Mike James: `It's Time For Me To Get What I Deserve'

Well the world must be coming to an end as I find myself not only agreeing with Dakota in this thread but with SamFisher as well!

Seriously though, Mike James is sorely needed for this injury-ravaged Rockets team. His scoring of 37 points (even though it was against the hapless Knicks) shows that the guy could be a very good 2nd option (behind Yao and with McGrady out). I would make the argument that we would have a helluva better chance of making the playoffs, despite all of our freaking injuries, if we had James for the entire season. I mean the Rockets are 2-19 without McGrady and this was with Yao playing out of his mind on probably half of those games. Injuries are a part of the game but most teams have good enough other players that they can at least win every now and then. We have an all-star center and scrubs who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. And like Sam said, nothing angers me more than to see us lose night after night while the annoying Mavs and Spurs keep winning and winning.

And the more I think about this trade, the madder I get. Maybe I am giving up too soon on Alston, but the Rockets' so-called paranoia about losing James to FA because they didn't want to ante up makes me think that Les is a cheapskate. And that makes me mad as well.

 

QUESTION: Isn;t MJ the JVG GUY?

Scoring
MJ > Alston

Assist
MJ < Alston

Defense
MJ > Alston

Intangibles
MJ ? Alston

I think we needed scoring and defense more than Assis this year

Rocket River

 

Didn't someone say earlier in this thread that we didn't have MJ's Bird rights...so it would have been more along the lines of us not being ABLE to ante up and just being forced to let him walk for nothing?

 

I agree that James would have helped us a lot more than Alston this year. But this is from hindsight. When we traded him, would we have predicted all these injuries to our scorers?

 

Does Mike James have some sort of magic herb or powder that instantly cures back spasms? In case you haven't noticed, the Raptors still suck ass with Chris Bosh putting up numbers similar to Yao's. I doubt that Mike James could have turned the Rockets into playoff contenders this season.

Don't worry Mike, there will definitely be a team out there that will overpay for your services next season if the Raptors don't.

 

I think Tmac ran him out of town.

Last year in the playoffs you could see Tracy getting frustrated when MJ was ignoring him on offense.

I think Tmac felt threatened, and I think the Rockets were worried that he would be busy trying to get his for a big contract.

All valid concerns, but truthfully the trade was a major mistake.

We could make a run for him in the offseason to bring him back !

DD

 

Exactly. A gunner is a consistent difference maker when your regular gunner, McGrady, is out with injuries. That would have helped this year. Next year -- no. The biggest difference-making we needed on this team was distribution. We had zero, zip, nada. I wish Alston gave us more of it, but he's given us a lot, and that's more important in a lineup that includes McGrady.

 

In retrospect I think that CD and Gundy pulled the trigger too quickly. It was a standoff on who was more desperate to make the trade - we could get by with MJ at the point BUT the Raptors desperately wanted to move Rafer.

We probably could have gotten Rafer for Wesley by waiting until the last minute and making Toronto sweat, then MJ plays the 2 and backs up Rafer. We get younger and faster.

But this then makes me think that Gundy was still in love with Wesley and thought that moving MJ would improve chemistry.

I think MJ is the kind of guy if someone with the Rockets had said a few nice things to him this year, encouraged him to help make the team better, talked him up as our 3rd option in public, he would have made a reasonable deal to stay in future years. But this is not Gundy's style. No PR skills.

 

I liked MJ a lot. I was shocked when I heard they traded him but I could understand why they did. At the time Bob Sura was coming off back and knee surgery and was unlikely to return this season, if ever. They had to get a PG to run the offense going into preseason to they could build chemistry and he could learn the system. Who did you guys want to back up MJ if he started at point? Moochie? Ugh! Wesley? No way! Head? He was a rookie not even expected to play. T-Mac? Maybe.

If this team had stayed healthy (especially Yao, T-Mac & Rafer), this discussion would not even be taking place. This team would probably have won close to 45 games by now. This season is a wash. Let's get Yao, Mac, and Rafer healthy and together for 75+ games and then you can assess whether this trade was good or not.

 

Word.

 

I don’t buy the “we can’t assess the trade yet” argument. First of all, a good player is a good player. Player aren’t picked just because they are a piece to the puzzle. They’re chosen also on individual merit. Just because the season has been injury plagued for Yao and Tracy doesn’t excuse poor performance by the rest of the team.

Leading to the second point, a team shouldn’t just write off the season as far as the role players are concerned because their superstars were injured. Rafer, Wesley, Swift, Howard, and everyone else doesn’t get a mulligan for the season because things didn’t work at as planned. Same for JVG. I’m not saying that means the team has to make the playoffs, but it does have to still perform well on an individual and team basis. These are professionals, not some jr high team that lost its best player and is left with a bunch of scared kids. Players still have to perform.

With Yao and Tracy having missed so many games combined, this is a perfect opportunity to evaluate player decisions.

 

This post makes no sense. If we hadn't traded Mike James, this discussion wouldn't be taking place either.

Who would have backed up James? That would be a valid question, but who's backing up Alston? Probably the same guys who would have backed up James. James + no backup > Alston + no backup

maybe even Rafer Alston could have served as Alston's backup. Prior to bricking up shots for the Rockets, he was last seen crying (and I mean literally crying) in Sam Mitchell's doghouse. He'd been on the block forever. It's not like getting him (or somebody at his level) was a once in a lifetime bargain.

I love how since a guy's inept as a scorer and unable to hit the broadside of a barn, he becomes the "pass-first PG" which people think is the key to victory. Yeah, ask San Antonio, Detroit, Los Angeles how that worked out for them on their way to the last 6 titles.

Tracy's back has historically been a problem. Sura and Barry were aging players who frequently broke down prior to this year. We voluntarily jettisoned Padgett.

That's foresight, not hindsight.

 

This post brought to you by Isaiah Thomas.

 

That's the biggest bullcrap that I keep hearing over, and over, and over again from fans.

You mean to tell me that this Rockets team could not use a guy who can at least hit his wide-open jumpers when Yao or McGrady dishes out of a double-team? He would EASILY average 15-18 ppg just off those wide-open shot opportunities.

It's not like the Rockets have too many options on offense or that they're scoring regularly above 100ppg. The Mavericks seem to be doing a great job of balancing out all the scoring, and no one has "taken away" from Dirk.

Would people quit using that as an excuse, please? First it was the "McGrady didn't like Mike" crap that was debunked, now it's the "he would have taken too many shots away from T-Mac and Yao" crap resurfaces. Can we just call it what it's? JVG didn't like Mike James' style of playing very much. Furthermore, Sura went down before the season even started and JVG was having nightmares about MJ starting at the point, which made him and CD rush to acquire a "starting-caliber PG" who can pass first.

I don't mind the direction the Rox coaching staff felt they needed to go (i.e. with a pass-first PG), but let's cut all the other crap out because everyone knows it ain't true.

MJ would've been our Jason Terry, only cheaper. The irony here is that people now are hoping we can go after Jason Terry in the off-season, when he likely will command more money even than Mike James would've. If anything, MJ would've been cheaper to re-sign this off-season had he stayed with the Rox because he likely wouldn't have played as well as he has in Toronto, making his price a bit cheaper.

 

SamFisher, you echo my thoughts, man.

The point you made is a valid one that's worth examining. Let's recount quickly how some of the best point guards in the league play:

1) Nash? He's not a only a great passer, but one of the best shooters in the entire league, period. That threat alone makes him worth every penny.

2) Billups? A great shooter and scorer, a good passer too.

3) Parker? He doesn't shoot too well from the outside, but he more than compensates for it by using his incredible speed and quickness to beat his man inside and get easy layups, leading to nearly 50% shooting from the field. He penetrates a dishes/scores better than most guards in the league.

4) Kidd? He's past his prime now, but he's never been a good outside shooter. Still, he uses his size and strength advantage to get easy buckets and is an incredible passer, rebounder, and a very good defender in his younger days.

5) Terry? He can pass a bit, but not more than, say, Mike James can. He is a deadly shooter and a clutch player, the "key" to the Mavs' success IMO along with Stackhouse. He is primarily a scorer, not much of a defender though; Mike James is a better defender than Terry is, that's the biggest difference.

How about a PG from the past like John Stockton? He was an excellent defender, a great passer, AND a great shooter from the outside.

So, how does Alston fit in the mold of ANY of these PG on some of the best teams in the league? If you examine the above list, you'ld see that NONE of those PGs on good teams are one-deminsional. They ALL can either shoot and pass, shoot and defend, pass and defend and shoot, etc; Alston is incredibly 1-D, what he does with his passing abilities ends up not helping you out at all because he can't defend worth a lick and is a horrible outside shooter. A "good" player can NOT be a 1-D player, period!

Alston's biggest weakness (a deal-breaker, IMO) is that he's not a good outside shooter, which IMO is an absolute MUST on a team that relies heavily on a system which is built around the fact that two star players get double-teamed most of the time, leaving the guards and the PF wide-open for practice shots.

What's the biggest deficiency in this system? We don't have shooters/scorers around these two star players.

Alston is a glorified backup PG on a good team. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

I disagree...Tracy and Yao bring more to the table than their scoring, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, etc...They bring double teams, leadership, and confidence to their teammates that they can beat anyone, anywhere. It's no miracle that the team wins when both are on the court together, more so when T-Mac is there, even when he is a shell of himself. The team is completely different when Mac is in uniform. The role players actually hit shots. For some reason they just don't have the confidence. I guess they're mentally weak.

You can compare them to the Fakers who won titles with shaq & kobe: Derek Fisher, brian shaw, K. Rush, Deven George, these guys are all trash without playing with shaq & Kobe. Somehow they managed to win titles because of the big two! Look at the suns this season, a collection of outcasts (except Nash & Marion) who are not great individual players but have become some of the best shooters in the league b/c of Nash and Marion. Those superstars bring wide open shots, leadership & confidence to them.

True but the only reason this discussion is taking place is b/c the Rockets are 10 games under .500 due mainly to INJURIES! This cast of role players NEED t-mac and Yao on the court to be successful. To blame the entire results of the season on the Rafer for MJ trade is ridiculous. If the trade were not made and MJ was here in similar situation, he would be putting up higher points than rafer but the Rockets would be as bad as they are now...Toronto has how many wins? 19 I think...yeah that's with an all-star in Bosh (22 ppg & 9.30 Rbg, and other role players that are arguably as good as what the Rox have. I like MJ, I just don't think it is fair to bash and blame everything on Rafer for this season!

You're correct, but I think MJ is a PG in the mold of a Stevie, which most of you hated! JVG wanted more a traditional PG.

The "pass-first PG" label has nothing to do with his inability to shoot this season. It has to do with the fact that he looks to run and yes "pass first" not look to shoot.

I find it funny that all the basketball characteristics that MJ has are the very same that most HATED on Francis for having yet you all want MJ back but will go out of your way to bash Francis for.

 

Now we are talking. Bottomline, RA is not all that "special", it's not too difficult to find a RA.

 

Apparently, I do agree with Sam sometimes.

 

yes, but would you say that if yao and tmac and the rest were 100% all year?

 

Who would want to hear MJ say "It's Time For Me To Get What I Deserve" while on the Rockets? Not me.