We would still be desperately short of 3 point shooters, and athleticism... especially if you consider McGrady's back. Even if you get James, you have only 2 players in the backcourt that don't have gaping holes in their game or are fighting mismatches every night. Sura - career is over Wesley - undersized at SG Head - undersized at SG Alston - can't shoot Bogans - can't shoot Bowen - can't shoot James - causes mismatches at PG, undersized at SG McGrady - major mismatch against everyone but Bryant, Wade, James If you draft a starting shooting guard, then you at least have a competant starting lineup. We wouldn't have a single mismatch coming off the bench, but they might end up being competant, especially if CD could pull something out of his hat.... a la Jon Barry. Also, James shouldn't be on the court with Alston. He would get posted by every good West team. Ginobili, Maggette, Finley, Barry, Daniels, Stackhouse, etc would all abuse him. If you look at our playoff competition including Dallas, the Clippers, San Antonio, and Phoenix.... they all have excellent starting lineups AND strong backcourt benches. Think back to last year's series loss to Dallas. Even with Sura, Wesley, Barry, and James we were outrun and outmanned in the backcourt.
Mike James' 2006 stats.. YEAR TEAM G MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG 05-06 TOR 79 37.0 .469 .442 .837 .6 2.7 3.3 5.8 .91 .04 2.61 2.70 20.3 Perfect 3rd option for the ROX.. James' production did not hurt Chris Bosh's production ( 22 pts 9 Rebs a game ).. Make it happen.. James and Rafer splitting time at the point .. could be work,, Sura is more than likely done.. and if not ,, he can't match James' firepower.. The ROX are lacking firepower and even with a healthy T-Mac and Yao..too much pressure will be on them in the later rounds of the play-offs with the current poor supporting cast..
Wesley - probably won't be re-signed Bogans - is there to let tmac catch his breath once in a while Bowen - is a third string forward in a healthy squad should be good for team practice only Terry got owned by Sura in game 1 but then Sura's back went from bad to worse...
That's another reason we are desperate. Do we want our superstar to have to play every minute of every game because our bench is so pathetic he has to be in there to give us a chance to win? I sure would like someone who could provide more than a breather for McGrady, which I'm not completely sure Bogans even does that.
Bogans is more than adequate to be T-mac's backup. Remember all the games with Yao and T-mac where Tracy had an off game but we still won without too much difficulty. Well Yao is good enough on his own to keep us in games. While T-Mac's presence at certain times can put us over the top. Granted, things change in the postseason when you only go against quality teams, but shortening the bench and superstars playing big minutes is part of the program. There are a lot of teams having success with small backcourts (Speedy and Paul for the Hornets, Gordan and Hinhrich with the Bulls, Wade and Williams for the Heat, and just recently Terry and Harris for the Mavs.) And I think it could definitely work for us with James and either Rafer or Head. James has pretty good strength for a combo guard, and is quite a scrapper, so he should be able to defend SGs without giving up too much. And with the hand-check rules they way they are, it's nearly impossible to guard James with a SG if that's how he gets matched-up.
Of all the players we have, Bogans is the most adequate to be Tracy's backup, but I would rather have a guy who can contribute with a good all around game, bring at least one skill that could be something special in the playoffs, and play a combination of positions. We don't need Charles Jones who plays 10 minutes a game at one position, we need a guy who can start on occassion when McGrady is nursing a sore back. Of all those teams you mention with the small backcourts, only Dallas is really championship caliber, and Harris had 2 great games.. which doesn't make a career. Otherwise, Dallas is stacked with length and athleticism in the backcourt... as are all of the championship caliber teams. The game hasn't changed that much. You still have to be able to play offense, defend speed, and defend height if you want to be a good all around player and seriously contribute to any great team. Otherwise you are just giving someone a breather.
Except of course Rafer. And Juwan. And anyone on our bench. This gets the <a href="http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=445406#post445406">With-Lamar-bringing-the-ball-up-and-me-and-Steve-on-the-wings-it's-over</a> self-serving statement of the year award. I would love to have Mike James back ... as far as MLEs go, you couldn't do too much better this offseason. But he's on record as saying it's all about money and security for him now. He wants the $$ ... so the Roger Clemens "nice to walk to work" schtick probably doesn't pass the sniff test. I'm sure he's looking for a trade from Toronto, but with Morey on board now, you can probably bet we're not in overpay mode.
Sorry, after all the rhetoric from MJ this year, I can't help but wonder if this is just more rhetoric and he is using it as an opportunity to drop us in the grease and leave us hanging at the altar when he signs a 4 year $35 million deal with Atl. If MJ is serious about coming here, the problem I see is he would give us 3 undersized guards in Luther, Rafer, and himself, all deserving of minutes. We still haven't gotten the long SG we've been wanting to team with TMac and drain 3's. MJ, despite his 3 point shooting, is essentially a slasher, a good slasher, but nevertheless he has a tendancy to force the action at the rim with the ball in his hands instead of playing off Yao and McGrady as the 3rd option. I just can't see us bringing him back when we've got James light in Luther Head now. Head is a one year guy who proved he has the ability to become a very good shooter in this league, with defensive skills and intensity, and the ability to play off Yao and McGrady. He just seems to fit really well and is a great complimentary piece. Our #1 priority this summer has to be attaining a bigger, longer shooting guard to team up with McGrady and the point guard that can defend the perimeter really well and can hit the spot up 3 point bombs off Rafer's penetration and the doubles on TMac and Yao. Mike James is nice. Mike James is great. But Mike James does not have the size to defend shooting guards, period. If we can get him while still getting our starting shooting guard then I'm all for it. But Mike James is NOT the starting shooting guard we need. We've just witnessed 2 years of Wesley getting his brains beat in with the bigger post up guards. Until we get that 6'5" to 6'8" SG, Mike James has to go on the backburner.
If he strikes a deal with Atl, then so be it. If I'm Rox management, I offer James our MLE for however length he wants (there was talk about him prefering a short-term deal, which would be totally fine with me). Take it or leave it. No sign and trades. If he really wants to come back, then let him. The thing is that this year's free agent pool is terribly thin at SG. It's basically Bonzi Well, Rasual Butler and that's it. And in terms of PFs, all the decent ones are restricted: Nene, Wilcox, Gooden. So we're most likely going to draft or trade for a SG. In which case, if James is willing to take the MLE, then we should jump on it. I don't see anyone else out there that will be worth it for the mid-level.
I say we do it. Yes he is undersized, but we know what he can bring to the team. He would be a great 3rd option. And if Mcgrady or Yao is ever out, he can always step up. (remember the endless number of times our offense struggled without the two?) I did like the Alston trade last year, but if James wants back, I would love to have him back.
Toronto wants a center. Magloire is from there. He would love to play there. Milwaukee??? What would Milwaukee have to get in exchange for giving Magloire to Toronto? If I am reading it right, isn't Toronto under the cap next year? Toronto would obviously probably do a S&T if they could bring in Magloire. Milwaukee?
Send howard or Swift + bowen or bogans to The Bucks then they'll send Magloire to toronto and we snatch james. obviously, howard or swift could be used since both are useless. howard more so..
