This makes absolutely no sense. Maybe that's why you continue to proliferate the ridiculous logic which you derive from this position. What part of only 3 teams having cap space are you struggling with? "Suppositions" can range from his wife divorcing him and he never wants to be in Houston again to his becoming mentally under the control of some religious guru who wants him to quit basketball and have his family take up permanent residence on a Pacific Island. "Suppose" all you want to...only 3 teams had cap space and the likelihood of losing was incredibly small. Good businesses run on probalities...not a hodge podge of unlikely suppositions. Your reference to cutting Spoon demonstrates further how off base your logic is. The LTax Amnesty provison was LAST summer...2005. Alston this season makes ~1.3M less than the MLE. Which is what James signed for with MINN. The Rockets pay Battier (acquired before free agency) $2M LESS than what Swift and Gay would have cost. The LTax was NEVER an issue for re-signing James. I'm wrong? Based upon what beyond your opinion...more suppositions? The Rockets going into free agency were not a very deep team and had thinned that out further by going 2 for with the Battier trade. The rotation included a 40 year old backup C, Juwan Howard, Ryan Bowen and some unproven rookies. Assuming (and I'm sure you would) that Rafer was the starter, why does it make sense to sign a backup PG with the entire MLE when there were so many other holes to fill? And at the time, the holes included a starting SG. And in case you haven't noticed, they have a backup PG on the roster who hasn't played in 18+ months. The real reason that you'll never admit is that the Rockets knew James was the superior player and expected him to eventually be the starter. And why would I think this? Because Van Gundy has stressed quicker transition tempo. And according to to everyones new favorite deity 82games, the Rockets of James, Sura, Wesley and Barry got more points in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock than this new, quicker, more athletic version....29.6 to 23.6. IOW, the Mike James Rockets scored 6 more ppg in transition than what we currently get from Alston and Co. That's a huge difference. Very, very weak. We got used to drive up James' value? All the way up to what? Let me refresh your memory...a trade kicker. A trade kicker that costs absolutely not one freaking penny unless it is used in the 3rd year of the contract!. And how much would that kicker cost the Rockets? A whopping 950K. So if it comes down to believing Mike James wanted to play in his wifes' hometown and not be traded in 3 years or you that he "used" the Rockets...like the talent difference between James and Alston...not even close.
MJ is better than Rafer. There is no argument on that point. But the talent gap between him and Rafer isn't that big. It isn't like MJ is some great player that would take us to another level. He's a superior defender and better shooter. I also think he finishes stronger when attacking the rim. Rafer is a better ball handler and passer. Their skillsets are different while MJ's total package is greater. But let's not overstate how good he is. The 20/6 with a high shooting percentage at Toronto was the exception for him, not the rule. That Mike James is gone now, never to be found again.
My team was also screwed by MJames play, I just dropped his sorry a$$, went 0 for 9 in the last two games.
Found a good article on KG. I feel bad for him: An SOS for KG's Career Minny's front office screwed KG once again this summer to add Mike James.
Its weird even though I live in MN I've watched more of the Rox this season than I have of the T-Wolves. Judging by how the T-Wolves season is going that's probably not a bad thing. Also the MN media is barely paying attention to the T-Wolves right now either.
actually rafer's last year (09-10) isn't guaranteed. the toronto star reported this when the trade was made last year (link is dead now, but i have the text):
What part of James saying, "I'm looking to get paid" are you strugling with. It isn't a supposition. James clearly said he was looking for the biggest paycheck. Given that James all but said he was shopping for the best contract, the probability is pretty good. Isn't that when we trade for Rafer. tia. So if James did shop for the best offer, then we'd be faced with paying James more than we wanted. When we initially traded for James, I'm sure CD was thinking we could have resigned James for a relatively small contract. Then James has a decent season and says he is 'looking to get paid.' At that point, CD realized that it would require more $ to resign James. I'm not speaking to who is starting. I'm only saying having James AND Rafer is better than having only James or only Rafer. We were close to having both. Rafer and James could be on the floor at the same time w/ James playing some SG which addresses one of our biggest holes. Again, the Rockets making an offer to James is an admission of nothing. Having James AND Rafer is a no-brainer situation. You go for it if you can and we did. Who is the starter is an irrelevant point. We made the 1st offer to James. Minny countered OUR offer. That's called driving up his value. Only difference in the offers was the trade kicker that he tossed in at the last second. A trade kicker that costs absolutely not one freaking penny unless it is used in the 3rd year of the contract!. And how much would that kicker cost the Rockets? A whopping 950K. So if it comes down to believing Mike James wanted to play in his wifes' hometown and not be traded in 3 years or you that he "used" the Rockets...like the talent difference between James and Alston...not even close.[/QUOTE]
I find this very funny for two reasons: they apparently never scouted Mike James or asked his previous GMs about his ability to run the (not his own personal) offense, and Casey actually feels that someone needs to feed Mark Blount for them to win. I would have loved to have James in Luther Head's role in our offense - Rafer is a point guard that struggles as a scorer, Mike is a scorer that struggles as a point guard. They'd be an effective, if small, back court. Evan
"Um, so if the above is a crappy Mike James who can get better vs a Rafer Alston who we all pray nightly to maintain his 3pt shooting...um, yeah, I don't think Mike James is playing so bad." so true, that guy Alston is shooting bricks.
Mike James, who? Hey, I like the guy. He's far from perfect, and I don't mind watching him struggle. I guess I have an agenda though, for I'd love the Rockets to get him back. And it wasn't like he was inefficient tonight either: 4/5 overall, 1/1 from 3pt land, 1/1ft, 2 ast, 1 to, 22 minutes, 10 points. I followed the updates pretty intensely this game because I got KG on my salary fantasy team. At least statistically, Minny has a bunch of issues, and it seems like Mike James is just not involved in their offense at all. From the pbp, Dallas kept destroying Minny on the glass, KG kept missing long jumpers, Blount and Davis kept committing offensive fouls, and every once and while Mike James would be involved. I think the emergence of Randy Foye, baller extraordinare is putting James on the bench. I don't think Casey wants to go small ball. Anywho, Minny sucks. Thank goodness we have a coach like JVG who is fundamentally sound and instills that in his team. I honestly believe Minny has talent but lacks too much in the brains department from their coaching staff to their players. Their last great team had Sam Cassell as their floor coach, and that's makes a world of difference in my opinion. Oh well, hopefully they'll continue to suck tomorrow night vs the Rockets.
Playing next to a low percentage, off the dribble, black hole like Ricky Davis doesn't help matters...but anyway, who cares? He put up another extremely efficient performance in limited minutes, showing why he'd be the perfect PG for the Rockets. When was the last time "Bombs Away" Rafer scored double digits on just 5 shots for a game? I really hope his limited PT continues and Minny dumps him to us...though I wouldn't want him going to Dallas or SA.
He shot well, tonight, but didn't really help his team do much. Not neccesarily his fault, they look disjointed overall. Well, it's better than going 0-for during each of the last 2 games.
Don't forget his efficiency in the prior two contests: 0-9 for donuts in both games. Did he even play in the 2nd half tonight? I don't think he had a 2nd half FG attempt. Maybe he's ticked off Casey and Garnett already.
Ricky's FG% is around 45. That's pretty decent and about the same or better than Mike. I don't think it's Ricky that's hurting Mike, but Mike himself.
