rockets fans complained about mj not passing the ball last season, raptors fans complained about mj not passing the ball this season... he's just an older jamal crawford. sura was the difference between this and last season.
Apparently, James doesn't respect Yao or TMac enough either. There were rumors floating around that Yao and TMac didn't like James too much. Also the way James wanted to take the ball away from TMac should give you a hint. Oh, and the clincher is in the interview. He thinks he's gonna win the MVP. That should show how highly he thinks of himself relative to Yao and TMac.
Now that I think of it, Mike James doesn't even have to take all his shots at the expense of T-Mac or Yao. Sure, their shots would definately go down with a third scorer. But the team should try to make it so that James's shots are taken from scrubs like Juwan Howard. Despite having a FAR better PER than Howard, Hayes's usage rate was almost half of Juwan's. Hayes isn't much of a scorer, but he is efficient when he shoots. Most of his contributions come off the ball, such as in rebounding. That way,the team would have more balanced scoring with James, T-Mac, and Yao all getting a decent number of shots, with Hayes cleaning up on the boards and giving them more shooting opportunities.
mike james wouldn't be running the team. that would be stupid. but he would be great offense off the bench. i think he is too arrogant too take what we can offer $ and too come off the bench at this point.
I didn't hear rumors about Yao or T-Mac not liking James, T-Mac said he'd welcome James to come back. As for the alleged James taking the ball away from T-Mac, is it based on isolated incidents or what? Cus I don't feel like it was a trend seriously enough to raise a concern. I remember the trend of Mike James competing every night, hitting a crapload of clutch shots and saved our butts. James often played ahead of Sura in the fourth qtr, and now fans with amnesia writes it off and place the accolades on Sura only. You can count on bringing in any legit third scorer, who can average 20 points a night, to take the ball away from T-Mac a few times in the season, in the heat of battle, especially when T-Mac has stretches in which he's not very active. Does our third scorer need ask T-Mac everytime "hey man you want to shoot or not?" down the court? Overreaction is the term that comes up when I see such comments, including those that take MJ's MVP remarks seriously. If he's such big head, he wouldn't want to sign a three year deal with a player option in the third so that he can get paid bigger later on. Just say that he wants a max contract. MJ is not saying it, isn't it? and I hope that you don't bring up rumors to prove it.
All this stuff is way overblown. There was one play last year, I believe it was in the Dallas playoff series, where McGrady was wanting the ball and James waived him off and took the shot. Big deal. Yeah, McGrady may not have been happy at the time. I wonder how many times Jordan was not happy with his teammates because they took a shot instead of giving him the ball. Hakeem--Sleepy, Francis. That happens all the time. The reason for the trade was because Sura went down and James was going to opt out and they thought they were going to lose him anyways for nothing. And we needed a passing PG. Van Gundy has made it clear. He says we need both. We need a passing point like Rafer and we need more of a playmaker/scorer pg like James. It would be nice if James was more of a passer. (In spite of his nearly 6 assists per game, he could still do a lot better and not take so many shots early in the shot clock.) And after watching this last season debacle, it sure would be nice if Rafer could shoot it better. James is not nuts. He's just a baller that leaves his heart and soul on the court and he has never gotten the love from the team and the long term relationship with a team/city/fans that he really wants. I really don't think he is just all about the money or selfish. He is a very good player, he has made himself into a very good player with his offseason work habits, and he has made something of his career when most player that were undrafted would have been satisified to knock around Europe and make a couple million dollars shooting hoops over the next 10 years. James has tremendous willpower and drive. Dude is taking 1000 jumpers a day and training his tail off. You've got to respect that. That is the work ethic of the top 5% of players in the NBA. The biggest thing that James has to work on next is his decision making. James is a very efficient player. That's why I don't understand why anybody would not want him back on our team. 44% 3 point shooter, and 47% from the field along with a 2 to 1 assist/TO ratio. On top of that he's one of the top 5 defensive points in the league. He's one of the 20 most efficient players in the league. Who in their right mind would not want him on their team? However, he does lack in the decision making department. What he hasn't understood are the little decisions that players make that effect the rest of the team and make a difference between a win and a loss. For instance, James plays against Phoenix and he is staring at Nash every time down the court. James know he is bigger, stronger, faster, and quicker than Nash. So he concentrates on breaking him down and getting a good shot. And he gets it....and he makes good use of it. But what he doesn't realize is that just plays into a team like Phoenix's hands. If you watch Phoenix play, they will give away shots early in the shot clock. They want their opponents to take those long range jumpers early in the shot clock. And they want a player like James jacking them up so he is not getting his teammates involved. Then they race it the other way. That way, at the end of the game during winning time, they can simply throw a blanket around a player like James and force him to have to give it up to a teammate that has stood around not participating in the offense or else take a bad shot. If you are playing Phoenix, you've got to turn down those long jump shots they give you early in the shot clock and pound the ball to the hole with either the drive or throwing it to a big man like Yao. But you've got to force the action to the hole and break down Phoenix as a team and make them have to run it the full 94 feet the other way and make all of them expend energy guarding you. James just needs to understand that he is playing against a team not against a player and adjust his decision making and thought process for that. That way at the end of games against teams like Phoenix, he can take it to the rack against 5 guys who are tired and have foul trouble to deal with because they've been having to chase on the defensive side so much. And if they cut him off, he can then throw the ball to a teammate that has been actively involved the whole game and doesn't have the shooting jitters or the fumblitis because they haven't touched the ball the whole game. It's just little things like this that will make James a great player when he figures it out. I like the guy a lot and if we can get him back, we should sign him back. I think with a good contract and being recognized for his level of play and being wanted on the team, he will be a coachable player that a coach like Van Gundy can point out to him his decision making and James will work on it and be a better player for it. He is a difference maker, a tremendous shooter, with unbelievable quickness, and slashing and finishing ability that can electrify a team. We need him.
The MVP comments were overboard, but if we can disregard the rhetoric for a minute. Good Shooter Good Defender Intensity Talented Lets give him the mle for 3years, player option and draft carney (Pittsnoggle) and our talent level for next year is much improved. I wish it was october
Dats BS. So in the last minute of the game you'd rather a pass-first PG? James shot 47% from the floor and 44% from 3's. on 15.5 shots. Rafer shot 38% from the floor and 33% from 3's. on 11.7 shots. Thats only one more shot a quarter! WTF? Ball hoggin? Well in the last minute of the game, i'll put my money on james before rafer anyday.
As others have stated, those rumors are the product of BBS related wankery rather than reality and seem to have been refuted. Garbage speculation and little else. The interview - if you're read any of the other interviews, you'd realzie that James is pulling people's legs 90% of the time when he does them. He once said he was going to move to Africa to celebrate Pape Sow's birthday and play for the Senegalese national team wiht a bunch of bees in his crotch.
Please note that Bob Sura was the most reluctant passer of all the Rockets when it came to passing to Yao Ming. I have seen an open Yao calling for the ball with Sura infront of him near the three point line, Sura declines and moves the ball to the opposite side. Yao moves over to set up again and Sura still refuses to pass to him. So Sura is not a very good playmaker, even though he has many other qualities.
I've been over it on a James 1000x - the guy gave us what we sorely lacked last year, which is whay trading him away still confounds me. We need as many horses as we can get, he's a good horse, and can be had for a reasonable price. If he's willing, sign him up. Worry about whether you call him a 2 guard or 1 guard later, as long as he can beat his man off the dribble, still defends, and hits from outside, you can call him whatever you want.
Remember I was just quoting CD. In no way was I giving merit to Alston, what I was refering to was that the Rox do like JAMES.
MJ could help but giving him too much money would be silly. And who can tell us what happened to MJ and Juwan (or even Tmac)? Was he a popular person in Rox, or just a trouble-maker?
