Now that we signed Steve Francis, the Mike James for Juwan Howard swap seems like it was unnecessary. Juwan was the leader of this team, I didn't like the trade and now we have no veteran big men (except for Deke if we resign him). The deal is done, but who would have been an better overall fit for this team? Juwan Howard or Mike James?
ah mike james please. i think this is a no brainer even though we got stevie. We have scola who although is unproven, we would have to assume will put up AT LEAST the number that juwan would have this year. it also gives us more of a scoring punch when Yao or Tmac are out of the game. A punch that juwan can not give. Although his veteran leadership and chemistry would have been nice on this team i still say that james is much better for us. Another factor is if James doesnt work out he would be a lot easier to move than Juwan.
What's done is done. But I agree. We could have had: Stevie for scoring, Rafer for a "traditional PG" if Steve goes crazy any given game Arron Brooks could then get occasional minutes as he seems worth it. We then have three servicable PF's and we wouldn't HAVE to rely on Juwan but we've got insurance in case Scola isn't NBA ready. I'm sure if the timing was reversed, they wouldn't have done the MJames deal. But the timing is what it is and I've got no problem trading away a 33 year old Juwan.
Bottom line, it all depends on how MJ comes along, if he's gonne be the selfish ego maniac he used to be in Toronto and Minni, we should undo this trade a hundred times. Looks like SteveO is greatly humbled from his words, can we say the same thing for MJ? I have not seen him show one shred of regret for being a d******d in Toronto and Minni.
I still like what Mike James can bring to this team in terms of outside shooting opening up things for Yao. Francis/James/Brooks PG trioka looks real solid to me. The signing of Francis just means we have to move Alston. The offseason is a work in progress, look how many moves have been made. Let's wait a bit before we make too many judgements. I mean look how everyone was gripping when we took Brooks in the draft over other PFs...and then we end up getting Scola. Patience.
I would've kept Howard if I knew Francis was coming back too. Basically, we traded for James for the expectations we are now expecting Francis to do. Also, had we kept Howard it would have REALLY made the Orlando trade look more one-sided than it already is.
It has to be a no brainer you have to go with mike james because of what he can do offensively, juwon is old and has broken down
Oh yeah definately. We got Scola for nothing just like we got Francis for nothing. You never say no to deals where you got for nothing.
I think you still go after Scola because you would still have to upgrade the 4 spot with JHo & Hayes as your only 4's on the roster. JHo broke down as the year went a long and you got nothing from him off the bench in the Utah series. I'm disappointed in the trade for James and he has much more upside even with Francis now.
Juwan sucks, so he's no big loss. And who cares if we got francis? Francis is going to be jame's backup and I expect him to only play 10-15 mins a game cause his game is a fraction of what it was when he was last in houston.
I agree. JHo epitomizes what was wrong with the Rockets and the previous regime. Old, over-the-hill, way-past-their prime, low production, mediocre players that seemed to find themselves onto the Rockets team for the past few years played a huge part of the problem. Its funny to me that after such an incredible off-season of overhauling a mediocre, unathletic, non-1st round winnable team with young, athletic talent and proven veteran help that there is this spike of so-called fans that are defending players like JHo and Rafer as if they are capable of helping this team win even in spite of the historical facts. Let's be done with these silly posts and threads about lamenting the loss of ineffective players and embrace what the Rockets organization is attempting to do.
i wouldnt change a thing...mike james is var more valuable then JH...yes i loved him too but mike james is what we needed more at the time..and now we have scola and landry and of course hayes...so we dont really need JH
My goodness, Rafer Alston is NOT a traditional point. He cannot create for the team off the dribble. He also took a crapload of shots, and missed a crapload of shot. His only value was "taking care of the ball." As for Juwon, if we still had him, he would be at the end of the bench behind Scola and Hayes. Do you remember how well he played in the playoffs last year? Not very well...
id do the trade 100/100 times. juwon was bad. mike james is our best 3 point shooter who can also create his own shot.
