You don't get it. Rafer Alston isn't needed to run the team when you post up yao or hand the ball to t-mac to create. They are the faciliators on every play(either they get a good shot or they get one for a teammate). So unless the argument is mike james can't hand the ball to tracy or throw an entry pass to Yao James can do exactly what Alston is going to be asked to do, except he would do it much better. We don't ask alston to get tracy shots, or yao shots. T-Mac may run off a curl or go for an alley oop maybe a couple times a game at best. We ask him(alston) to hit his open looks, play defense and minimize turnovers. And he is not hitting the looks constantly enough. Think back to what fisher's role in LA and Kenny Smith when we had dream. That is what the pg role for the rockets is right now. Alston misses way too many open looks, and we do not need his penetration skills that much, esp compared to most teams. The difference when one or both yao/tracy miss games is somebody has to create shots for teammates. Alston is the one guy who can do that. Ie drive and kick.
I dont know...I think our record would be better but probably not significantly better. Also if Bonzi were playing the way he has lately all along I also believe our record would be better. In my opinion Mike James is a player that can create his own shot and we can never have too many of those as long as he plays his role and steps up when we need him to. Honestly I dont see too much difference between Mike James's game and Billups game. The team is doing great but I think its because Tmac is functioning like a well oiled machine. As soon as he sits down our machine is not so smooth anymore. Dont get me wrong I think all our guys our doing an admiral job. Do you think there is a guy out there who would have improved our record? With all that said Mike James is where he is because he chose to be there. We dont really "need" him the same way we dont "need" Bonzi......but it wouldnt hurt to have him if we could.
I don't thinks so. Alston is better at bring the ball up and set up the offense and get the ball to the right people. That's what we need with Yao and Tmac both on the floor. When he is running the point, Tmac and Yao basiclly gets more chance. Yao even said Alston is the best at getting him the ball. What James did was dribbling, lookinng for his own shot, pass out when nothing was there. Head is a better shooter than James, but you Alston, Tmac and Yao together did better than Head, Tmac and Yao toghther. James is a bigger version of JL3, a PG with shooting guard's mentality.
I'm not going to continue to debate this after this post because it's pointless(not going to change anyone's mind) but to me anyone can throw yao or tracy an entry pass and anyone can hand the ball to t-mac and go spot up at the 3 pt line. If they can't, they shouldn't be on an NBA roster. And james can create his own offense when things break down better than Alston can. When has luther head ever gotten to play extensively with Yao and T-Mac at the point anyway? He hasn't. And he's not as good a player as James as much as I like luther. Tracy is our primary ballhandler/offense intiator along with Yao. Thus the need for a great pass 1st pg is not necessary. The more the ball is in Alston's hands, the less it's in theirs. Which is not a good thing. And rafer is not consistent at hitting the open jumpers he has to make as a pg on this roster. James for his career is much better in that regard.
Let's not let the fact that I missed that rather insignificant coaching quote detract away from my point that your argument is completely baseless. Attempting to sound informed by name calling and pretending to know somebody's inner thoughts as your main point isn't a point at all. You know, it's easy for you to sit here and name call, call a player an underachiever and do whatever else you can to try to sound informed but it still doesn't hide the painfully obvious fact that you don't watch him play nor have you payed attention to the T-Wolves and their disasterous situation this year. How can you possibly expect a 4th, sometimes 5th option on a team to throw up huge numbers? He's being asked to defer to KG and the likes of Davis, Blount and Foye -- which he has been doing. That team has no identity, no chemistry and little chance to succeed with their current roster. Sure, he was foolish for choosing to go there but is their lack of success really his fault? A "selfish" player, running the offense with the ball in his hands no less, would be pulling the Keyshawn "Gimme the damn ball" card instead of being 4th/5th on the team in shot attempts. He went games where he would play 35-40 minutes and not even attempt 10 shots per game. It's like calling Bonzi a disappointment and blaming his lack of success as a Rocket due to him being selfish -- it just makes no sense. If a player is taking smart shots, getting his teammates involved and trying not to do too much how can you really condemn him? ....and please explain to me how his contract provides him "incentives not to perform". Is that the point from your last post about the trade kicker that I asked you to explain which you chose not to elaborate on?
How then would you expect him to thrive in Houston? He would be no more than a 4th option here, behind Yao, McGrady, and Wells. It's clear that in order to be "effective" i.e. putting up big numbers, Mike James has to handle the ball ALL the time. If he is deferring to others and sucking because of that, what makes you think he wouldn't suck when asked to defer to others here? Sorry, but I still haven't forgiven Mike James for trying to steal the show when Tmac was hot in the Mavs series.
correction...mike james would be the third option here just as rafer is. shooting wide open threes.....if wells, tmac, james, and yao were actually playing together, i would beg to differ that James would get more shots from the three, than bonzi from the other post or midrange. Rafer shoots a lot of threes....more than bonzi shoots, that's for sure. Mike James would do well here, simply because of his D and 3 pointer. When he played here two years ago, he did well guarding nash. he guarded the pick and roll pretty well, from what i remember. better than rafer for sure....we need a guard like him.
I've asked this over and over on this forum and no one ever responds to it......... Doesn't anyone remember Mike James going 0-13 from 3 in the playoff against Dallas? Doesn't ANYONE remember Avery Johnson putting in old man Darrell Armstrong and DA absolutely abusing Mike James? Doesn't anyone remember T-Mac asking James for the ball in the 4th quarter of one of the games and being waved off? I just do not get the James fascianattion here. So many people here claim this board has a hard on for Spanoulis, buit it really in truth is James that the board has the hard on for. I think the Rockets should be looking more for a Steve Blake type point guard anyway.
Based on your theory, Rox doesn't even need Mike James since Head is a much better 3pt shooter than Mike James. Passing first PG is very important to Rox. Did you see the game when Alston was ejected? Rox's offense had no flow. Tmac is primary ballhandler/offesnse initator only when the games is on the line. He can't do that for majority of the game. That's why Rox still needs backup PG after Rafer. Mike James shoots better than Alston, but he is not nearly as good as distributing the ball and at finding the right player at the right time. And he doesn't control the tempo as well as Alston. If you think Rox doesn't need a PG who can bring the ball up and distribute to right players at right time, think again. JVG was begging for three PGs in the offseason and you think passing first PG is not important for Rox. I don't know what to say.
I do not get the James fascianattion either. Detroit, Milwakee and Toronto etc basicly let James go for nothing and now Twolves is trying to get rid of him even with a trade kicker after just a half of the season.
You're a rookie with a distorted memory of how people interact with you here. I can't speak for others, but to be brutally honest, you've never really been worth responding to. He went 0-9, which is not good itself -- so why make yourself look stupid by fudging the numbers? But Mr. Jack-a-holic put up nine total in 7 games... that's closer to how many Rafer shoots (100% in the flow of the offense mind you!!!!1111) in a single game. James also hit 55% of his shots from inside the arc in that series ... 29-53. Rafer, based entirely on his current average, would have gone 19 or 20 of 53. And have you ever looked at Rafer Alston's playoff experience? In 2003-04, in 13 playoff games with the Miami Heat, Rafer Alston also never started, saw his minutes go from 32 to 22-23 and put up these averages: 22.7 minutes, 31.9% from the field, 23.1% from three (on 4 threes a night in 22+ minutes!), 1.7 assists (not a misprint) and 0.46 steals. Honestly if I was to make up numbers to make Rafer look bad, they would not have been near that bad. And this is considered one of Rafer's best seasons because he shot 37.1% from three-point range ... well, that's what he did in the playoffs that year. So maybe trying to make Mike James out to look like a "choker" because of a series in which he shot over 46% isn't the best strategy for a Rafer apologist. You're talking about one game -- a game in which the Rockets lost by 40 points. And you say old man like "Ha! Old man Roger Clemens just threw a fastball by you!". Armstrong may not have been a lot at this stage of his career, but he was defintely speedy. The Mavs had no answer for James' speed -- he was <a href="http://www.clutchfans.net/game.cfm?GameID=2767">most responsible for the Rockets' Game 6 win</a> -- and that was their counter. You make it sound like Rafer would have stayed with Armstrong. One of those most overblown/false stories ever, and that comes straight from JVG's mouth. The "board" has a wide range of opinions ... if it didn't there would be zero debate here. Implying the whole board has gone mad or is against me, especially on an issue with differing opinions like this one, is a lame cop-out. And speaking of hard ons... stop being a dick.
Did you even read what I wrote above? Rafer Alston was ejected vs the Hornets in a game WITHOUT YAO. I specifically said right now(without one or both of the stars) we need Alston's drive/kick ability. In fact you said now would be a better time to have James for his scoring. And head is not a natural pg, which is why it's natural to struggle vs NO without Alston and YAO. Next, if you think Alston is the primary ballhandler with both Yao and Tracy in the game, you are crazy. The ball either gets dumped down low to Yao or put in tracy's hands to create for himself or teammates. Alston is essentially a spot up shooter in that scenario. Mike James >>> Rafer Alston in defense and shooting. Lastly, they need a backup point guard because VSpan/JL3 suck at this moment. But look at the guy we all have figured they land: Chucky Atkins. He is not a passer. He is a solid defender that knows his role that can hit open shots decently, and that is why people want him. Not for any penetration ability.
OUCH! Clutch, OUCH! james would be nice still on this team but i dont think we have the pieces to get him from minnesota right now, plus who knows if he would like coming off the bench still. of course he would be making a bit more money cuz of the trade kicker which could have been his plan all along. wanting to play in houston but more money
sorry to burst your bubble but chucky atkins is hardly a good defender let alone solid defender. if you were referring to mike james in that last sentence, then yes I would agree with your statement completely
I've read in this thread that he could refuse the trade kicker. He would have to... there's no way in hell CD would pay it. I think James would, given an opportunity to come here again. My impression is that he's feeling a bit of regret about his decision.
Alright I admit I was wrong on that, but he hits open shots better than Alston. He sure isn't a pass 1st penetrator shooter 2nd. And mike james is a better player than him imho.
I was hot on getting MJ back before he signed with Minnesota but now I'm happy we passed on him. He's played poorly this season. He's always talking up a storm with the media and starting drama as we can see he is doing in this article. Our team right now has great chemistry on and off the court. While I would like to see Alston be replaced, I just don't think MJ is our answer.
You probably missed a post somewhere, cuz Dude you're totally off base about my posts and pretty much missed the main point entirely: which is the trade kicker clause and how it can reward you if you're bad (as opposed to the Santa Claus who rewards you only when you're good --- the "kicker" to this is that while Santa Claus is a fantasy, the trade kicker clause apparently does exist). Bottomline: Me James doesn't need Santa Claus when he's got his trade kicker clause. I don't know about you, but I don't think anybody would dismiss a possible 15% raise as a non-incentive. Once again, it ain't mind reading. It's common sense. But if you have a problem with drawing a likely conclusion from the basis of common sense, I will just let Me James speak for himself: "I just feel like, if I'm not a fit here ... like they always said, if it ain't one place, it can always be another." Go get 'em, MJ. . . .
I don't know how anybody can watch last nights game when the Rox desperately needed a second perimeter scorer and say they're glad there's no James around.
What am I off base about? You're main point is you're pretending to know another man's inner thoughts and you seem to be under the impression that requesting a trade kicker is the equivalent of highjacking a jetliner and demanding $100 billion dollars for ransom. What you don't realize is a trade kicker works both ways. Sure, it provides extra incentive for a player if he gets traded but it also discourages teams from wanting to trade for him and often becomes an "insurmountable hurdle" in any trade. MJ was quoted plenty of times before he signed in Minnesota saying he just wanted a team to believe in him, show him a home and in turn he would help them win a championship. We're obviously not going to see eye-to-eye on this. That's fine, we're both entitled to our own opinions. I just think you're going way overboard and cliche with all this "Mike James = selfish" talk that some posters on the BBS seem to be obsessed with.
