i dont care about Van Gundy's system. i think it has been fairly well voiced that many want Van Gundy gone. This is however my complaint about letting go of Mike James and picking up Rafer Alston. I was ecstatic when we picked up James. He seemed to play with heart almost every game and he was always capable of giving us a much needed lift on a rather lackluster (energy wise) team. Who cares if Rafer runs Van Gundy's system better? James is the better player and better fit for the Rockets.
Mike James has his own game. He wants to be a team leader from the bottom of his heart, which will never work out with Tracy and Yao. RA fits better when both of our stars are on the court, he creates shots for others while Mike James create shots for his own. Remember February? Both Tracy and Yao played together and we were 10-3, during that streak RA dished around 8 assists per game.
This again? Alston is more of a true PG. His game needs to mature, but he has the abilities and apparent desire. James...is good, but not a best-fit for a team w/ 2 superstars.
29 If anyone thinks that the James/Alston trade kept us from being a contender this year.......keep on hitting the pipe.....
Exactly, Mike James is going to bolt this summer to the highest bidder. We would have lost him for nothing. Getting Rafer was the best trade of the year, IMO. In hindsight, James as a scorer would have been nice with TMac out. But James isn't the difference between our current 12th seed and a playoff team. But with Yao and TMac in the game, Rafer is 100x better than James. This summer, please get a legit 2-guard that can knock down 3's.
Yes, better to be stuck with 4 more years of a PG that can't shoot the FRICKEN BALL TO SAVE HIS A$$ !!!!!! Mike James on this team, and we would be solidly in the playoffs. Trading James for Alston was a horrible move. All you have to do with this offense is get Yao the ball, and be able to hit an open shot. Alston can get him the ball, but CAN NOT shoot.....James is a better player, and even though his contract expires this year, at least he is off the books if he bolts. James is FAR greater than Rafer..........FAR GREATER ! DD
Another James-Alston debate thread. Might as well talk about the Barkley-Horry/Cassell trade while we are at it.
no matter who's on this team the majority of fans will say we need a pass first point guard. funny thing is, everyone looks at the lakers model, but the lakers won with a point guard who was out there for his shot, not his pass first mentality. all yao and mcgrady need around them is players who can make shots. if fans can't see that by now I don't know what they're watching.
Yep. Yao or Tmac start the offense and generate WIDE OPEN shots...... Too bad none of the current generation of Bowen shoot-a-likes can hit one. DD
only one of which is available to play at any given time....strangely he managed to fit in in Detroit on the way to a title.
Yep, this is what I don't get.....all James did for the Rockets was produce, and produce well. Now, we have seen what Rafer can do......every time he shoots I cringe...and if it goes in....a sigh of relief. Mike James was an energizer, and clearly a better player.....I thought expiring contracts had value....but judging by the way CD and Co. use them....you would think otherwise. DD
irrelevant, eh? If we are going to win a championship, they will both need to be available and they will need a PG who can dish. Who are their 2 superstars? Are you saying that our team is similar to Detroit? And if he was so integral to their titles, why not keep him?
Yeah, because heaven knows, Yao and Tracy can't create their own shot and need to be assisted all the time, like champions past Tim Duncan, Richard Hamilton, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant HELP WANTED: PASS FIRST PG PASS FIRST PG PASS FIRST PG WHO CAN'T SHOOT They had many scorers in Hamilton, Wallace, Billups. Yet somehow James managed to co-exist with them and be a vital role player on a championship team. He managed to fit in just fine - which torpedos the bogus fallacy that people have been peddling around here for about a year "Tracy hates Mike James cuz he takes away to many shots blah blah" that is still trotted out, despite the fact that it has less validity than the Tracy/baby/paternity b.s. I didn't say he was integral. I said he managed to fit in, which is the standard hackneyed cliche that you're pitching against him. Anyway, the reason why he wasn't back in detroit is the same reason the bulls didn't keep Horace Grant: he signed for more money elsewhere. Does that mean Horace Grant wasn't integral to the Bulls titles? Ask the 1995 Bulls.
I'm not sure I'd call James' role on the Pistons "vital". He averaged a whopping 8.4 mpg in the 2004 playoffs.
I do not agree your claim that James is a far better than Rafer. I do think James is better in terms of scoring and defense. But Rafer is a lot better in playing as PG. A LOT BETTER. The value of Rafer can be shown especially when we have health T-Mac and Yao. With T-Mac out, James could fit a little better, but it should not make such difference between play-off team and a high lottery team. Look at the Raptor today, they are still worse than Rockets, with healthy James and Chris. We certainly value Rafer as PG on this team, but was the trade the best of the year? I dont know. With the problems between Rafer and Sam, we might have had him without the cost of Mike James, if we had been patient enough, but who knows. In short, both MJ and Rafer are valuable players. You could argue that MJ might be able to help more when either Yao or T-Mac out, but to claim that MJ is a far better player is a little stretch.
Amusing how this board whines for years about getting a PG, then when they finally get one, they whine that he's not a SG in PG clothing. Now when a team has been decimated by injuries, do you think a PG will look effective? Look at February when we fielded a somewhat healthy squad, and how did Rafer perform? 8.13 APG, 1.92 SPG ... those are elite PG stats. He also shot 40% (like Ray Allen) from the 3-pt line, 3.8 RPG, 10.6 PPG.
he was a solid contributor during the regular season with the pistons with 6 ppg, 4 apg. He also was 6-14 from downtown during the playoffs despite limited minutes.
