offense wise and role wise anyway. James is a much better ball handler and outside of the piss poor shot selection (which Luther also had), doesn't make the boneheaded mistakes that Luther gives us every night. But when it comes to the role they're playing on offense, it's uncanny. With James getting the 25+ mins a game that Luther got last year, it's like deja vu all over again. Last year Luther would come off the bench and hit some big shots for us and not stop shooting even if he was missing. I'm seeing the same from James this year. He's come off the bench and hit some shots and then started taking some very ill advised shots after that. I literally had a "no no no no...yes yes yes" moment watching james a couple of times last night.
I think Mike James has played much better than Luther Head ever did for us. Not saying that Head is bad, but James brings not solid 3 point shooting, plus he can contribute in other ways. If Head's shot was not falling (playoffs), he wasn't much use for anything else.
Mike James is a shooter/scorer. You don't bring him in off the bench to facilitate the offense like Alston does per se. He does take some wild shots, but you gotta take the good with the bad. He hit some big shots for us last nite when outr offense was stagnating. I think the 07 Mike James is better cause he gets better looks more consistantly than Luther Head because of his quicknees and the ability to stop on a dime with the pullup.
The main difference is that Mike James can play defense, albeit spotty at times. That's still better than the shell of a shooter that is Luther Head. We can't even call Luther a "basketball player" yet because he's such a liability on every other aspect of the game besides shooting. Last year anyone will tell you that teams just went to work as soon as Head checked in, and played nonstop iso on the guy he was guarding. Van Gundy just had to accept his losses on that front because he couldn't play Rafer 48 minutes per game.
i'm sorry but i have to disagree with this. the shots that has been falling for James are the ones where Yao kicks it out to him, much similar to what Luther was getting last year. In fact I'd have to say that his shot selection is probably worse than Luther's last year. that being said, i'm not complaining about James. I'm just making a comparison between his current role and Luther's role last year.
weather he's right or wrong about most of his shots doesn't matter. unlike other players on our team who want to just stand around and pass to yao and tmac. he makes the opposition play defense. passing to yao and tmac is nice, but if 13 guys on the team think like that they would regress to being a bunch of milk drinkers, as JVG put it. he brings more to the game than FGA. he brings a pair of balls which the team was severly lacking. so IMO, he can shoot contested shots at a 40% clip, because he also attacks the basket, plays defense, and gets in peoples face. simple cost-benifit analysis.
The big difference is Mike plays primarily PG and Luther played primarily SG (and sucked badly when he had to be the PG). The major impact about having James vs. Head is that Rafer '06= 35-40 minutes a game. Rafer '97 = 25-30 minutes a game.
Head should get more of James minutes. Head has better shot selection, shoots the three better and is more comfortable passing the ball. He deserves at least 20 minutes a game. I think he can develop into a solid player. James is good, no doubt. But his shot selection is questionable. He can create his own shot. So his general offensive prowess deserves 20 minutes a game as well. = James and Head split time evenly.
Mike James is better now than Luther was a year ago. Why? Cause Mike James can pass (he just forgot about it) and he can shoot+drive to the basket. Luther could only shoot the ball
Similarities - Both decent spot up shooters Differences - James plays mostly PG, so brings the ball up court and initiates the offense (contrary to popular belief, when he is in the game he does in fact run the offense by bringing up the ball and passing off to run a play 90% of the time) runs a decent break, and penetrates on occasion. Not that similar, IMO.
James is a real Bobby Jax just like what Adelman had in Sactown.Instant offense off the bench was his role. I could remember checking out boxscores and he does not rack up assists. He brings fire and intensity.... I could see another similarity on our starting PG with the same Adelman's Kings..Jason Williams was their starting PG and could not bring them up to another level. so they traded for Mike Bibby and had more success.This makes me believe that this is the same for Alston.But still don't know who should be our target as his replacement... watcha think guys?
