Mike James loses Wolves starting job

You are contridicting yourself. First you said Rockets don't need a PG who can run the offense, then you said Head struggles because he's not a natural PG.

You said all Rockets player need to do is get the ball to Tmac and Yao then pick up his spots, in that case Head should be a better option than James, because at least Head is willing to pass, James had ignored Yao and Tmac quite often when he was with Rockets. He maybe a natural PG, but he doesn't play like one. He plays like a poor man's Marbury.

Right now Mike James's only advantage over Alston is his shooting. His defense is overrated. Check www.82games.com, James's opposing PGs have a PER of 18.7, while Alston's opposing PGs have a PER of 15.4. Alston does everything else equal or better, especially at running the team.

There is a reason James was let go for nothing so many times. I'm not a fan of Alston either, but I just don't see James as a better fit than him.

 

i don't find mike james defense overrated at all....he's much at better at pick and roll defense than rafer alston, which is important....very important

 

If only Snyder had mad handles and good court vision...

 

That stat is heavily influenced (and in this case, distorted) by team defense issues, far more than individual one on one defense.

 

IMHO Minnesota is a decent defensive team.

 

This is a great point that doesn't get brought up enough. Rafer has really improved his defense since he came to the Rocks, IMO. I think James played better defense here as well. It's the system and the coach. I might get ticked off with Van Gundy on occasion, but the the guy is just a hell of a defensive coach. Outstanding. Atkins, for example, has been a name floated around as a possibility in a trade. I think his defense would start to look better under Van Gundy pretty quickly. (if he wanted to get off the bench, lol)

 

Weren't you the one requesting an explanation?

I certainly do understand the kicker can work as an obstacle to a trade but that doesn't mean it cancels out the huge incentive of a 15% raise. Telling someone that something can't be done or it's to hard to accomplish won't necessarily stop them from trying ... expecially if the reward is nice. Also, I'm not so sure that the hurdle is "insurmountable" either. Couldn't MJ & the Twolves negotiate a buy out of the kicker clause? For example, the Twolves could offer to pay off the value of the kicker (the 15% raise) in exchange for MJ's waiver of the clause, thereby opening the door for a trade to take place; MJ gets his cake and he gets to eat it too. Sure, the Twolves have to pay a little to get rid of the headache ... but many teams have paid a lot more than that for bad contracts.

But this is what he's saying now: ""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."
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I agree with this. If you read my posts carefully, you'd find out I never have problem with getting Mike James as a backup of Alston or share the load with Alston, although he's somewhat overpaid as a backup PG even if Twolves pay for his trade kicker. I just don't think replace Alston with James as starting PG would benifit Rockets that much like some people here think. There are things Alston can do that James can't, and vise versa.

The whole point of arguement is about whether "James would be a much better fit than Alson", not "is James worth signing". I believe the first statement was false.

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Now you're just interjecting wild opinion ... James "not willing to pass" and "ignoring Yao and T-Mac". If you take the games where Mike James, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady played together in 2004-05, Yao and T-Mac took 33.9 shots and 13.3 free throws per game combined.

If you compare that to games where Rafer Alston, Yao and McGrady played together this season, Yao and T-Mac took 34.0 shots and 14.1 free throws per game combined.

The only difference is T-Mac sacrificed 5+ shots to Yao.
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Are you talking about James as a starter or James came off the bench while Sura was starting? There is a huge difference between those two. As I remember, the shots James took per minute is way higher than Alston's when both Tmac and Yao were healthy.

Again, I somewhat agree with you. I pointed out James's defense is overrated based on that guy's "James's defense>>> Alston's defense" statement. I think both of them are not defensive specialist, they are about equal in that department.

 

They're 16th in the league, the Rockets are #1 by a wide margin. Given this and especially given the pacing issues - this is going to make Alston seem like a stonewall defender compared to most PG's if you use opponent PER.

 

I also forgot to add that the only other concern regarding acquiring Mike James is the possibility, whether slim or not, that he does not get the starting nod. James will either have to accept the possibility and deal with it better than he has so far in Minnesota or make it clear he will not want to be traded to Houston if he were not to srtart.

 

This would be a big issue. I just get the feeling that if Rafer and James are both on the team, JVG's gonna start Alston over him ten times outta ten. He would simply have to accept a sixth man role or not come at all.

 

I was merely paraphrasing your main points and asking if I had missed anything since you claim i'm misunderstanding your posts. You seem to be convinced you're inside MJ's head or something, that a trade kicker only works one way and that there's no other explanation possible other than that MJ is a completely selfish player that's only out for the money. A cunning and manipulative businessman more than a basketball player.

So, am I missing anything?

In most case the general purpose of a trade kicker is for security. Not financial security, which you seem convinced of otherwise, but to make a player's contract less desirable for teams trying to trade for him. MJ made countless quotes before signing that he wants a home, a place to settle down with his family and to win. He's also a player that's big on respect since he didn't exactly take the conventional route to the NBA. He's had to work so hard to get where's he at so by being demoted in favor of a rookie by a new coach has to be frustrating.

You're just making such a big deal out of ONE quote that could have simply been said out of frustration. He's not making a national case out of this. He's not refusing to play or doing/saying anything detrimental to the team. It's just one quote that you're dressing up with a drink and fries then trying to call it a "Happy Meal".

 

I call BS here. A simple no-trade clause would have been sufficient to give him control over where he wants to "settle down." It would allow him to nix any trade. A trade kicker on the other hand is about nothing more than financial gain. It says trade me, but pay me ... it doesn't necessarily give him control over where he wants to "settle down." It more or less suggests trade me anywhere that'll give me the 15% gravy.

 

He wouldn't have been eligible for a "no trade clause"....

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#85

 

I never contradicted myself. Right now the Rockets are without Yao. Teams are going to force the ball out of t-mac's hands quite a bit, and asking him to handle all the playmaking right now will drain him come april/may/june.

Therefore Rafer Alston is necessary right now as the 2nd guy who can drive and create shots for teammates. When Alston got ejected vs NO, Head was that guy. Problem is he is only an athletic jumpshooter. He isn't going to set his teammates up for good looks. He is not near the player james is right now. Thus imagine what NO did. They i'm sure denied t-mac the ball and guess what, nobody else got the open looks they had been getting all season. If you have Rafer, he can get guys like howard/battier/head their shots when t-mac is being denied the ball.

But with Yao and T-Mac, your guards have to be able to play defense, minimize turnovers, hit outside shots and be able to drive when defenses run hard at their shots(like luther did on his dunk vs dallas last night). And if one of the big two are on the bench, they need to have drive and kick ability. Remember the role kenny smith had when we had dream. Same deal. Or derek fisher in the Shaq/Kobe days in LA. Mike james is a combo guard who can hit shots better than rafer, play D better than rafer, is more athletic than rafer, and can also drive to the basket and kick to teammates(not quite as well as rafer) when necessary. The thing is with yao and tracy on the floor most possessions your other 3 players have to be spot up shooters who ideally can drive when defenses crash on them. Mike James is better than Alston in shooting, and finishing at the rim. As long as he can handle pressure and throw entry passes to Yao, he is a much better fit for the Rockets system than Alston at full strength.

In my scenario, James would be on the floor with both yao and t-mac. He also would be the one better suited to be on the floor with only yao. Alston would be the better fit when yao is resting and t-mac is on the floor but you could really use either guy in that scenario. James would get more minutes than Rafer whether or not he "starts."

 

Nice find. I wasn't aware of that ... crap, it's hard to qualify for no-trade.

I get that the trade kicker works both ways. But do you really think it works both ways equally? Because the trade kicker doesn't have the effect of a no-trade clause. It's a poor substitute and doesn't really discourage any trade to anywhere as long as MJ gets his 15% (either from the other team or the Twolves). It certainly wouldn't discourage MJ from (if he wanted to) doing whatever to try to force a trade ... it would just then be Minnesota's problem to find a willing trade partner even if they had to pay off the kicker themselves. More importantly, If MJ's reason for seeking the trade kicker was to settle down securely in Minnesota, he wouldn't be saying that he's basically ok with playing elsewhere. You believe what he said back then, but you don't believe what he said recently? ... or am I inside his head imagining those words that are coming out of his mouth?

 

The crux of your argument still revolves around this one quote. One quote -- nothing more. A quote that was likely mentioned in haste due to spur-of-the-moment frustration and since then he has made no other mention of the sort yet you insist on rolling with this argument.

Do I believe a trade kicker works equally both ways? Probably more so than a "no-trade clause". A NTC isn't necessarily fair either since it prevents a team from being able to trade a player unless they give their endoresment. In that situation, the player has complete control of their fate. By using your logic this would be the way for a "selfish" player to go. No, they wouldn't get their 15% bonus if traded but at least they can pull the plug on any undesirable trade proposals.

Dude, we can argue NBA salary cap semantics all we want but none of this is going anywhere. I respect your opinion and appreciate the intelligent discussion but I think this is a dead point.

 

16th in what category?

Last time I checked they were borderline top10 in points allowed and we weren't ahead of SA by that much.

And in 3 out of 4 games this season we had a pretty hard time against them.

 

I haven't read up on the cap stuff in a while, but I remember in the past, players that had trade kickers were able to use them to make trading them more difficult, thus making them sort of like no trade clauses.

And I believe it may be possible for the player to nix the trade kicker, but I don't think MJ ever would. I remember that was the case with Matt Geiger(yeah yeah ooooold).