Rafer Alston?--- More like Reefer Alston. You must be high, if you think he's better than Mike James.
James probably is a little bit of an upgrade on defense, so the Raps come out better on that score. You can forget about 5 assists per game though; James is a shoot first, shoot second point guard. Even so, he is probably better than Alston at attacking the basket too, so if you're going to have someone playing the hero, may as well have the guy who's better at it. Toronto may be missing more than they expected though from the passing Alston provided.
The fact is Mr. Brightside that when you have a team with tons of scoring options like Yao, McGrady, Swift, and Wesley, the last thing you need is a PG who dribbles to much and looks for his own shot instead of getting someone else a good look. Mike James is Steve Francis light. Same type of game with less talent. We're much better off with Rafer Alston who does look to pass. And yes he's had problems in the past, but so did McGrady and he shaped up and turned it around, Alston will too. Shooters like him do go cold, like he did in the playoffs, we don't need him chucking up shots and taking attempts away for TMac and Yao. Brian
Mike James was 0-9 from 3 point land last year in the playoffs. Damn, we'll really miss that! Mike James is a nice player and certaintly can provide offense when you need it, but he isn't the type of PG the Rockets want or need running the team. Hope you enjoy your classic moment Mr. Brightside.
Skip might've thought he needed to score when he had an aging Jalen Rose and Chris Bosh as the only threats. You just don't do that when T-mac is on your team
The "when he is shooting well, he should shoot the damned ball" argument is silly. Nobody can predict if his next shot will fall. Scorers always feel their next shot will be a good one, Mike James had that kind of mentality. But in fact that's not the case. On average James is not a better scorer than Tmac or Yao. It's not about my favorate player, it's about statics, law of average. That's why star players always get more shots no matter how many shots they are missing. By the end of the season, I'm sure Yao will have a much higher percantage than James, no matter what situation he's in.
Silly, unless the goal is to make shots. Be careful quoting the law of averages before you do your homework. It indicates that James had an effective FG% (FG% adjusted for 3 pointers) of .507 last year. McGrady checked in several percentage points lower, at .474 (for the record, Yao edged out Barry for the highest eFG% on the team, with .552 vs. .550 for Barry.) And star players take more shots when they are hot, and less when they are not, as do role players. People who are making shots should take shots. Except for when he's not shooting as well as James (or Barry or McGrady or whoever). In which case the other player is a better scorer at the moment. Of course, as we already demonstrated, James was a better shooter than T-mac last year, and , so under your theory, T-mac should never shoot and James should always shoot, unless Yao or Barry is in the game, in which case they should always shoot. Obviously this is ridiculous, and it's one of many reasons I'm hesitant about your theory. A player who is shooting incredibly well should take shots. This is not difficult and I am perplexed why people have trouble understanding it - there's no reason to make it so complicated. If NBA players and coaches applied your logic we would have a lot of 0-0 ties. I mean - what if you miss! . . .
Best of luck to you, Mike James. As long as you're in the east, I wish you all the success in the world.
If there were an eBay for spouses, you would see millions of trades in which all four people ended up happier. It's all about matching the player's attitudes and aptitudes with the team that needs (or can afford) them. No need for anyone to lose. I was one of MJ's biggest critics on this board, and I'm happy for him.
