I think James will choose Houston over Dallas, he lives here and will get a chance to play here. Dallas will start Harris and Terry most likely, and their rotation is so deep Im not sure James will get much PT there. James should get a solid 25-30 minutes here between the PG and SG positions. Interestingly, it seems Houston sports teams tend to build their teams to counter their primary opponent's strengths as opposed to building the most talented team possible. For example, the Texans cant beat the Colts a lick, and thus chose Williams over Bush because the only thing that stops the Colts is an elite pass-rush. It seems like the Rockets overpaid in getting Battier because he is exactly what the Rox need to stop teams with the highly mobile PFs in the west (Dallas, Phoenix, and to a lesser extent- Memphis, Denver). Whether this strategy works long-term, who knows... but I do know that getting James is a priority-- especially since it seems like Bonzi Wells will be out of reach.
I'm hoping we can work a sign-and-trade with Toronto for Mike James, and use our MLE on some one else. Even though I like Luther, I'd be willing to trade him, and a trade exception for a resigned Mike James to a reasonable 4 yr. contract. Then, I'd like to go after Wells with the MLE (might be a long shot).
I saw on ch 2 last night that Mike James will be LIVE on Sports Sunday tomorrow. Maybe JVG will be waiting outside the studio for him.
I thnk you all forgot how good James was while he was here. He played good defense and certainly brought a spark off the bench. When our offense would stagnate, which happened quite often that year, he would come in and knock down some three's. He was our sixth man; really stepped it up against dallas. I thought he was the perfect backup pg. I'd like to have him back, but only if he could play the same role he had before.
I look forward to seeing more of these MJames wisdom in Houston. "I can't make people love me," (Mike) James said. "I can't make people like me. Even Jesus Christ and all the healing he was doing on every single day, they still wanted to persecute him and kill him. And so, who am I? I can't even pull a hangnail out of my daughter's finger let alone heal somebody. So who am I to think that everybody's going to like me, appreciate me and value what I do on the court and off the court?"
