[Done Deal] Rockets dealing Juwan Howard for Mike James

I think they are trying to trade one of a guard. I think Luther Head would make a good trade bait to grab us a 4. There is a logjam in the backcourt and we now have another shooter in Mike James. Luther is not a pg and he is not big enough to play the 2 so package him with out 1st rounder for a quality big would be a good idea

 

Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen. Just playing.

 

You remember that time he went up in the stands and went after that fan! Damn, he was bad news from the start

 

I don't know, I'd say he is pretty similar to Jason Terry. We don't have to have the best PG in the league to contend. Just an above average rotation should be enough. Our backup PG last year could not handle or pass as good as James can. James brings a couple of solid PG traits to the table. He can handle about 20 minutes of PG duties and then play some SG when Tmac rests or plays SF. James is a capable PG because he can dribble, pass, penetrate, and shoot. Also, Rafer won't have to handle the toughest position on the court for 40+ minutes which is the biggest strength of this trade.

 

Thats a good trade. Juwan Howard-I like him as a person, hes a true proffessional but in the playoffs he did us nothing. He couldnt hit a shot.
Now we will have a backup PG that we can trust when he goes in

 

Yes that, and they wanted to dump Eddie Griffin's contract on us.

 

Remember that other time he offered Eve that apple.....

 

Love the trade, love the player. I just wish we made this deal 4 months ago....

I nearly spilled my beer when I saw it on the ESPN crawl last night at this bar in Dallas. I quickly texted my friends back home, what a great trade! He'll fit in nicely with the new offense and help CREATE offense when Mac and/or Yao need a rest.

 

While you are probably right- I'd like to think Mike James is better than a backup- he really is a hard competitor. He finishes much better than Alston.

Luther should have never ever been the point guard

 

First, what Clutch said.

Second, did you seriously just describe Devin Harris as a premiere point guard and put him in the same category as Nash, Parker, Williams and Paul?

 

Oh really? Show me one place where I said that getting rid of Howard was a bad move. Just one. In fact go back and look at my previous posts and show me where I posted that I wanted to keep Howard around. FYI, I was OPENLY critical of the idea of him being a viable answer at PF all the way back to the time of the big trade because of his age and lack of height vis-a-vis the other PFs in the West.

Now if you had bothered understood me correctly, you'd see that I am critical about the whole getting James-trading James away-trading to James back scenario because all they've managed to do is to go in circles. The only good thing I see out of this is that Minnesota gets to pay the trade kicker. Just so we are straight on one thing: It was a mistake to trade him away in the first place. Don't automatically assume that just because folks aren't jumping for joy at getting James it means that they wanted to keep JH because that is simply not the case at all.

 

Well, I liked JHo and what he brought, but we do need a PG...Now we need a PF, someone younger...maybe a pick up in the draft...

Will miss you JHo..

 

What in the world makes you say that? To say "Looks like Battier for Wilcox is gonna be our next move" is very, very different than saying "Battier for Wilcox should be our next move."

Which did you mean? I'm thinking you meant the ladder. I've seen no articles that have indicated that the Rockets have talked about trading Battier for Wilcox. If you have seen those articles, I'd like to see a link, please.

As for the Juwan for Mike James trade - I'm thrilled. I kind of hate Mike James but I also know what he can bring to this team - and we desperately need it. I don't care if James is the starter or the backup, I'm just thrilled that we won't have to rely on Rafer Alston for 40 minutes a game - specifically in crunch time.

I hope this clears the way for the Artest deal. I'm assuming they'll use the MLE to sign a new power forward - does anybody know what MLE level power forwards are available?

 

No, this isn't a rant, it's a look at the reality of the mess they find themselves in. I am deeply unhappy with what has gone down over the past 6 years. And my anger comes from the fact that they have nobody to blame for this but themselves because they were stupid. Yet management keeps pretending that moves such as these are going to make a difference in the closing the talent gap. It won't. And for the record, I did not expect them to get squat for JH anyway because he's just not that valuable.

It's not about what they could or couldn't get for Juwan Howard because he never should have been here in the first place. Howard should have been moved years ago when it became obvious he wasn't the answer at the 4. No, it's about getting in the type of players that can actually make them competitive with their foes in the West. Now if you happen to feel that James is that type of player then cool. I happen to feel otherwise.

 

He definitely needs the ball in his hand to function and "be happy" so IMO he still has to come off the bench more than start to achieve his happiness. Still a good trade. Juwan needed to move on, there has to be a better option that they have in mind at PF. I am more in favor of the Artest trade scenario now that we have James' pending arrival.

 

Agreed- I am so happy !! Look what we got for Juwan!!!!

this is a great surprise

 

We knew he wasn't the answer when we traded for him! Unless you prefer we have kept Cato, Francis, and Mobley (ya right).

We had to swallow that pill. Nobody expected anything from Howard. Most of us thought Taylor would start. Now if the rant was aimed at the Rockets signing of Taylor I couldn't blame you. Although you would probably have wanted him. Most people did.

 

Harris is way better than anything we have on the roster right now. He grew leaps and bounds in the GS series and was the only player on the Mavs attacking the basket at the end. My point is that we have to compete against teams with very good young PGs.