Atlanta enters the Mike James sweepstakes (UPDATE: Hawks sign Claxton)

Zo got bought out. It still counts on their cap, but you can't trade it.

 

Which Alston is that? Someone with that last name on the US Olympic track team? If you think Rafer Alston is quicker than Mike James, you must not be paying much attention. Alston seldo stops dribble penetration by the likes of Parker and Terry. James in a noteworthy defender. Cheaper? If James signs for the MLE he'll be making a whopping 1.3M more than Alston. They are both listed at 6'2". Mike James averaged nearly as many assists per 48 as Alston on a worse team. This one is not even close.

 

He was responding to a post about Derek Fisher.

 

claxton reached a verbal agreement with atlanta so this should increase houston's chances to obtain MJ.... and no.. not the one that played on the bulls....

 

Claxton was the free agent I wanted most heading into the offseason. Hopefully, Marcus Banks doesn't sign too soon.

I have a bad feeling this Mike James situation is going to drag on for a while. James is probably better off waiting to see if any team can work out a sign-and-trade for him that’ll pay him more money than signing early.

In the meantime, the Rockets need to decide right now whether their best chance to get James is via trade or the MLE. If it’s MLE, they need to immediately look to move the trade exception for one of the remaining free agents. If they think the only way to get James is with a sign-and-trade, they need to go ahead and use the MLE. But they can’t just sit with their thumbs up their asses waiting for James. It’s far too risky. They don’t want to end up in the same situation as draft night, scrambling at the last second to make a deal because all of the players they want are gone.

 

I think something is up. All these other teams pulling the trigger on deals, I can't believe CD is fishing or playing golf while Cassell, Claxton, Thomas etc are being signed. A deal is in the works, I sense by the end of the week, Mike James is back in Houston or not but some deal goes down by the end of the week.

 

A 4-year MLE adds up to 25.5m, which is slightly more than Speedy's 25m. I'm assuming 5.5 the first year, with a 10% raise for each year after that.

I'm not totally thrilled at getting the ballhog back, but if we have to, I guess we have to.

 

the more

Yes, the more I think about it the more I want James on the team.

 

Mike is a ball-hog huh?

Rafer alston takes 11.5 shots a game at 38% and 33% 3pters
Mike James takes 15.5 shots a game at 47% and 44% 3pters...thats only 1 more shot a quarter...

You must mean another Mike James...oh yea mike james actually drives and gets to the free-throw line more than once a game

 

I am just wondering. Why not play james at the 2 guard and keep rafer at point?

Rafer is not a great shooter we all know that, but he is damn good passer, can make entry pass to yao, and racks up assists when he has a real team on floor (almost 11 a game w/ yao + mac on floor w/ him and like 7-8 w/out them on floor w/ him)

James at the 2 would be solid: Concerns is his height but this is becoming a short, quick SG league. Worries: Kobe (but place Tmac on him when they play lakers), Wade (you arent stopping him anyways let him get his). I cant really think of any other REALLY GOOD SGs that could really blow us out if we have james on them.

Just a thought

 

Well it's an option. At the least I'm sure they'll have stretches of time on the floor together. Although I'd rather not make them both regular starters. Either way we'd probably still need to bring in a defensive minded SG to round out our backcourt.

 

alston has took those shots because both yao ans tmac were down, if the team is healthy, he will take less shots imo ...

 

We did pick up the option on Bogans.

Alston/ James/ Head
James/ Bogans/ Head/ TMAC
TMAC/ Bogans/ Battier
Battier/ JHO/ Hayes/ TMAC/ Baxter
Yao/ Mutombo/ Baxter

Looks good to me!

Thats 11 right there.

 

My thinking is playing Mike James a lot with Alston or Head--whomever is hotter among the latter. Head is bigger than Terry or Harris, and Dallas plays those together a lot, so it could work.

 

In my opinion, the way to give Wade problems is to put a guy like James on him. The whole key to Wade's game is dribble penetration. A guy like James would cause Wade to have to pull up and take jump shots. He still may hit them, but it's a lower percentage shot than him taking it to the rack. Now, Kobe is a different story because he will raise up and fire over the defender. But the way to defense Kobe and the Lakers is to take away everything else and make do it on his own. And then towards the end of the game, you start doubling on him or putting a bigger defender like TMac on him and the Lakers come unraveled.

So, yes, we do need one more swing player that is a defense minded type, longer player but they don't necessarily have to be the starter or an offensive player if we get James to go along with the others.

Really, the player we need is Jared Jeffries. He would be perfect to throw in there because he's another guy that can guard 2-4. With a lineup of him, McGrady, and Battier at the 2-4 slots, Van Gundy would have a field day with his defensive setups. You could throw him on Jeffries and stick Battier on their PF because their PF is a perimeter player. And the good thing about a guy like Jeffries is he would be about as good as you could do against the longer, bigger 4s in the league like Duncan and Garnett. After we sign James, we need to figure out some way to get that kid.

 

Where did you hear this?

 

We didn't pick up his option. He didn't have one. We just gave him a qualifying offer so we have the right to match any offer he is given.