Mike James is poisen for the other players though, he is a black hole. The ball comes in and it doesn't do anything but go to the basket. He is NOT the answer at PG, we need someone that can drive & dish as well as drive and finish. DD
I'm not saying that he doesnt breakdown defenses with penetration, I'm saying he doesn't do it effectively. Which is that he can drive into the lane and not finish. His interior passing and passing out of traffic are a bit suspect.
That being said, Mike James being a career 10-12 ppg scorer is not garbage either. Just that if we use him, he's probably better coming off the bench instead of starting.
Obviously we do. Its annoying when fans blindly place trust (See selection of Mario Williams and David Carr).
i pity SF3, this is the line-up he play with 2nd quarter- SF3, rafer, head, scola and yao/bonzi end of 3rd and begining of 4th- SF3,head, synder, scola and yao/battier/AB he was part of a very small line-up, limited time playing with yao. Seems that RA likes the combo of SF3, head and scola. Did anyone notice who was he guarding on the opposite team?
Thats what I'M saying... THANK YOU, your Clutchness!!! AND I told ya'll Rafer was the worst last year... Everyone should just frickin' listen to me!
Oh man, have I been wanting to post that for a couple of weeks. I just was afraid of the backlash of talking about wanting a player injured etc.. I agree about James too, but I think RA is right about him, he is valuable as a super sub off the bench, he dominates the ball too much for my liking. Which was my major beef with SF the last time he was here, but last night, getting up his 11 shots did not seem so bad, he still got others involved....and the next time I see Mike James do a drive and dish, will be the FIRST time all year. DD
Not penetrating and finishing or penetrating and dishing is equivalent to not breaking down defenses.
Can you please show me one expert who claims the Rockets should win the championship this year. Im curious. And sorry, stat nerds Like John Hollinger who have been wrong every year don't count.
Agreed! Mike James is a typical nerval knife...in his eye,only ball and basket,dribling and shot...when he does,you'd better close your eye,maybe he can make some ,but maybe miss more
Mike's had a couple great drive/dishes to Scola... the problem is, he seems to get those out of the way early in the game and then goes into "me-first" mode. It's frustrating how glaring the flaws are on each of our guards...
DD, I thought you watched the games? James has a problem, sometimes, with shooting early in the clock, when he should be setting up the offense, but if he's open, how do we know whether he's got the green light Alston apparently has? As for the drive and dish, I've seen him do it. Are you covering your eyes in terror?? You might ponder that James wasn't with the team last year and is even more unfamiliar with a lot of the other guys than Alston. Add to that the big glut at the 1 (James started at the 2 last night, and shot very well, BTW), which has become larger with the return of Francis, and I see where Clutch is coming from wishing he could see the lineups for a couple of weeks without Alston, to see what we really have. We sure as hell know what Rafer gives us.
Bricked "wide open" H.O.R.S.E. shots. He is a good ball handler, and distributer, but the offensive liabilities are just too much. Is there anyone on the Suns who cannot hit a wide open shot consistently? On the Rockets: Hayes can't, Rafer can't, Battier can't, Wells can't, Head can't, James can't, and to be perfectly transparent, TMac can't. Yao comes closest. We have too many "streaky" shooters to have a starting PG who shoots in the 20's and 30's percentwise. The Rockets have to work too hard for their points to have a major player consistently miss wide open looks.
Francis needs to turn his game up a notch. Either that or Adleman is telling him how he must play to get playing time. This is not the Francis of old with his cutting, penetrating or aggressiveness. I saw Francis out there playing safe. Passing the ball off and playing within the system. Gone are the wicked crossover and thunder dunks. Imagine if we had Iverson and he was told to play this way. That would be a complete waste of Iverson's talents.