonsocial.com website has some fine women in the gallery! I heard about milkshake at M bar, but dang I didn't know it was like that!!!
it depends on who our starting PG is. if we have a PG playing 30+ minutes a night, then yes i would mind spending that much on him to play 18 minutes. if he is splitting time. then i would guess that's what other teams would offer him.
Check out the pics on indmix.com. Its got all of the parties from when the different NBA teams come into town. Its got a lot of NFL players too.
MJ's comments about Swift are intriguing. I would think if anybody would know what the Rockets would be interested in, it would be a player who is hearing the coach yelling at them everyday and who is intimately involved in the scheme of the defense and offense. I don't see why it doesn't seem possible for Swift to become a Rocket. It seems to me that if Swift wants the Rockets and the Rockets want Swift, that a deal could be struck. I'm not talking about the MLE either. Swift is obviously going to get offered more than that on the open market. All that has to be done is if both sides want the other for the Rockets to offer Memphis expirings/draft picks/players in exchange for Swift and maybe another bad contract. Memphis would jump at the chance to get some cap relief by getting off a bad contract and maybe getting a player or picks than to just let Swift walk for nothing but a few dollars savings. Memphis can then let the contracts expire, or they can package them in a different deal with somebody like Chicago for either Curry or Chandler and one of their bad contracts. That way they could get an effective 1 2 combo up front with Pao and walk away with some backcourt players from the draft. The other dream scenario would be for Chandler to want the Rox and to put the pressure on the Bulls to either S&T him or he is going to sign the 1 year tender and walk the next year. Swift tried to force Memphis to sign him long term last year and it didn't work. Now, they are at his mercy. If he walks, and leaves them with nothing, they lost. They have to get some cap relief for him if nothing else. Same thing with Chandler, although I think the likelihood of Chandler wanting to come to Houston is probably lower than it is for Swift. I would definitely prefer Chandler of course. I just think the Swift scenario is more plausible.
Was he interviewed by the KrackerNutz? If so, I kinda know one of the DJs Maybe next time i met up with him, i can ask how the interview and how MJ really is.
This is just what I want to hear from our pg. He feels free to explode and he's opting out on his contract. I hope JVG benches his **s and I hope CD sends him to Atlanta.
Looks like <a href="http://www.houstonsocial.com/index_main.php?section=events&id=131" title="Flyer and some info here..." target="_blank">his birthday celebration</a>, with proceeds benefitting the Mike James Scholarship Fund. Dribble
Come on! This has got to be a prank pulled off by the station. If it was not a prank, then he is either incredibly stupid or has horrible PR. I just can't believe he would get on public radio, especially in the city he plays for, and brag about opting out of his contract to get the biggest buck no matter who it is from. Especially after talking about how loyal he is. And then, to publicly say he needs to 'feed his kids' after the whole Sprewell fiasco, would be just plain dumb. And, this is all after he pretty much called out Wesley, by saying the NEED a taller SG, and questioned JVG's methods by saying he is asked to do too much. Are you SURE this was Mike James, are you or the station trying to pull our leg? I am just having a hard time believing it. But, if true, he needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.
This sounds like a double-edged sword to me. On one hand he sounds like a self-centered money-hungry ass (Sprewell-ish with the "gotta feed my family" comment), but on the other hand that means he's confident about his abilities and will probably try to have a monster year.
Mike James' comments do make you think of an impending trade with Memphis, although I'm sure it would have to involve Jason Williams as well. It's a deep draft, and Memphis usually does decently with lower picks, so....so....so nothing. And I hope Mike James and CD have a mutual understanding of the term "facetious remark (that I wish I could take back)".
