16 Games Into The Season - What's a Mike James Lover To Do?

Funny, and totally unexpected.

 

with mj and vspan, we'd all be champions

 

I love how all of you skip defenders forget the fact that he cannot defend at all (not saying he doesn't try, but he get's KILLED on every pick and roll)

EDIT: also, he has shot the ball well in two games. two games. yet all of a sudden he is the answer at PG. Not so sure about that one...though I have enjoyed his not sucking

 

But why isn't Rick playing Mike James at PG? He tried, and moved him exclusively to the 2, despite not having a real back up PG to use. Might it be because he realizes James can not play the 1 at all? That his shoot-only mentality gunks up our offense each and every time?

James has been so awful at the 1, that Adelman has even tried Luther there to see if he could be the back up that James can not. That was even worse. So now, we've got Steve potentially taking the backup PG minutes despite his sourpuss start to the year.

The point is, most of this board, shouted loud and often that had Mike James been here to platoon/supplant Rafer at the PG position, we'd have been a viable contender.

You say that the first 16 games can't disprove that because Mike has been shifted to the 2. I say, Mike being shifted to the 2 is concrete proof that he wasn't going to be the answer at the 1 this year or last.

If Mike can get himself together and be instant offense off the bench, I do agree that he'd make a big difference and that would have been a major difference in those games in Utah. On the flipside, Bonzi could just as well have been/become that player for us.

Whether or not he finds his shot, Mike James will be a disaster whenever he plays at the 1.

 

You're omitting a key fact - James was not moved to the 2 because of ineptitude at running the offense - if anything his performance dropped off a cliff when forced to play the 2 spot. He was moved to the 2 spot when Tracy was injured - and thus far neither he nor the Outlaw Bouncy Wales have been adept at that slot.

 

Can't defend at all? Thats quite an overstatement. Definitely wouldn't say he's a great defender but he's not a bad one. Keeps pretty good position and plays the passing lanes quite well, as evidenced by his high steal numbers. I'll agree with you that MJ plays better pressure D, but he also gambles alot so it evens itself out.

As far as the PnR's go, thats dependent on who's doing the picking. PnR defense is at least a two man process, most of the time other teams are running the PnR to attack Yao, not Skip. Yao stepping out, which he really is incapable of doing well, would eliminate alot of the PnR issues the Rox are having.

Just to clear this up, not a Skip lover, just defender haha. This guy gets blamed for everything around here. Would do the same thing for any rocket including MJ if ppl blamed as much stuff on him as they do skip. Don't think Brock was saying MJ sucked, just getting a little shot in at the mighty clutch and his mancrush on MJ.

 

We need MJ to play, he is a good talent who can create and shoot. You owe me MJ for the Game 7 vs dallas. You quit on us and got yourself thrown out.

 

I was totally opposed to the James/Alston trade, and especially, after James goes to Toronto and averages 20 points a game. But, overall, I am disappointed in his performance so far. Looked good early, and just seems to be in a shooting slump. However, I think he will break out of it soon.

 

I don't think that Mike has been relegated specifically to the two spot. It looks like Rick is just using a three guard rotation which the two that might be on the floor share the pg duties and the two spot. I think that can work good like Fisher and Williams were with Utah last year. I think it helps that Rafer has performed like a real point guard that last two games, instead of the brick fest that he usually has. Mike is Mike, he's a good shooter but is very streaky, he's either burning up the court, or can't hit the side of a barn. However, he hasn't done that bad with his shooting the last three to four games. He's also a shoot first point guard, not to say that bad as long as it flows with the game, not forcing things.

 

I'll say Rafer does decent job against PG who are not very strong, like Nash yesterday night.
But PGs like Baron Davis and Deron Williams will easily eat him alive.
Tonight, Rafer will be in big trouble.

 

I don't really question James' talent, he's a good player. But he is the king of dribble-jack and sometimes it seems like he isn't even looking to pass to anyone, no matter how open they may be.

 

I... I had to change my sig.

 

looked pretty good in game 17

 

I was reading the chronicle and adelman indicated he wants james to shoot more. he wants to use james as a primary scorer. no more playmaking duties. that leaves franis and alston to be the playmakers in the 1 and 2nd units repectively. thats what i've been from day 1. james is a scorer. he does it well. 19 points last night came because he was attacking.

Thats he's game and he is one of the better scoring guards in the league.

 

What the hell exactly are you trying to prove? You start off on some stupid rant bashing Rafer haters that "believe" he was wasting Yao and T-Mac's prime years, which nobody in their right mind would argue. Then, you focus on your needless Mike James bashing basically asserting that MJ supporters acted like he was going to be the second coming of Bob Cousy or something, which nobody in their right mind did.

Now, it's like you're just looking for reasons to detract from MJ and just hope he fails, which no Rockets fan in their right mind should do.

To me, you're just displaying the typical signs of a troll. A very bad and unwanted troll.

 

BrockStapper playbook, page 7: when all else fails, assign the collective failures of the team to Mike James