Ask yourselves this: If Mike James, as a point guard, is taking more shots than TMac, and often overdribbles, how much is he getting the TEAM offense going? He's supposed to be the quarterback right? Frankly, I don't see him swinging the ball around as efficiently as Sura thus our offense has looked rather anemic as of late (Despite last night's score against the wizards) and we've been losing as a result. Sura could get everyone involved and if you weren't doing your part he'd say "**** off" and find someone else. After a while, everyone knew what was up and got on board and voila, 8 game winning streak including a 30 point drubbing of the wizards. Mike James is a good shooter and would probably be a good SG but aside from being able to bring the ball up court, in terms of pure poing guard qualities, he's not getting everyone into the flow of the game as well as Sura. Granted, it's only been 3 games but I think with all his crossovers, overdribbling, and not passing the ball until the 8 second mark or what not, a little part of me can't help but see a little bit of Steve Francis in him. Thankfully Sura will come back soon so hopefully the rockets can find some of the energy they had before the all star break. And yes he is scoring a lot and I'm glad his shots are goign in cuz that's whats keeping us close but you have to wonder if we would even *need* to be that close to our opponents, only to lose, if we had better ball movement where everyone from Juwan to Barry were getting good looks (which Sura provided for us).
We just added a 3 point threat, A damn good point guard who can score and defend... He's a vet, 29 years old... all for Reece Gaines and 2nd rounders... No Complaints here. I hope Yao gets out of the slump, and Hurry up Sura!
We really need Sura to come back and give the rockets some direction and to start kicking some ass. Especially 7' 6" ass.
James should be a great guy off the bench for this team and may be a good replacement for Sura down the road. He can definitely provide O and D off the bench which is great to have. He may not be the right guy to spend a lot of minutes on the floor with Yao though. Yao may be having his troubles but you can't have a PG that is ignoring the guy if the team is commited to Yao. Granted James just got here and need s to get with the system but he can't be taking Yao's shots. If that is the case then we might as well get Francis back and most will agree that the team has been alot more fun to watch when everyone on the floor is involved in the offense. I guess the only problem is going to be keeping James long term if can consistently score and play D like a starting PG.
Nuts is collegial to you, not to me, in a thread like this. So your point is 45.5% is hot for guards but not for center? Isn't this exactly the reason we should let our center shoot more? And James is shooting 45% and #8 in PG so he's free to take as many shots as he want? Can I say Moochie should take 10 shots a game since he's ranked # 5 in those really sucky scrubs? I never started insulting here and I'll never do that. But I'm not going to sit here and give you people a free pass to do personal attack on me either. Please understand this.
Considering the volume, the number of perimeter shots, and the fact he came off an 11-15 performance, I certainly would say Mike James was hot the past 2 games Your earlier statement concerning PPS was absurd. The rest of the team shot 25 free throws: Mike James, 0. That in itself is another debate. What I'm alarmed about is how this team used to dominate points in the paint, but gave up 42 last night. Letting the opposing backcourt go for 60+ is not a good sight either. I don't think we can say how good a fit James is for this team until Sura gets back. We have a positive rebounding differential on the season- Since the all-star break (no Sura), we've been outrebounded every game except San Antonio. SEA* by 13 (lost by 2) SA* by 0 (tied rebounding, lost by 18) UTA by 8 (lost by 7) CHI by 2 (won by 30) WAS by 8 (lost by 3) *- Rod Strickland era. Let us never speak of it again. To be fair, all of these teams except Washington are ahead of us in rebound differential on the season- San Antonio actually leads the league, with +3.96. But considering the leading team wins the rebound battle by 4, being outrebounded by 8+ 3 times in 5 games for a top half of the league rebounding team is unacceptable. If we rebound in the Seattle game and last night, we certainly win. If we rebound against Utah, that's a very winnable game. Quite possibly the difference between being 4-1 and 1-4 out of the all-star break. For some reason, I don't think Mike James and the loss of Mo Taylor are the reason we've been pounded on the glass lately.
Originally posted by choujie Nuts is collegial to you, not to me, in a thread like this. Then you don't 'get' that either? If you cannot understand the difference between 'nuts' and 'stupid'... So your point is 45.5% is hot for guards but not for center? Isn't this exactly the reason we should let our center shoot more? As someone else sluded to, why don't Centers shoot EVERY shot in EVERY game? And James is shooting 45% and #8 in PG so he's free to take as many shots as he want? Can I say Moochie should take 10 shots a game since he's ranked # 5 in those really sucky scrubs? James is a very good shooter and has been scorching hot the 3 games for us. To discuss the point further is a total waste. I never started insulting here and I'll never do that. But I'm not going to sit here and give you people a free pass to do personal attack on me either. Please understand this. But you did. And what others have called you and when they did it is between you and them. And as far as I was concernced, I considered your claim that James' shooting was not 'hot' to be totally idiotic from the start, but I measured my words when I initially called you 'nuts', not an idiot. Your sunsequent 'stupid' response is what made you fair game.
He reminds a little bit of Vernon Maxwell. Maybe not as quick but watching MJ kept reminding me of VM.
when a team is down on the road by 10 or 17 or whatever they're not going to pound the ball down low to crawl back in a game like that, especially with Yao on the bench, or when he's on the court, in such a funk. To get back in a game like that they did exactly what they had to do.
I'm as happy as can be that we picked up James--I think he could fit on any team. That being said, I have to agree with all of the above. I lot of last night's game looked like Mike James and four musketeers. He doesn't take Sura's place.
Nuts is collegial to you, not to me, in a thread like this. Then you don't 'get' that either? If you cannot understand the difference between 'nuts' and 'stupid'... When you started the thread with "you are nuts.", that was insulting to me. If you don't think it's insulting, how about I start every reply by calling you nuts or put it in my sig? Unbelievable. As someone else sluded to, why don't Centers shoot EVERY shot in EVERY game? How many centers in the league can get his shot off whenever he's single covered like Yao? James is a very good shooter and has been scorching hot the 3 games for us. To discuss the point further is a total waste. Again, He took 22 shots to get 24 points last night, that's not "HOT" in my book. The rest of the team took 56 shots to get 74 points. Even if you consider 25 foul shots as 12 shots like Nikerd suggested, the difference between 74/68 and 24/22 is 0.03%. So the entire team was "HOT"? Plus, his inability to get to the foul line is not a advantage here. But you did. And what others have called you and when they did it is between you and them. And as far as I was concernced, I considered your claim that James' shooting was not 'hot' to be totally idiotic from the start, but I measured my words when I initially called you 'nuts', not an idiot. Your sunsequent 'stupid' response is what made you fair game. I did what? My first post is saying I think James should play a role like Bobby jackson. That's not even an insult to James since Bobby Jacskon is a great player, how come it's insulting to you people? Whether James was hot or not, the number proved it, I don't know who's the real idiot here.
Here you come again Just when I’m about to make it work without you You waltz right in the door Just like you done before And wrap my heart ’round your little finger Here you come again Just when I’m about to make it work without you You look into my eyes And light those dreamy eyes And pretty soon I’m wonderin’ How I came to doubt you All you gotta do Is smile that smile And there go all my defenses Just leave it up to you And in a little while You’re messin’ up my mind An’ fillin’ up my senses Here you come again Lookin’ better than a body Has a right to An’ shakin’ me up so That all I really know Is here you come again An’ here I go All you gotta do Is smile that smile And there go all my defenses Just leave it up to you And in a little while You’re messin’ up my mind An’ fillin’ up my senses Here you come again Lookin’ better than a body Has a right to An’ shakin’ me up so That all I really know Is here you come again An’ here I go sincerely, dolly
I think we can't fault James to take many shots in the last 3 games. Yao took himself out of the game most times. We will see. If 1) Yao can keep himself on the floor but doesn't get enough shots 2) Other teammates get much less shots with James than with Sura Then James's disrupting the rhythem of the team and we should only bring him off the bench. After all, getting Tmac and Yao the ball is the most important requirement for our PG. By the way, in the last three losses, Tmac, Wesley and James took turn to be burned by their men and our center combos were always in foul trouble. Gundy should address that. It's also hard to fault our front court for rebounding. Those are perimeter teams so a lot of rbs were long rbs that should be responbility of our backcourt and Tmac.
Originally posted by choujie When you started the thread with "you are nuts.", that was insulting to me. If you don't think it's insulting, how about I start every reply by calling you nuts or put it in my sig? Unbelievable. Get over it. How many centers in the league can get his shot off whenever he's single covered like Yao? Off-point, non-responsive. Again, He took 22 shots to get 24 points last night, that's not "HOT" in my book. The rest of the team took 56 shots to get 74 points. Even if you consider 25 foul shots as 12 shots like Nikerd suggested, the difference between 74/68 and 24/22 is 0.03%. So the entire team was "HOT"? Plus, his inability to get to the foul line is not a advantage here. Your 'book' is myopic and irrelevant. I did what? My first post is saying I think James should play a role like Bobby jackson. That's not even an insult to James since Bobby Jacskon is a great player, how come it's insulting to you people? Whether James was hot or not, the number proved it, I don't know who's the real idiot here. I do. First you want to totally ignore prior 2 Rockets games because his shooting was so good it would be unsustainable. You claim that a very a good shooting night ... was not. You ignore a rationale comparison for both MJ's shooting hot-streak (while with the Rockets) and seasonal percentages against the top guards in the league. You even ignore that his scoring efficiency (pts/attempt) of the last 3 games far exceeds TMac's career numbers, yet you still don't think he should be shooting. Apparently you wouldn't even want TMac to take any shots. In it's stead, you apparently want the centers in the league to take all shots in every game. Now that's unbelievable.
Your formula is off. They made 20 FT's, so that would mean that they took 56 shots to score 54 points (74-20 = points scored from the field). McGrady, Howard, James, and Barry are the only players who could be considered to have shot well (Howard sucked in everything else, though).
NIKE, good stuff "*Rod Strickland era, let us never speak of it again" LOL I agree on the rebounding. We get those long rebounds (Sura) then we definiately win the Seattle and Washington game. Just having Sura on the court in the Utah game with his gritty play and passion probably helps this team win that game. Regarding James' over dribbling.... From what I have seen so far, James MIGHT over dribble, but not by much. In fact I dont think James does any more over dribbling than Sura does and we dont talk to much about Sura's dribbling. I mean how many times have we seen Sura dribble into the paint and then come right back out with the ball? I am not worried about James' dribbling.
