[Done Deal] Rockets dealing Juwan Howard for Mike James

I am real happy about this. Mike James is a hard competitor. Recall T-Mac commenting that Bobby Sura was a "dog" referring to his never say die attitude. I think Mike James has some of this. We really need this now on this team.

Mike James is better than a backup point guard in my opinion....

 

Get rid of Juwan's bad contract is good but get another bad contract with one more year is bad.

Mike James' contract with trade kicker will make it 7 millions per for 3 year. Have anyone think about 7 mil per actually can get you Mo Williams? The Rockets only need to figure out how to get their hand on Mo Williams.

 

You need to be realistic. Im sure the Rockets would of loved to trade Juwon years ago, but with his contract and age who would likely trade for him? Mike James may not be the answer the Tony Parker, Deron Williams, and Steve Nash, but who in the NBA can really stop them? Mike James is a good compliment to Tmac and Yao. No team in the NBA is going to be able to match star for star. Our answer to guys like Tony Parker and Nash will never be another star point guard, but Yao and Tmac creating mismatches themselves.

 

I'll admit I was very excited when we signed Mo Taylor- he was a sought after free agent. I thought we were set at the 4 for years to come.

Was I ever wrong!

He had led the Clippers in scoring and had a good year his first year here. He came to camp in top shape and hurt his achilles and was never the same. I recall being very pleased when we signed Taylor that 1st year at a discount and Shandon Anderson-who played well in the Jazz system- but never effectively here.

Big disappointments

 

Drop the Cato signing in there and you have the beginnings of Cap Hell!!

 

No, the idea of the trade kicker (a cocked up, stupid option when signing a contract that should be located somewhere in the vicinity of the Titanic) is to punish the team you were traded to for trading you. In short, you are offered a contract from a team where you want the long term security that they won't move you "on a whim" (like the Rocks did with James). The kicker makes it very hard for the team you signed with to trade you, thus giving you leverage and relative security that you will stay with that team for the length of your contract. A team wanting you in a trade, that your current team decides they want to make, has to bust open the checkbook and fork over 15% on top of your contract to do the deal. Very few teams are going to pay that price on top of your current contract.

It's like you want to buy a classic Ford '65 Mustang for current value, and the owner says you have to pay 15% over fair value to pick that jewel up and if you don't like it, tough. Now James can waive the kicker, if he really wants to get moved to another team and the kicker is a deal breaker. That is up to James. Clearly, he wants to be in Houston, and always has wanted to play for the Rocks. In his fury at getting moved for Rafer freakin' Alston and to Toronto, after a short and very successful stint in H-town, his hometown and where he wanted to play the rest of his career, after a great season with the Raptors and being a free agent, he insisted that the T-Wolves include the kicker in the deal that brought him there. He was tired as hell over getting moved every year or two, had the highest value he'd ever managed to get, after that superb Raptors season, and was tired of moving. Playing with KG, who helped recruit him, seemed like a dream come true. Sadly for James and the T-Wolves, it just didn't work out, for several reasons I won't get into.

Now, after realizing that move was a mistake (lots of mistakes made regarding all these deals with James, including some from James), he has his chance, at last, to return to Houston. In my opinion, James should drop the kicker if he wants to come here. He has his excellent contract, he has his chance to move back to his hometown, and the Rocks shouldn't have to pay it. If they do, Minnie should fork over cash considerations and a pick (or something of value) to get out of a longer contract of a guy they decided doesn't fit.

My take on the deal.

 

Getting Mike James back is a great first move. A PG with quickness that can defend, shoot the 3ptr and attack the basket to create his own shot. ALL of those qualities we need. Plus we get his toughness. Moving him for Howard's contract is great too. So what if James' deal is one year longer. It still ends at the same time as Tmac/Rafer which is what I suspect is management's plan, to try not to take any deals longer than 3 years so we will be under the cap at that point to reload with Yao.

Interesting that the Minny paper said that Justin Reed could be included. That would be a good thing. Adelman said he was looking for 3/4 combo forwards and Reed is 6'8" 240. Yeah, he is nothing special but he is a body on a cheap 2 year deal starting next season. Plus if the Rockets make a 3 for 1 type trade (Artest) it gives the Rockets more depth.

Great trade to get Mike James back.

 

The reference IIRC is more to aggression than chemistry. OUr milquetoast stars who take out their aggression by crying or hitting themselves on the head and scowling rarely display it.

Bruce Bowen, might not threaten 'chemistry' by making silly comments but he threatens opposing players with the dirtiest play in the league.

Robert Horry thugged the spurs out of the Conference semi's with his body slam.

Michael Finley has never been a shrinking violet either.

For every championship team with no loose cannons, I can name one with 1 or more - hell last year the heat had 4-5 so called chemistry risks in the rotation, so anyway I don't know if it makes too much of a difference either way.

The reference to james as a chmeistry risk is overblown anyway - so what if the guy makes ridiculous comments to reporters - I really don't see that as a big deal, although a lot of people around here act like the fate of western civilization hinged on James being sober and serious in discussions with sportswriters. Give me a break.

 

Nope you can't accuse me of being a Taylor lover. Didn't want Taylor either. Did not like his game at all. He had too much trouble dragging that big contract up and down the floor. The point that you so conveniently fail to see is that for that trade, they traded away their starting PG, SG & PF. Now that in and of itself is not a bad thing if, IF they had a plan in place to address the holes created by said trade. They didn't. No, instead they tried to make do with Lue as the PG and Howard as the PF under the pretense that Yao & Tmac would be enough. They weren't.

 

Dude, give me a break. The other teams have to compete against the best center and one of the best wing players in the game. I don't understand why people believe we should have the best players in the league at every position. Every team has one or two positions where they are weak and could use an upgrade but they are still contenders. I agree we need more talent but if our team as is(assuming a decent PF is added) stays healthy all year with a new coach and a fresh Yao and Tmac we can be as good as any team in the league even though we don't have a "third" star that everyone is pining for. I would be completely happy if we kept adding solid talented role players to this team to get depth and scoring punch. Oh and you severely overrate Harris.

 

Good post! I agree. you meant Suns here right?

 

I disagree. If he's better, he's only slightly better. It's interesting that you're apparently basing this statement on one series and that it happens to be the series in which Harris' team lost in the biggest upset in NBA history.

Further, your point was not that we have to compete against teams with very good young point guards. If it were, Nash wouldn't have been at the top of that list. You're changing your point because you realize you can't defend describing Harris as a premiere point guard or putting him in the same category as those other point guards. But more importantly, all you've done is whined about trading a 34 year old Juwan Howard for a 32 year old Mike James. You've offered no feedback as to how the Rockets could have better solidified the point guard position. Who can the Rockets acquire that would compete with those point guards to your satisfaction?

Oh that's right - it'd be impossible for you to answer that question because you're impossible to satisfy. That's your actual point whether you realize it or not.

 

OK, on this we both agree. Granted getting James does improve them at the 2 spot (I just can't see him as a PG) although I was kinda interested in seeing what Snyder could do under Adelman. And also granted, getting ANYTHING for Howard is a plus. A lot will depend on what happens at the draft and whether or not they trade Battier away in an attempt to get a PF. I wonder if Otis Thorpe can still play?.

 

To me the trade is a wash.. Both guys are bench players, that will have limited roles on the team.

James could barely get off the bench with a bad wolves team, so I am not sure why everybody thinks he will save the Rockets. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have him then Rafer. But both of them handling the PG duties, spells disaster.

Hopefully this will set up a Rafer trade, and perhaps with Battier get us a starting caliber PG and let James come off the bench when Tmac is not in the game. James needs the ball to be effective.

 

Mike James will be our starting PG....He is not an NBA 2.

 

Isn;t that what we lacked last year though...Another guy who can create his own shot....We asked way too much of Yao and Tracy last season and James gives us another guy we can give the ball to when we need something to happen.

 

Break given. But what you describe is exactly the company line we've been hearing ever since the Tmac trade. And other teams have had no problem competing against the "best center and one of the best wing players in the game" which is why they are sitting at home right now. So the quest to add "talented role players" goes on I suppose.

I happen to like Harris. He's been misused up here in Dallas (first under Nelson and then under Avery) because they can't make up their mind on what they want their PG to do. He is far better than Rafer in that he can actually run your offense and not shoot it out of the game.

 

Good move by the Rox. It was apparent and has always been so the orx fall in love with one dimensional players like head and so on. Its cool in the regular season because t-mac and yao should be enough to beat alot of teams in the nba. In the playoffs, you need guys that can get their own shot. In fairness, you can have too many guys like this, but it helps the entire team when a guy can get to the hoop and finish. Rafer can get to the rack, but cant finish. The Artest trade cant boost this team into championship contention. I'm not saying he's great, but if james is your 4th scorer, then you have a pretty good team. Gone will be the scoring droughts and the clanging of shots. I think defensively the rox will be better because if t-mac does less, his defense would be better. At least you can run pnr with James and artest, force the switch and have artest with a guard on him and t-mac and ming backside. That would be very,very good.

 

Yeah, I don't get why you guys think Mike James is so great. The only thing is we can get rid of juwan contract. Mike James is selfish, and shunned the rockets before. He is soooo overrated. I don't want this deal to go down. He is not that much better than rafer. maybe offensively, but i am not sure he can run the point and dish out assists to yao and tmac.