[Fox 26] CD and Lindsey to meet with Mike James Thursday

I think he was talking about having 3 PG's on the roster. They don't have to be 3 PG's worth starting, the 3rd guy can be darius washington or JLIII.

Banks is a backup plan. We need a PG who can 1 pressure the ball, and 2 score. MJ is first on that list. after him was claxton who already signed with the hawks. the next up is banks.

i believe that we will land MJ. will it be a S&T? I hope so.

I would like to see the S&T be MJ for Jho. This would leave us with the MLE and TE. the MLE could then be use for a PF (gooden, wilcox, mohamed, harrington, jeffries, ely), and the TE for extra bench depth.

 

I would like to see the Rockets and Mike James agree to a deal in princable and then the Rockets could take the deal to Tor and tell them that MJ has reached an agreement with us. If Tor would help us by letting us use our TE with them, we would be willing to give them a second round pick for their troubles...if not Tor can just loose MJ for nothing and we can use our TE on someone else.

I would think that Tor would jump at the chance to get something for nothing.

Of course it would only work if James and Houston could agree to a deal in principal.

 

Looks like James' dance card is full, meeting with the Twolves today, and possibly Dallas on Thursday:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...ageid=968867503640&col=970081593064&t=TS_Home

Meanwhile, ex-Raptor guard Mike James, who has drawn interest from the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks since the free agent negotiation period opened Saturday, is to meet with officials from Minnesota here today but if he is to become a member of the Timberwolves, the Raptors aren't going to facilitate the move in a sign-and-trade transaction.

There is no one on the Minnesota roster who remotely interests the Raptors — save the unavailable Kevin Garnett, that is — so James will have to accept a mid-level exception starting salary of just over $5 million.

In a sign-and-trade deal, James could get much more by signing with Toronto for any amount and being immediately shipped to the Timberwovles.

However, because they have no interest in taking on any Minnesota players, the Raptors are not interested.


http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/14964253.htm

MAVERICKS NOTES
Mavs taking aim at Raptors' James
By DWAIN PRICE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- If the Mavericks are eager to sign Toronto Raptors free agent Mike James, they'll have an opportunity to negotiate Thursday.

That's the day James and his agent, Bill Duffy, will be in Las Vegas to mull over the veteran guard's opportunities and when the Mavs play their first summer league game -- in Las Vegas -- against the Denver Nuggets.

"There may be a meeting with the Mavericks," Duffy said. "We're working on that right now, so we'll see what happens."

Duffy said the Mavs and Houston Rockets are among "five or six suitors" who are interested in signing James, who averaged 20.3 points last season.

Atlanta bowed out of the running Monday when another one of Duffy's clients -- free-agent point guard Speedy Claxton -- agreed to a four-year, $25 million contract with the Hawks.

James wants a five-year deal, but the Mavs and Rockets are interested in offering a three-year contract. So, what will he do?

"Mike James will make that decision," Duffy said. "We'll have everything on the table on Thursday in Vegas, when he and I will meet and go over everything."

Duffy said that because all the teams pursuing James are over the salary cap, a sign-and-trade scenario is a possibility.

The Mavs are willing to offer Marquis Daniels in such a deal, but the Raptors might not want Daniels and the $26.46 million remaining on his contract.

"We [might] have to do a sign-and-trade," Duffy said. "But some of those sign-and-trade scenarios don't make sense."

 

This thread is about Mike James and Marcus Banks...

BUT, is no one concerned that we didn't have one decent starting PF last year and of the 2 we had, we traded one away?

And now we're focusing, once again, on undersized tweener guards?

Mike James...ok. I mean he hit for over 20 a game last year. But Marcus Banks? Hopefully just a smokescreen.

We need either a legit starting SG (if Battier will play a lot of minutes at the 4) or a legit starting PF (moving Battier or TMac to the 2), not 12 more point guards....??

 

His plus/minus numbers on 82games are in the negative. The team wasn't good last year (Minnesota) , so that should be taken into consideration.

 

So, you are saying he is not da shiznit?

 

yeah and both of these we could have gotten using the 8th pick - brewer, carney, jj reddick or trade it if someone who actually fills one of those 2 primary needs..

 

Interesting. So Duffy is pushing for a S/T deal to get more money. If Dallas is offering Daniels, that will be hard for us to match. If James accepts a MLE, then he'll likly prefer Houston but I think he'd take an extra $2mil/year to go to a contender in a heartbeat over a Houston. And Toronto gets a player in return for Colangelo's new Sun's mold in Daniels.

I'm a little worried that the MJames gig is NOT a done deal yet.

 

Toronto is letting it be known they will do a S&T but only for a player they want. I suspect then want Daniels. I wonder if they would want Swift.

One of two things happens here.
1. We get James for the MLE
2. We complete a trade for James sending Swift to Toronto and some other mixture of players from us and Toronto to Memphis and we get back Battier and James.

I would suspect that we would have to lose Luther in a convaluted 3 team deal. I think I'd rather just hand James the TE and be done with it, unless we were able to just give up Swift along with our TE to get this deal done.

 

Toronto is not inerested in Daniels. Mike James has to consent to any Toronto S&T with James. Toronto is not going to do any S&T with James to take on salary (unless it is for a player they like). That is the beauty of the Rockets 4.2M T.E. The Rockets throw the Torono Raptors a free 2nd round pick for nothing with the Raptors doing the S&T with the Trade Exception. Toronto doesnt get salary back and they get a free 2nd round pick. Toronto can either watch James go to the Rockets for the MLE or they can facilitate the S&T for the TE and get a 2nd round pick for nothing. They would be stupid not to get a 2nd round pick for free.

 

Colangelo doesn't want Daniels, any player from T-Wolves, or any player from Houston.

If there is no trade situation he likes, he could still possibly be a nice guy and help faciliate a trade to the team James wants to go to (like Pacers sending James Jones to the Suns for a 2nd pick last year)? or then again decide it is a better business decision to force the team that wants James to use their MLE (like Memphis did to the Rockets last year re: Stromile Swift).

 

It's in Colangelo's best interest to gain a 2nd round pick for free in exchange for the S&T James for TE. Toronto is in the East and the Rockets are not a team in his division (ala Memphis last year). GMs first responsibility is to build HIS team and then after that not help division/conference rivals. Colangelo would want to add an asset like a 2nd round pick to use for other moves. If James is going to sign with Houston either way, it just makes sense for Colangelo and the Raptors to get a free asset in a pick.

 

Intriguing. That would essentially allow Mike James' starting salary to be about $5.35 million...which does give us a small edge.

Although I think the fact that his wife is pregnant again is probably the biggest edge we have. I don't think she would be interested in moving anywhere else again...she's gonna want to stay home and take care of the kids.

 

You are still sulking about that? Those guys are 2nd teir players in what was generally accepted a very weak draft. If we are trying to contend right now, those guys aren't starters this season.

Battier definately gives us a solid starter.

btw, PF wasn't a "primary" need prior to the draft. Only now that we traded Stro does PF become a primary need.

Primary needs prior to the draft according to JVG was starting SG, backup PG and backup SF. Battier solved two spots. Move TMac to 2 and between Battier and TMac can play the majority of minutes at 2/3 already. Starting SG and backup SF have been largely addressed. We still need a rotational player to fill in minutes at SG which looks like could be Mike James since he is a 1/2.

Our primary rotation as of now would be something like:

PF: Rafer/James
SG: TMac/James
SF: Battier/TMac
PF: Howard/Battier
C: Yao/Deke

That's already a decent rotation. Obviously we need 1 or 2 more players. Can Bogans or Novak play meaningful minutes? That would be nice.

So previously, a new PF would have been a welcome upgrade but not mandetory. Only now is it mandetory. ...much of this hinges on us signing James (fingers crossed).

 

If Colangelo is trying to rebuild the Suns in Toronto, why on earth would they pass on Daniels versus getting nothing? Daniels is a perfect player for Colangelo's upbeat, open-court style. How could a 2nd round pick next season turn into a better player than Daniels?

Do you have specific knowledge that Colangelo doesn't want Daniels?

On the surface, it seems like Colangelo would jump at it. And it also seems James would jump at it cause he'd get more $$$ to play for a top-tier team (albeit not in Houston but not too far away).

 

It's not that they dont like Daniels. It is they dont like the length and dollar amount of his contract. They are trying to preserve cap room here and dont think an investment in Daniels is worth chewing up that cap room when more attractive options become available next off season in the FA class of 2007. The Raptors will sign a few modest FA deals this offseason to add depth and then go into next offseason with money to add an All Star type player.

 

Just going by the media speculation where they're saying Toronto don't want Daniels and Mavs are offering James the MLE at 3yrs instead.

 

Plus I believe because of the trade he would be eligible for 12.5% raises per year instead of the 8% with the MLE. So it would be in both teams best interest if we gave them the TE plus a 2nd round pick, which would cost Toronto basically nothing to faciltate the trade to us, as opposed to taking on someone else's salary that they don't necessarily want to begin with.

This scenario works out best for us because that leaves us the full MLE to try and find a PF and SG for backups.

 

I know Daniels would be a perfect fit in what Coleangelo is trying to do, it would hive Toronto another playmaker.

 

I don’t think letting James go for nothing rather than adding a quality player in Daniels (that can help this season) would fly well with Bosh. He wants Toronto to be competitive next season (playoffs at least) or he’s bolting.

If Toronto is serious about running a Phoenix Suns style system where they beat teams with their offensive firepower, they’re going to need a whole lot more offensive talent on that team for next season. They have very little depth and really only two proven offensive threats (Bosh and MoPete). It would be a waste to trade for a pass first point guard in Ford, if he has noone to pass to. So I would be very surprised if they’re not actively looking to add a player or two in exchange for James.

It's also very unlikely Toronto will ever be a player in the free agent market due to where they play.