This debate is hopeless. When Mike James came here 2 years ago, he was a latecomer to a team with great chemistry making a move. Because of that, he shut up and played his best ball. That is what made him such a great addition in the stretch run. The people that criticized him then (I'll call them "Sura-lovers" LOL) were way off base. If I knew for a fact MJ would be the same way if he played for us now (after having signed the guaranteed contract), I might want him back. But the problem is we don't know that. Flako is too unpredictable and full of himself. This is just my opinion, but I guarantee you he would be clashing with JVG over his role and 3/4 of the forum would be ready to hang JVG over it. Like JVG said, you take the good AND the bad with MJ. We were fortunate 2 years ago to get mostly the good because he had no comfort zone here to act out. We had several personalities in the lockerroom that wouldn't have put up with it. That would NOT be the case this season and people (like me) would be moaning and groaning about wasting the MLE two years in a row. Remember his mouthing off in Toronto near the end of last season? He alienated everyone there. Chris Bosh was in his corner until that point. MJ made it hard for them to bring him back. If he played here last season, the very same thing would have happened. MJ is a weirdo who is best suited as a spark off the bench. The bigger role he has the more his negatives are magnified. Last year was his career year. It will not happen again. He's got a championship, he got his money and he's getting older. Good luck MJ! Glad you are not here. Rafer isn't good enough, but MJ is not such a huge upgrade.
tmac and yao played their best ball together because of mj? nothing less than a championship will convince you. and if the rockets don't get the championship, it won't be because mj isn't here. what is your beef? did you support the rockets decision? your quote about rafer, shows he was a quitter in toronto, but what did the rockets do? they liked him enough to trade for him despite his problems. my question is this, what is so important about a third scorer? the heat pistons, spurs, mavs, how many scorers did they have on their teams? if tmac and yao can't hold up their end of the bargain of the scoring, then the rockets don't deserve to be champions. right now, they have the pieces set. this is the most set the team has been for a decade.
Did MJ prevent them from playing their best ball? That seems to be the argument against James. I keep hearing about how Rafer makes everyone better. LOL, OK. If we win a championship, Rafer rules. If not, not his fault! And hell yes "nothing less"... we've got T-Mac and Yao. Damn straight we better be focused on getting the right pieces for a championship. They also signed Derek Anderson and Stromile Swift to multi-year deals that summer. They dumped DA. They dumped Stro. We also know they tried desperately to get back the guy they traded who plays the same position as Rafer. You know Rafer took 15 shots last night, right? No one has ever said T-Mac and Yao don't need to handle the BULK of the scoring ... but you have to have role players who are efficient at scoring as the threat of T-Mac and Yao creates a lot of open opportunities for their teammates.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl//4366106.html Ex-Rocket James says he has moved on .... I think NOT! Nov. 29, 2006, 12:40AM James at ease with T-Wolves Former Rocket maintains leaving Houston was hard By FRAN BLINEBURY Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Mike James still has questions and disappointment. Just no regrets. The 6-3 guard went into the summer expecting to return to Houston and on Tuesday night he did. But as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. "It's definitely a great place to be because the people were good here," James said. "They treated me good here. My family was comfortable here. It is definitely the place I wanted to be." And he was the Rockets' No. 1 free-agent target. But James wound up rejecting the Rockets and signed a nearly identical four-year deal with Minnesota. That's because the Rockets would not give him an option to opt out of his contract after three seasons and would not allow a trade kicker in the agreement. In a trade kicker, a player receives a bonus of 15 percent of his contract if dealt and often becomes the insurmountable hurdle to any trade. "It was business, nothing personal," James said. "But after what they did to me the first time, I couldn't leave myself open again." After joining the Rockets for the final 27 games of the season in 2005, James was stunned when he was traded to Toronto for Rafer Alston at the start of the next training camp. "That was probably the first time that I was really hurt in this game by any team, and I've been traded a lot," James said."I felt like Houston was a home from the beginning and when that happened it was just hard and I just couldn't deal with it." James has started all 14 games of the season for the Timberwolves. But he entered Tuesday shooting only 41.8 percent from the field, and his minutes have dwindled of late. He played a little over 23 minutes and totaled four points against the Rockets. The question then is whether it's better to be playing in Minnesota with the trade kicker in his contract? "Nah, I wouldn't say that," James said. "Everything inside of me wanted to come back to Houston. You never go backwards in life. You have to go forward and there's nothing you can do about decisions you make but live with them. "That's all I'm trying to do." --------------------------- You know..... after reading this article. You can see Mike James is clearly regretting his decision right now. And we still need his help if we want to make some big noise in the playoffs later on. I say give MJ another chance, get him back to Houston if he is available.
I know, I said in one of my post that it's hard to know how many shots Yao actually gets and there are a lot of other things needs to be considered. I agree I chould have used better examples. But If you really want to pick on the logic flaw, I guess you should pick on SamFisher's instead of mine. Sam's logic: Player A is a better shooter than Player B, so Player A shoots more than Player B is always a good thing for the team. My logic: Not necessarily. If there is a player C who shoots even better and player B can find him consistently, it could offset the shooting deficency and make the team offense even more efficient. Do you agree with this? About JVG wanted James back stuff, I trust you and to be honest, I wanted James back too. But is he coming back to simply replace Alston or to share the load with Alston? That's still a question to me. My take: When our two stars are healthy and on the floor together, Alston is a better fit for his passing ability. If one star goes down or goes to the bench, James might be more useful in that situation. I agree. But Mike James may or may not be much better than Alston, especially when both Tmac and Yao are on the floor.
The key difference that you are deliberately obscuring is that last night's mediocre performance by James is an aberration in compared with recent years. Last night's performance by Alston was vintage 05-06 Alston - except he's shooting even more.... His season numbers for last night show that he's currently at or around the same level he was last year, the only difference is his 3 point shooting is slightly higher (36%* to 33%) and his assists are significantly down (6.5 to 4.7). *with an anchor.... That's why the Rockets wanted James to replace Alston.
Man, what a waste of time some of you spend on moaning over "former Rockets." Horry, Cassell, James, Griffin, Francis, etc., etc., etc. It's just like those friends from high school that only want to talk about all the "good times" in school. Every championship and playoff team has flaws. I, for one, am confident that the Rockets will do their best to address the point guard/bench issues, as well as what to do with that-Devil-Dog-Twinkie-MoonPie-DunkinDonut-CountChocula-FigNewton-RoyalewithCheese- 80%FatGroundBeef-CoolWhip-Breyers-CustardPie-KlondikePete'sCrunchyNuggets- excuse for a player they acquired in free agency. That being said, if MJ's unhappy and the Rockets have room, why not bring him back if we can swing it? The more the merrier.
But James couldn't run team well through out his career is also well documented. Otherwise Rockets wouldn't have traded him, Toronto wouldn't have let him go for nothing. When Yao,Tmac and Alston played together, Rockets' winning percentage has been quite high since last year. That means they have good chemistry. Yao and Tmac provide enough fire power usually. I can't say what would happen if Alston is replaced by James yet. That's why I like James come off the bench to provide addistional scoring. I feel this argument is becoming meaningless. You think James fits the team better, I think Alston fits with 2 stars better. Until they both play for Rockets right now so we can see what's gonna happen, you won't be able to make me change my mind and I won't be able to make you change your mind. Realistically it's not gonna happen since James made his choice. So we better just leave it like that.
My thought's exactly, but, add: Preston Wilson, Jose Vizcaino, Jeff Kent, Aaron Glenn, Corey Bradford, Jabar Gaffney and as much as I hate to say it Robert Horry(The Spurs, please that's like a Johnny Damon Move)
Yeah and I have a rock that prevents bear attacks. This is a red herring that has been explored numerous times - delving into the meaningful stats in this department indicates that Alston's contributions to this winning is marginal at best; I'm not going to bother doing it, but...it's true.
Sammy, three things. 1st, I and a certain subgroup of fans are at the minimum rooting for a current Rocket player, while you are indulging yourself in a fandom with an ex-Rocket, who is the "enemy" of our team. Are you with us or against us? I have to question your loyalty. 2nd, you have no idea how and when I became a Rockets fan. If the best you can do is stereotyping, then it just shows how desperate you are. 3rd, last I checked, I am some 2 months and 4000 ranks higher than you on the "seniority list." You probably need to re-invent yourself before you can question me. Blah blah blah. It doesn't matter if MJ was a better player than Alston on individual level, Alston PWN3D MJ last night, and Alston's team defeated your idol's team fair and square. This is the real world and you gotta stop playing fantasy bball every once in a while. Maybe you'll have something to brag about next time the two team play again, maybe ...
if the rockets happen to get into the western conference finals, and lose let's say to the spurs in 6, in your eyes, have the rockets improved enough? i'm afraid that if that happens the MJ thread will start AGAIN. MJ helped the rockets take the mavs to game 7. nothing more or less. did MJ allow them to play their best ball? didn't you find at least some signifigance that yao and tmac played the whole season together allowing them to get to the playoffs? comparing 04-05 and 05-06, what was the difference? the rockets last year might have needed MJ and his 50 point scoring outburst, but with tmac and yao expected to be healthy ALL season, to hell with MJ's 50 point outbursts. judge rafer based on this year with tmac and yao(HEALTHY). not rafer trying to be the offensive focal point like some wanted him to show last year and deemed a failure in comparison to MJ. not desperate enough for mj's taste. who do you fault for this? rockets decided this is what they are going to war with. for better or worse, it is what it is.
i agree, but you are isolating the one aspect of alston as if that was all he was paid to do. if tmac wanted to bring the ball every time down the court, then there would absolutely be no rafer. but maybe you disagree also because maybe you feel as if MJ was a good point, set the offense up just as good, bring the ball down the court in a good amount of time. alston is not perfect, but the point is, when people see 10 seconds left on the clock and the rockets not set in the offense, then the rafer haters, SEE WHAT DID I TELL YOU, and hence that is the argument that rafer can't shoot OR play point. how many times does that happen during the course of the game?
Sam, All you need to do is post a link to that game torrent/highlights of the Raptors playing the Rockets last season, where MJ thoroughly 'raped' Rafer Alston...it was by FAR the most one-sided and embarrassing 'showdown' I have ever witnessed between supposedly 'equal' players.
It's ultimately the playoffs that matter. I myself will keep an eye on the likes of Rafer Alston and Shane Battier. Hope they surprise me, it's just several months away.
That A hole already regrets his decision.....I"m so glad that he struggled against us so all of Houston can see that we didn't miss anything by not signing him...it was a blessing in disguise when he decided to go to minn...and if he continues to struggle, he will start to gripe and make it even better...
