James never got the minutes he deserved to prove himself, no matter how bad Rafer played. Alot of times, players just need the comfort of knowing they are going to contribute to the team in order to produce. After the 1st game, i think James knew Adelman was going to sit him on the bench every time bricked a jumpshot. i really want to see Mike James prove everybody wrong. I'm not saying that he will definitely come out and be a huge factor, but i definitely think he's a much better player than Luther Head even at this stage in his career. I know Mike has stunk it up in the limited time he's played, but exactly how much time has he really gotten? How many games has he started, even though he's been a much better pg than rafer throughout their careers. How did Rafer start the season? How many weeks did Adelman give Rafer over 30+ minutes even though he was shooting 20% from the field, and was a big offensive liability. Now how many 30 minute game shas James played? How many 20? How many 10 even? Seems to me that Adelman judged his ability much too soon, and he never tried to get James into a rotation. Never tried James with Bonzi, Scola, Battier and Yao. I'm just saying, it was way too early to get rid of James when Adelman did. Seems like after the first week, James was already only getting the garbage minutes at the end of quarters, or in last result situations. I don't think James ever got a real chance to gel with this team. It would be pretty messed up if we traded him for nothing again, and then saw him go on a team that used him properly and and he has another season like Toronto. He obviously won't be that good again, but to see him produce in another team after we give him, that won't be very cool. Mike James was supposed to be one of our biggest additions in the offseason, and ... uh ... Rafer impressed Rick in pre-season i guess, so Mike immediately started the season on the bench with limited minutes, and being seated every time he made a bad decision, no matter the reason. Sit his ass down so he can watch Rafer shot 0-4 3pt fg in the 4th qtr, and make 4 turnovers, and then continue to start every game with consistent mediocre play for weeks to come. ... So, then James is supposed to just fly off the bench and fix everything with the team right. I seriously doubt that anybody read a forth of this. We need Steve Francis on this team also, wtf is Rick Adelman doing. There are times Rafer really looks bad on both sides of the court, yet he remains in there forever. Put Stevie in there and let him play as long as contributes. i was really hoping steve would be the starter and james the back-up point by now, and rafer would be on another team by now. stevie - brooks mcgrady - james battier - bonzi scola - hayes yao - landry
Luther Head has no business being in the Rockets' rotation. He's a 3rd string player on a good team and maybe a back-up on a really bad team.
Agreed completely. We would have been lost without McGrady this year if we didn't have Head in the lineup.
or perhaps Mike James would have been able to prove himself, and in return would become in a rotation throughout the season and really help us in the playoffs, but now since he won't be in the rotation, we might not make it as far. no one knows.
I find it funny how many ppl love Novak on this board but hate Head....Head is like a more versatile version of Novak. And yall say Head cant drive, but who does that cut move with yao near tha baseline tha most?? Beside Bonzi and Landry, Head is tha hard cutter on tha team. And he does tha two man game with Yao better than anybody on tha team,
That's bad. It weakens our outside shooting. I hope Mike James will be able to get some minutes and develop some confidence.
the fact of the matter is that mike james could really make us better team in the playoffs, but he still hasn't even been given a chance to be in the rotation. he should have been given a chance, but the proven unreliable luther gets got the place over mike james. james has not had one chance this entire season to really prove himself. just like francis. it really takes a good whole game or two just to get your feet wet, then adelman can make some decisions, but he didn't even let james or francis make-up for some of their bad plays, when we all know they are better than what they've done so far. mike james washed up already? how the hell would we know? his energy and physical abilities still look great. only playing-time will get this man back into his game again. yet, adelman sticks with rafer and head. we all know what rafer and especially head gives us in the playoffs......
I might have heard Bill and Matt wrong during the Bucks game, but here is a more optimistic update from rockets.com notebook: http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=400026676&#msg400698595 Btw, I dog out Luther for his bonehead play alot of times, but I know he is our best outside shooter (Novak doesn't count cause he has no D, Luther can play D but again he has brainfarts). I just don't understand why he can't improve his overall game and not be so one dimensional, he's a great outside shooter and cutting to the basket, the rest of his game is either poor or inconsistent. The one word I describe him is maddening.
For one you have to get to the playoffs first before we make personnel decisions based on what's best for playoffs. We've already gone over that Head was reliable when Tmac went down and he's a reliable 3-pt shooter (2nd on team for people who qualify). You can go back and look at my previous posts that break all down. The key word in your post comes right at the beginning ... could. Mike James could be great and better than Head but Head has been sufficable for us and there's no guarentee with James. Would you like to experiment for a couple games possibly costing us a loss when we are still out of the playoffs? I agree it would nice to see James get a shot but the fact of the matter is we have a very deep roster and don't need to experiment. Plus we all know James can be a volatile person sometimes and none of us know if he did anything to fall from grace with Adelman. Also none of us see everyone in practice everyday. Maybe James has just lost it a little (he is 32 after all) and with a deep roster we have better options. I got nothing against either player, you obviously some type of bias.
I agree with the idiot part but his joining in Jan 2008 has nothing to do with it. Take myself for instance. I've been an avid Rockets fan since I was 11 and follow them very closely but never cared to get on and chat about them (I have actually been on other boards but none this active).
There is a thing of proving your credibility to the board and noobs don't have any at the beginning...as you post more others will find out more about you...it's never wise to be a noob and make one sentence outbursts like that guy just did. As you build credibility you can actually poke fun at extremists one sided fans and your rep is still golden.
Its hard for me to say this and to even admit, but this team needs luther his shooting is really needed. Actually i think he's underused in the offense somewhat he's one of the best shooters on the team and not just from the 3 point range i think adelman should run some curls for him similar to Rip Hamilton he just reminds me of him for some reason... the only weakness i can see in luther besides the one or 2 passes he makes per game that make me scratch my head... is his handles when driving his handles are decent but he lacks the confidence in it once he's going to the rim.
