Thank goodness for rocket games on tape and CD-R from last season because if I believed what some of the posters are saying I would think Mike James is the Scottie Pippen of last years squad, chemistry-wise. While watching games one thing that sticks out is Mike James' impact off the bench. He truely brought the team back into the game several times after our notorious slow starts. If you watch the games from last season again while focusing on what Mike James does, you would think people who are saying to trade him is crazy! James runs the point well- as an energy gaurd. His playmaking ability is not as great as most would like but he does not deserve the "selfish" or "doesn't pass the ball" bash. The things that I hope managment is considering is what do the other gaurds that are availible bring to the table that Wesley doesn't. Wesley has speed, a somewhat streaky 3pt shot, solid man and team defense but it has it's limits (due to lack of size), strong, overall good basketball IQ. He basically has the abilities a NBA SG is supposed to have with the only bonuses being strength and defensive prowess. What exactly does Wesley lead the team in? Maybe defense but then again it's limited. I'm sure we can find a solid replacement for Wesley, but let's give James more than a wave-off of problems before we want him gone, he is too important to this team. Also: Barry and Mutumbo are amazing! Watching the games again with no interest in the result or stats makes everything easier to see and analyze.
I agree mostly. DS will get more than the LLE (1.7M) most likely but he is only worth about the 3 years 9M. DS has Lakers, Utah, Miami & Cleveland looking at him and all have greater than LLE to offer if they want. And there is no dilemma with Wesley. He is our only "shooting" SG with NBA experience. I don't think he is gone unless they have a plan for who will play the 2 guard.
I guess I didnt state this in my original post, but with Wesley being a FA at the end of the year, does anybody really think he is part of our longterm plans? That has a lot to do with why I would like to move him while his value is realtively high (Pretty good season + expiring contract) rather than see his skills continue to decline with us getting nothing in return. Also, when I say that we should trade him, I was implying that a SG would be part of the deal. Otherewise, thats just plain stupidity.
These are some great comments jopatmc made and I feel that waiting for the better deal coming later in the year will be the one to take us to the WCF. The saleries dropping out after the end of this year will enable us to get THE player to finish putting the final piece in the rotation ..I just have a great feeling that Swift is a perfect piece to help Yao. It will be so much better than what Kato brought us due to his inconsistancy. JH is a nice mid range shooter and we missed him in the Dallas series a lot...The difference of having an athletic 4 to do what Yao just don't get, will make us so much more consistant. That and resigning Mutumbo....We gotta keep Deke. DS doesn't do a lot for me watching his game over the years. He is not the point I want w/ the ball late in a close game to be my decisionmaker...his BBall iq is low in my book. Dickau is one I think would work if we could pull it off. I just think Yao(if he ever learns to establish position down low)would be so much more affective with a Kidd type that will get him the ball at the right time.. I'm a newbie to the board and really enjoy so many that frequent this board ....Thanks to all!! Lifetime Rockets fan, Earz.. Forgot to mention...Dallas sucks and Dirk's true colors showed up in the playoffs...It was a big dissapointment 'cause I really thought he was a nice player to build a team around.. QUOTE=jopatmc]Here's the way I see it. The Rockets have a commitment from Swift and they want Stoudamire. 1. They have a S&T proposal on the table with Memphis for some of our expirings and a pick or two for a resigned Swift and either Posey, Battier, or Mike Miller.......probably Posey or Battier. 2. If they get Memphis to bite on a S&T, they are going to offer Mouse around a couple mill for around 3 years and sign him to a partial MLE deal. 3. If they can't get Memphis to bite on the S&T, then they are gonna go sign Swift to the MLE and then go after Portland with the S&T deal for Stoudamire and Patterson or .............................MILES! Memphis is probably holding up the works because West is trying to exhaust all other possible trades to dump Williams or other salary for talent/picks/expirings. West is probably wanting to dump Cardinal and Jason Williams along with a resigned Swift for all our expirings and multiple picks. I hope we don't do that. Cardinal is nothing but more dead weight. I just think something is gonna break sooner or later. If not, then we should hold tight into the season. I don't think we should take on albatross contracts. The cards are in our favor. There is going to be another influx of talent on the market when the luxury tax cuts come. Besides that, teams that are strapped because of the lux tax ain't exactly freeing up cap space to bring talent in. The only "bad" contracts that we should consider are highly talented, highly skilled players that are still young enough to maybe turn their career around, eg Darius Miles. Cardinal is what he is.......a 10 minute a game reserve on a marginal team with no upside and a horrid contract. A player like Miles on the other hand, despite his antics, still has upside that hasn't been tapped by solid coaching and management. He is a player that we could bring in and possibly develop or we could see fairly quickly whether or not he wants to change his ways, and if he doesn't, then peddle him off to the next hopeful without making a lot of waves about it. If we can't get a player of that caliber along with a decent point like DS, then we should hold 'em until midseason. There's too much talent out there. There's too much talent that will be available. There's too many players that are willing to play here and win some rings with us. And we're too close to being a complete team to screw it up. I think Wesley will be gone either in the next month or two or by trading deadline for a backcourt upgrade.[/QUOTE]
READ BETWEEN THE LINES OR THINK HARDER James is quicker to shoot than TMAC... James is quicker to shoot than TMAC... James is quicker to shoot than TMAC... James is quicker to shoot than TMAC... James is quicker to shoot than TMAC... James is quicker to shoot than TMAC... Think harder man!!! Do you see the message?
I'm one of those that think Wesley can be a very effective 2 with reduced minutes, but I don't want to get into that discussion here. I think this is a worthy thread because what we do with Wesley this year may be important now and the future. Option A: if he helps JVG and CD get a player they want now in a S'n'T then we have to do it now. The advantage is: Wesley could be done and aged before our eyes in mid-March, but if he was just worn down, his play and expiring contract may get us a better player near the trade deadline with a team that's tanking or a team that contends that has an injury that has them looking for depth. Option B: We keep Wesley until the trade deadline and pray for someone becoming available that JVG wants. But even if that happens then we may be in a situation where the team might not ever gel next year even if that happens. Option C: We keep DW period, and rely on Head to play significant minutes. My problem is I think Wesley (contract & age), James (wants big payday) and Barry (age, desire) will be gone by the end of this season no matter what happens. And Sura's health/durability are a real issue so I have difficulty counting on him beyond next year too. That's why I agree wholeheartedly with apostolic3 that something has to be now, if it all possible. Yao and Stro are 25, T-Mac's 26 and we need to start giving those guys a little continuity if we want rings. T-Mac wants to win now, and that's great, but a second round defeat with our curren backcourt promises us nothing in the future.
m_cable, you've echoed my sentiments exactly. We're probably the 3rd best team in the west as it stands, #4 at worst. Adding Stoud is an upgrade, but at what cost? We shouldn't have to mortgage our future flexibility by taking a bad contract or trading draft picks for a marginal upgrade who doesnt factor into our team 3 years from now. We were a 5th seeded team last year who took the 3rd best team by record to the limit w.o their starting PF. We're solid now, anything we add on top of Swift is gravy. Let's be patient and make sure we make the right choice.
Besides NO, who are we 'certain' that we are, or will be November 1, decidedly better than? I am optimistic that the Rox will be good, but I just don't see any bad teams (except for Hornets, of course). And SA/Phx are top flite.
Well he did not lead, but he is real high on floor time. In minutes per game, he is second only to TMac. In total minutes played, he is behind TMac and Yao Ming. Considering Wesley was only a Rocket for 61 games, that is pretty good for total minutes. Rockets had plenty of people to fill the off guard role. All four of our guards are tweeners. Sura, Barry and James could have been our two, and TMAc can fill in at that spot if needed. Plenty of options, but JVG chose to play Wesley. That should tell you something.
He led us in clutch free throw shooting when closing out games!!!! We have to have Barry here for sure if we trade Wesley so we have a closer to give the ball to.
I really, really, REALLY hope for your sake this isn't the basis for your argument. This isn't a valid point. So what you're saying here is he's SUCH a bad team player that's a total cancer who happens to be "KILLING" team chemistry all based upon your observation that he's too quick to shoot? Then you went on to make some sort of joke (I believe?) about his championship ring in an attempt to draw a comparison to the Lord of the Rings? I guess i'm failing to see the connection or the humor.....or more importantly, the relevance. "Attitude problem he has." Nevermind the unfounded claim, I love the Yoda language. Over this argument is.
If I had to choose between Wesley or James leaving, I'd choose Wesley. James can shoot just as well as Wesley and he can drive to the basket and finish. Wesley had a tendency to mess up a fast break or miss lay ups. Granted, I think Wesley plays better defense than James despite Wesley's sloth-esque speed. But I still take James over Wesley. And please back up your post, coolweather. Because without any proof, you're surely making your introduction to cc.net a rocky one.
Sorry I actually posted prematurely. I think James has the speed to be the best defender, but I don't think(much to my surprise) Wesley could shut down players that I thought he had no business guarding. That being said I think he might have the most trade value of expendable players. I would hate to lose him, but if we can get value for him, then I wouldn't oppose it. If we could get equal value by trading either James or Wesley, James is younger, and provides a different need for our team. When we need speed, and instant offense, as well as a spark plug engery guy then James is the only one on our team that can provide that off the bench. Wesley is one of several players with a good shot from the outside, and not as valuable to our team.. I would like to keep Wesley and I put his defensive skills ahead of James, but his overall defensive potential slightly behind James.
I think DS would help us, and at the LLE, he's a fine addition to our squad. He's not worth a #1 pick and he will only be on our team with a very cheap, short term (2-3 yr) contract if it's not the LLE. Nobody wants to mortgage the future. The only way we take on a big longer term contract in a SnT is if we get an upgrade. The only way we give up a #1 is if we get the stud JVG has to have. For that matter, it'd better be something special for us to give up a #1 pick. All I'm saying is our attitude must be to explore every option available and be "bold" (JVG's words) if the right thing presents itself. If DS wants big money or if a trade or SnT for a SG has too big a risk vs. reward, we shouldn't do it. But with the front line we already have and with the whole summer in front of us, I'm not satisfied just moving from #5 in the WC to #4 or #3. We have a chance to be special and should seize the opportunity IF it presents itself. This may involve some risk. So bring on the gravy.
Mike James is instant offense and we'll need some scoring off the bench. without him i think our bench is gonna struggle to put up points. He's also the only perimeter guy outside of T-Mac that can consistently get to the hoop. Although he can be a bit trigger happy, he shoots fairly well and often comes up with big baskets.
