Well said. James is out to get his and that's about it. Once he gets that financial security, I highly doubt he wants to take 20 shots per game. This past season everyone knows that, given the opportunity to ball hog, he can score as well as anyone. But when the check's signed, I highly doubt he would have a strive to jack up shots at that alarming rate again.
Serious question. Somebody who knows, please answer this question. If James is a FA (actually, I heard he has a player option), then what motivation does Toronto have to do a S/T with us for our 4.2mil TE? I'm under the impression that if we make a trade using the TE, then the TE gets used up. It doesn't thusly transfer to Toronto, does it? Because if the TE doesn't transfer then Toronto would get salary relief if James leaves the team as a FA and they wouldn't benefit at all simply trading with us in exchange for the TE. TE's, as I see it, are desirable to exchange a long term contract. So one team gets their player and the other team gets cap releif since said player is off the books with no new player in return. Am I wrong? I guess if James exercises his option and Toronto legitmately doesn't want him, only then would it make sense for Toronto to trade with us for the TE assuming they are below the salary cap to resign a new player. BTW, It bugs me that folks use the shortcut MJ to refer to Mike James! There is only one MJ ...and I'm not even that big an MJ fan.
No, it would transfer to Toronto in most cases. However, Toronto will be under the cap and therefore will renounce its exceptions - so a trade exception does nothing for them. Logically though, a 31 year old coming off a 20 ppg season will want, and probably be able to receive at least full MLE, which will likely be more than a million above our TE. Under the hypothetical example that James would accept the 4.2 mill starting salary, the Rockets would be able to package a pick with the trade exception to entice the Raptors, or trade a guy like, say, Luther Head for James straight up (note - packaging Head with the TE would NOT allow James to receive more than the 4.2 mill value of the exception). emjohn- Agreed. The problem with Wesley at the 2 wasn't so much that he was undersized...it was that he was undersized but not any quicker than his bigger defenders. For Head, he needs to improve his ball handling as he's quick enough, but just not able to consistently take guys off the dribble like a Barbosa.
I dont think Mike James is the ONLY player that can help. It is just plain silly to even suggest that. Bringing Fire Power is a whole another topic- no one disagrees with that. No to MiKe James- with due respect ( this is not about his basketball skills- but our team philosophy) If Yao and Tmac are not there Mike James or whoever you can think of at MLE is not going to carry the team either!
Mike James actually wants to come here. And take a look at this year's free agency crop. It is pretty weak, with very few legit SGs, and not a whole lot of scorers in our price range. What team philosophy are you referring to. The "let's get a team full of guys that couldn't score in an empty gym" philosophy. And who said anything about Mike James carrying the team. I'm talking about adding a quality player to our rotation. What are you saying? Just because our MLE signing isn't going to be a dominant offensive option, we shouldn't use it? We need to maximize every single move that we make, and upgrade our roster and lineup every chance that we get.
Yet, when Van Gundy says a shooting 4 is a priority in the offseason, you continue to tout Shelden Williams, a 4 with no range. Curious.
Just because the Rockets have an MLE to give doesn’t mean they are obligated to use it every single offseason, or at least not all of it on one player. It’s not as simple as “Mike James is the best player available for the MLE with this weak free agent class, so we might as well use it on him”. Giving the full MLE to him means that’s one less full MLE we’ll be able to give in the following offseasons. A team can only have so many mediocre role players over 30 making 4-7 million for +3 years. Let’s not compound the mistakes we’ve made in the past with another short-sighted impulsive move. Before you give Mike James a long term MLE deal, you have to be certain he’s a long term fit, because he sure hasn’t been a long term fit for his previous 6 teams.
We aren't a rebuilding team, or a middle of the pack team. We are expected to contend for the championship next year, both you and I know the entire MLE WILL be spent this offseason. So we can either spread it out over a couple bench players, or go for an impact player.
That's another thing. Mike James doesn't even want a long-term contract. He said he's so confident in his own self, that he prefers to have a short term deal with an opt out so that he can cut a better deal later. And no, just because we have the MLE doesn't mean we have to use it, but at the same time we need to improve the team, NOW. Yao and Tracy's window of opportunity for a title run is right now, and we need to do everything in our power to take advantage of it. And I'm not saying that we have to sign James. I'm just saying that he's a guy that can definitely help us out that we have a chance at signing. I'm fine with going in another direction as long as we land a player or players that will improve and upgrade out roster. It would be a damn shame if we didn't use our MLE at all in an effort to fill some of the many holes on this club.
By who, exactly? I understand that we had an unusually bad year due to the freakish amount of injuries we suffered, but unless we can add some talented & durable players to this team, I think it's more likely that we're expected to contend for a low playoff seed, not the championship. If we make the right moves, we MIGHT be expected to be a playoff lock.
Serious question: Has anybody heard a teammate stand up for Mike James? I don't know. I don't worry about his game. As many pointed out, we need a scorer. And if he hogs the ball, we can put him on the bench and let him shoot all he wants when TMac or Yao sits. I do worry about his personality. Why is he disliked by teammates even when he seems to play very well?
T-mac flat out said that we need someone like him on our team, and that he would welcome James back. I doubt it was just lip service because Tracy can be as coy and deflective as anybody, and he didn't need to say anything on James' behalf.
I question how much an impact player he’ll be. We’ve had Mike James here before and we’ve found out already that he, along with Sura, Wesley, Barry, etc. were not good enough to compete with the guards of Dallas. He if was, he would have performed better than the 10 points or so he put up against Dallas in the playoffs. Why even bother going back down that road again? He's not going to get any better with age. I’d rather go after a couple of cheap young guards (V-Span, Banks, Claxton, etc.) that may or may not be good enough to complete with Dallas/Phoenix than go after a 31 year old guard who I know is not good enough to compete with Dallas and Phoenix. I’m confident that there’s nothing he can give us that Luther Head won’t be able to give us in a season or 2.
If you pull up quotes made by JVG, Tom Thibodeau, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady over the past month, you would see that the goal of next season isn't just getting past the 1st round. We are already a playoff team with a healthy TMac and Yao playing together, their record playing together last year with a weak supporting cast illustrates this.
I’m sure his agent will talk some sense into him. There’s no way a team would be foolish enough to pay him more than MLE money a couple of seasons from now when he’s 33-35. I see it as a lose-lose either way. If he signs a long-term deal, we’ll be paying him +5 mil to his mid-30’s. If he signs a short-term deal, he’ll be playing for a contract rather than playing to win. I’m not saying not to use the MLE, I’m saying use it wisely and don’t make the same mistakes we’ve made in the past. To me, signing James reeks of another quick fix type of move. There are no short-cuts to winning a championship. A team has to have a long term plan.
Mike's gotta be used as a 6th man type role. He needs to get his shots when Yao or Tmac are resting. Don't rely on him to create for everyone else. Have Rafer run the point still.
you could surround a healthy yao and t-mac with any group of nba level scrubs and they'd be a playoff lock. they don't need to make any improvements at all to easily make the playoffs next year provided those 2 can play atleast 90 percent of the games. that said, no one's goal in the organzation is the playoffs alone. the right moves can make us contenders but we'll just have to see how it plays out.
Nikestrad- I was not touting Shelden for his offensive prowess. I am disgusted with PF spot- and to really land a serious PF we dont have the Financial Flexibility. So let us say that it is something better than what we have now a heck of a lot better defensively. You could always sign Scott Padgett for a Million dollars- JVG is also famous for signing Ryan Bowen ( with a player option) for his heart! ( no pun intended). I dont mind Steve Novak as our second round pick.
