Here are the facts Mike James' real age is 31 you deviated from it by adding a year.. then you said 1 year does not make a difference.. so I deviated by a year from his original age.. but enoiught with the age.. it does not matter because Houston did not only offer him 3 years as what you were so adamant about.. All three teams offered him 4 years. Only Minny agreed to add 3rd year player option and trade kicker. And Mike James said if Houston agreed to a 3rd player option without trade kicker he would have signed with the rockets So whats the big deal of giving a 3rd year option if you're already offering a 4 year contract?
all three teams offered the same money, same years: 4 YRS MLE. only minnesota made the 4th year a player option year, and gave him the trade kicker. neither the rockets nor mavs offered him the 4th year player option. what does this imply? both teams wanted to guarantee his 4th year, as opposed to minny, who left the 4th year up to mike. so, barring being traded trade, rockets and mavs would have had mike for: 4 years minny gets mike for: 3 OR 4 years, depending on mike's preference. for the most part, mike james did not go for the money. it's even possible he'll make less from this contract if he opts out after year 3. since the money from all three camps was identical, instead, mike james opted for more flexibility, in addition to a disincentive to trading him. why couldn't the rockets work something out? he wasn't asking for more money.
yeah.. mike james was only asking for flexibility.. and I if Mike James did decide to leave after the 3rd year, won't it be better for the rockets? didn't they only want to pay him in the first place? i don't know but the rockets front office negotiatng skills/logic is whacked..
This trade was a blessing in disguise. Mike James is a ballhog who simply refused to pass the ball to Tmac and Yao. Who cares if he scores 20 30 40 or even 50 points???? All that matters is that our stars aren't getting enough touches!!! We have more than enough firepower on our team with Tmac, Yao, and now Battier. Those 3 guys right there can average 60 pts a game with the other 40 coming from our solid cast of role players: Novak, Bogans, JL3, Bowen, and Alston. I think if we can use our MLE on Marcus Banks or Kelvin Cato, or somehow do the Stephen Jackson+ Fred Jones for Juwan Howard deal, we are almost guaranteed to win at least 2-3 championships in the next 4 yrs. GO ROCKETS!!!!
I disagree that we have more than enough firepower now. I have no idea why people thinkg Battier is bringing offensive firepower to our team. It makes me wonder if people have even seen the guy play. Is he a good player? Yes. Does he bring much offense? No. Juwan actually has more offensive game than Battier.
Hey guy's I think this is my first post on this board, but I don't blame MJ for what he did, if I were him I would do it to! And I also don't blame the rockets for not offering him that contract, he's not that special! This is how I can see things pan out: I think that the rockets will use the mid level on Vanulis Spannulas or however you spell it, because honestly I don't think he would play for the rockets for anything less, and I think he will be a real good player, and I trust that the rockets will use their trade exceptions wisely and pick some good players, we are all flippin out because of this MJ deal, I seriously don't think the rockets are worried at all, well thats my 2 cents!!
Exactly!! V-Span and or Marcus Banks are the "icing on the cake" in my opinion. We get either one of them, its championship time. If we had gotten James not only would we have been saddled with a bad contract but we would have had a ballhog who hates Tmac.
Why would the Rockets use their MLE on an unproven Euro player? Spanoulis is only 6'4; he can't guard athletic wing players in the NBA; and he CAN'T SHOOT from the outside. James is not an all-star caliber, but out of all the 3 teams that were vying for his services, the Rockets needed him the most. Dallas is already deep. Randy Foye is a younger, bigger, and more athletic Mike James. The Rockets need guys in the backcourt who can defend and make 3s. The only player out there on the market who comes close is Fred Jones, but he's only 6'4 and plays out of control. The Rockets are screwed for next year. They'll be lucky to get out of the first round. Kings got better; so did Utah and the Lakers and the Hornets. Houston, once again, will be battling for the 7 and 8 spots.
Trading Mike James was a big mistake. Losing Mike James in free agency was a huge mistake. We should have just given the guy what he wanted. Now...we will pay...4 times a year. "Refer" Alston can exhale now.
What are you smoking? You declare us ready to compete for a Championship with two unproven players. Yet the person who played very well and was a significant piece to the playoff push a couple years ago for us, who is PROVEN, you **** on. I can tell you dont know what you are talking about because it has been said many times from Tmac and Mike James that they are good friends, yet you post "Mike James hates Tmac." Dude you wouldnt even be a good Fantasy Basketball Owner posting like that!
The Rockets will be Mediocre again, and there will be another whipping other than the ones truely resposible for our mediocri"sy.... Rox Management & JVG. Get ready to struggle to get the "EIGHT" spot "AGAIN"!
V-span, only 6'4, wouldn't be an effective starter at the NBA level until he improves his PG skills. That means he has to be a 2. Has there been an undersized Euro who has made it in the NBA? Most Euros are oversized, finesse players. Marcus Banks is a great defensive player, but he has a very low basketball IQ, which means he's not going to get much playing time under JVG. Remember Stromile Swift? Only way Rockets crack the top 5 in the playoffs again is if Latrell Sprewell dusts the rust off his sleeves and joins forces with JVG again for the MLE. Otherwise, the Rockets are screwed because of the bad decisions from upper management.
I don't blame Mike James for this at all. It was only right of him to ask for the trade kicker after the way the Rockets traded him and many others. The Rocket's front office's actions are on display for the entire league to see. They don't treat their players with respect and they look to dump guys at JVG's whim.
Panda, you are right on. Mike James is a steal his 1st couple of years for the MLE. That has to be figured in with the potential downside of overpaying later on. It isn't like the guy went 20 & 6 at the expense of his team, he had superb offensive efficiency in achieving that line, and plays defense. Mike James at 4/25 looks a heck of lot better than what JaHo or Rafer is going to look (true deadweight contracts later on), and need we forget we traded James for Rafer, where was our concern about long term MLE type money contracts for a less accomplished player? It boggles me how really smart and knowledgeable posters can't admit when our front office makes bumbling decisions. Further, if the Rockets were not thinking championship this year, something is wrong. They are blessed with probably the best tandem in the league. Miami has shown you can interchange major pieces that same year around your stars and bring a title home, for the Rockets to not have that same goal would be extremely discouraging. Can you imagine the Lakers in 99 saying though we have Shaq and Kobe in their prime we feel we are 2-3 years away from developing the rest of the players and are worried about committing an MLE contract 4 years down the line for a known well rounded player who would start for you, get serious. We have been schizo this offseason, we 1st trade excess younger value for a role player in his prime (Battier), but then we blink on a very good deal for a player off an even better season (in fact his best season) and who plays equally needed position/role because we are uncomfortable with a player option and/or trade kicker into his 4th year of a very moderate contract? Visionless, senseless, unless we are just plain cheap. And in that case, Yao and Tmac deserve better, lets sell them off for cap relief and run Sterling’s Clips of a decade or so ago. Getting a bunch of CBA guys to try hard and win a couple would be more fun than watching a mediocre team waste the Rockets nearly unparalleled gifts. We twice undervalued Mike James. Once when we signed Sura and Ward (both ending up dead contracts) and then when we traded him for the much flakier (in terms of court effort and court focus) Alston who had a worse contract. Yet he still seemed willing to come here if we just matched a quite reasonable deal with quite reasonable terms given the modest total value (max 24 mil) for a player coming off a year like James and who just turned 31. I have no ill will at all for James, he gave us a much bigger chance that a lot of other players would in a similar situation, and we tried to low ball him and we blew it.
I too don't get this we don't want James because of what he might be at age 36. If the Rockets were rebuilding I could see it, but a team with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady should be contending for the ring. A general manager's job is to play for the present first unless you are rebuilding, which the Rockets shouldn't be doing. Plus, how hard is it to put good role players around two top 10-15 NBA talents that both demand double teams night in night out. Battier is one, and a lot better than some on this board have given him credit for(even though value wise the deal was bad) and James would have been two. You would have had 4 of the 5 starting spots filled with quality NBA players, instead you lose out because you choose to gamble when you have no leeway to do so. The Rockets should be on the phone with Indiana ASAP trying to trade for Stephen Jackson or forcing them to match an MLE offer on Fred Jones. If they opt for Banks, ugh. I was getting real excited about battier-james taking the open shots off double teams from Yao-Tracy instead of the brick brigade they trotted out there last year, too.
