http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/basketball/nba/08/05/james.bucks.ap/index.html MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The Milwaukee Bucks signed unrestricted free agent Mike James on Thursday to add some depth at the point guard position. James will share duties with second-year player T.J. Ford, who is trying to make a comeback from spinal cord surgery. The team did not disclose terms of the contract. The 6-foot-2 James played 81 games with the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons last season. He started in all 55 games he played with Boston. He left the Celtics in February as part of a three-team deal that sent him to Detroit. He averaged 6.3 points and 3.7 assists in 26 regular-season games with the NBA champion Pistons, and then averaged 2.6 points in 22 playoff games. Scratch another one off the list......
I don't think James was at the top of anyone's list anyway... At this point, it's probably in the Rockets best interest to wait until all the other holes are filled around the league, so that they don't get locked into a long-term, over-inflated contract. Make due for now, and hope that not having a first-rate point guard doesn't kill them too much.
Is the something wrong with Damon Jones or Daniels? Now it look like Mike James is signed to replace Damon Jones ... who might sign with Seattle to replace Daniels?
Guys....its time you start to realize that Tyrone Lue is going to be our starter.....and its really not that big of a difference from Antonio Daniels or Damon Jones.
im ok with the fact that Lue will be our starter. I dont think MJames/DJones are much better than Lue. I thinK ADaniels would be a nice pickup but im curious as too why Seattle would want to get rid of him? for backup I think anyone can share those responsibilities I hope we can groom Gaines for that job.. if Gaines ever does become our starter.. Gaines 6' 6 TMac 6' 8 Boki 6' 9 JHoward 6' 9 Yao 7' 6 that would be a nice combo dont you think? J
It's my opinion from what I've heard from CD and various players that there is a deal already in place to get a PG and/or a backup C. Otherwise, they surely would've signed somebody by now. Who wouldn't want to be a part of this team, the fastest rising team in the league??? I believe there is a deal in place, and they are waiting for a glitch, whether a contract or deadline or whatever, to work itself out.
I doubt they have any deal in place... This team isn't rising yet, nobody knows how good we're going to be. It'd be nice to see something happen, sometime... soon.
Agreed. Except Howard's a little small, but that's okay.We need taller guys to make easier passes down to the post. I'm with you 100% about that. I hope Gaines pans out. He's like this year's first round draft pick
We haven't played a game yet with Tracy, who knows how it's going to work right now. Plus, outside of Yao and Tracy, we have one of the weakest squads in the league, probably the weakest bench. I think that Yao and Tracy will have to bust their asses just to improve on last year's record, because of how much better the rest of the West got, we're a better team overall, but so is everybody else.
I agree somewaht. I disagree about the bench. Mo Taylor is a 6th man of the year candidate, very consistent, if Lue ends up being a backup that's also a very strong bench player. definitely not the worst in the league.
I kind of agree with this opinion. I wonder if there is semi-agreement with another team that would send them one or more of the guys we received in the Magic trade and the Rockets are just waiting for the 60 days to pass. Otherwise I think we would have heard SOMETHING about them at least going after some of the cheap talent out there still.
There's a big difference between Lue, Daniels and Jones. Size alone. The reason Lue isn't a full-time starter, or hasn't been, is size. Personally, I think Lue can do a decent job, but he doesn't cause the problems that a guy like Daniels can cause defensively. Daniels and Jones have size, so saying there isn't a difference between them is ridiculously inaccurate. And unless you have personally talked to the Rockets there is no way of knowing that Tyronn Lue will be the Rockets starting PG. I don't understand that logic, we haven't played a game yet so we don't know how good the Rockets will be, but we know they're a weak squad? As for the Rockets having "one of the weakest squads in the league", how about letting them play a game before declaring that the Rockets have a crap team? The Rockets have a PF who averages 17 and 7, Jackson who dropped 15 ppg to close out the year last year, Mo Taylor and the same bench they had last year, yet now the Rockets are the weakest squad in the league. Really, the Rockets replaced Francis and Mobley and Cato with McGrady and Howard and upgraded Jackson's role. The Rockets still will likely go out and get some help. The Rockets have the same bench they had last year. to say the Rockets have one of the weakest squads in the league is ridiculous. Why would Yao and McGrady have to bust their asses to just improve the team when the Rockets have 4 players outside of Yao and McGrady who averaged double-digit points last year (Howard, 17 ppg, Jackson 13 ppg, Taylor 11.5 ppg, Lue 10.4 ppg). Doesn't sound like a crap squad to me. Especially since two of those guys will likely come off the bench (Taylor, Lue).
Outside of Yao and Tracy they are weak, they're weaker than they were last year outside of Francis and Yao, that's for sure. They have one of the weakest squads OUTSIDE of Yao and Tracy, Jim Jackson is the best player and at this stage of his career he's pretty average, after him it's a PG that doesn't start anywhere else, a PF that has been a disappointment everywhere he goes and would only start on lottery teams, and the bench is still as sorry as it was last season, since it's basically the exact same bench that produced only one real contributor. Well, the help well is running dry, that bench was one of the worst last season, outside of Yao and Tracy they are easily one of the weakest. Like I said before the West has gotten A LOT tougher that's why they have to bust their butts, especially Tracy, the Rockets got better, but will it be enough to improve? I don't know. Compared to other contenders in the West that is a crap squad, again outside of Yao and Tracy. Lue is coming off the bench? Not right now, and Taylor is our only sure thing off the bench as of right now.
Actually, last year, Steve was one of our weak links all regular season long. The success that led us to the playoffs was all due to Yao, JJ, Cat and Cato. We exchanged Cat for T-mac, Cato(streaky defense, blocked shots) for Juwan ( consistent offense and rebounds throughout a career, I see where he's a disappointment). And we traded our weak link PG of last year, for Tyronne Lue, while lacking in height, is a great improvement from Francis' production of last year and better fit. Not to mention our biggest weakness of last year included lack of offense and abundant turnovers. We've improved on both significantly with this trade. While teams in the west have gotten tougher, Shaq is no longer a part of it. That makes Yao instantly the best center in the west. And to me that adds more to your team than Boozer going to Utah, or the Nuggets aquiring Martin to go along with Camby and Nene. Not to mention you also posses a top 5 player in your roster to go along with said center, who has absolutely no equal in the west other than Kobe. I mean a top 5 player for christ's sake. Would you really consider us one of the weakest squads, if we had Tyronne Lue, JJ, Boki, Kevin Garnett and Yao as our starting five? That's the type of impact a top 5 player has on your team while combined with a player such as Yao. And lets not forget, so far the Mavs aren't considered a threat as they were before as far as regular season play went, and the Kings are on the verge of losing Stojakovic. We are NOT one of the weaker squads. As far as our bench woes go. We currently have a coach by the name of JVG at the helm, whose notorious for his short benches. Even if we had depth, JVG would still stick to bringing only 2-3 players off the bench and switching positions with his starters on a consistent basis. Like I said, we are FAR from being one of the weakest squads.
Francis a weak link? Lue an improvement over Francis? Please get help. Francis and Yao carried that team, with the biggest help coming from Jackson, Mobley did what he does and so did Cato and Taylor, but the 2 main guys were Steve Francis and Yao Ming, with great support from Jim Jackson. Man, if you think Tyrone Lue could of replaced Steve Francis production last year you really need help, get off the computer now and get help, please! Tyrone Lue playing 40 minutes for the Rockets last season instead of Francis would of led to a 20 win season, 20 wins at the most. Who cares if Shaq isn't a part of it, Yao was the best center in the West for most of last season anyway. Playing a guy two less times a year will not make a bigger impact than Utah adding Boozer and the Nuggets adding Martin. That makes absolutely no sense... Top five talent, not a top five player though. There's no comparing Garnett and Tracy, KG blows him out of the water, in talent and especially in the impact he has on his team. Think about it, if Tracy wasn't on the Magic would they have been any worse than last place? Nope. What type of impact is that? That bench is horrible, it didn't have 2-3 players coming off of it that contributed, it had ONE, it was Taylor and 95% of time nothing. Doesn't really matter if Van Gundy likes to have short benches, last season he had to have a short bench because it sucked, it was one of the worst in the league, probably the WORST among the teams with winning records.
