I remember somebody clamoring for the Rockets to sign Ricky Davis just a couple years ago. Now he's not good enough for China at age 31. http://www.niubball.com/2010/12/source-ricky-davis-and-mike-james-on-the-way-out-of-china/
Mike James got rejected by Fonde basketball playgrounds too. that should tell you somthing about Mike James's personality if you get rejected from a freaking summer streetball tournament. something like that rarely if ever happens instreetball SMH
Is it just me, or is there something of a pattern with the ex-NBA players who try to restart their careers in China? Stephon Marbury Steve Francis Mike James Ricky Davis ...
^^^You mean just trying to keep themselves/their careers afloat or relevant. Sorry Steve, Stephon, Mike, Rick, etc, what you do over there wont earn you job or "re-start" your career back in the NBA. Amazing though how far some of these guys have fallen or that just never panned out(or some former Rockets) Julius Hodge(20th overall) Quincy Douby(19th overall) Josh Boone(23rd overall) Will Conroy Javaris Crittenton(19th overall) Ricky Davis Steve Francis(not sure he was ever right since leaving Orlando and been downhill since) Mike Harris Stephon Marbury(seemed like just yesterday he was back-up PG in Boston. Well it sorta was but...obviously never caught on elsewhere beside China) Stromile Swift
The pattern is that all these guys were at the tail of their careers. If you are a team, you are either trying to win a championship or you are rebuilding. You only take ex-NBA'ers if you are contenders. If not, why keep old guys on your team?
Not simply that they were on the tail-end of their careers. They were players were diminishing physical skills, who didn't have the right mental approach or maturity for NBA teams to want to sign them for veteran presence.
I wonder if mcgrady ever ends up there. As much of a head case many ppl on this board feel he is, seems he is willing to just be a part of team now.
1. Yep, Juwan Howard, who wasn't even that good with the Rockets, still has an NBA job. Other guys, like Sam Cassell, got hooked up with coaching positions soon after retirement. In an industry in which there are a limited number of spots available for both players and other employees, t pays not to be a cancer. 2. Kind of interesting that many of the "bigger name" older guys have not excelled in China, and the better course of action seems to be picking up a younger (at least not washed-up) NBA role player/bench warmer. One part of it is obviously that diminished/injured bodies really limit guys in the game of basketball. Another part is that, as you said, the bigger name guys ending up in China tend to have ego issues one way or another during their NBA days and probably expected to be treated like princesses. Also, some of these guy got signed for "non-basketball" marketing reasons: there is, for example, recent grumbling about how Beijing's coach didn't think Francis was ready to play, but the team's sponsor and business-side folks insisted in bringing him in to sell tickets. It's not that easy a gig, actually. Teams are allowed 2 foreign players, and typically have 2. The foreign/American players are often expected to be stars and carry the team, but it's still a 5-man game and, besides, the other team has two Americans, too. And if you lose, or fail to score 30 pts a game, fans call for your head and the team goes out and looks for another American from the D-League or something (after all, if you score 15 ppg in NBA, you should be able to double that in a lower level league! World don't work that way sometimes).
Overall . . .. Does all these imports help the Chinese in 2012 Olympics? Better competition makes for better players even if these guys are washed up. Rocket River
Mike James used to wreck shop at Fonde... I remember watching him, J.R. Smith, Big Baby, John Lucas, Nic Wise, and a few others play in a tournament at Fonde last year, and James literally couldn't be stopped. He dropped like 42 points, and was running his mouth the entire game... crowd was going bananas.
Chinese bball will never achieve the level of US bball no matter how many ex-NBA players they bring over. They just don't produce enough tall athletic players in that country.
IMO, it definitely helps. In my short-sighted mind, had CBA naturalized those loyal imports who played in China for years a couple years ago, Yao would not have to play in the summers and China would still be the team to beat in Asia. For the record, players like Marbury, Bonzi or even Kirk Snyder have performed very well in their games in China. Bonzi and Kirk had their own reasons outside basketball court not to be resigned in China. I would not put them into the same situation as Ricky Davis and Mike James.
I thought he played well for us the first time. Obviously his second stint with us was a disappointment.
The problem is coaching, not competition. The level of coaching in china is very low. They don't need to hire ex-NBA players, they should hire ex-NBA coaches for both tactics and skill development. There is plenty of raw basketball skill in the juniors, the problem is that they don't get the right coaching to develop.
