I would say Mike James is ridiculously underrated ... if he wasn't overhyping himself to the point of nausea the last 4-5 months. The Rockets clearly undervalued him when they dealt him ... I don't even think that's debatable any more. In the playoff series with the Mavericks last year, Mike James was huge -- didn't get near enough credit. In the 4 losses, he hit 37.5% from the floor for just over 8 points. In the three wins, he scored 16 points per on 56.7% shooting. This is a player who is in the same three-point shooting caliber as Jason Terry, yet in that entire series, he never hit a three-point shot. Not once (0-9). That really shows you how he can beat you penetrating and with the mid-range jumper. His defense seemed to take a backseat last year, but he's a very good thief in the passing lanes and a decent one-on-one defender. But 47% shooting from the floor and over 44% from long range? That's obscene for a 6-2 guard who plays heavy starter minutes. Maybe with a bunch of weapons on the floor around him the acquisition of Rafer Alston will pay off. Maybe. Someday. But right now, that trade was just flat out abysmal. The Rockets took on a long contract that was not considered very moveable, given Rafer's baby-like poutfests with Sam Mitchell last year, and traded the best player (and expiring contract to boot) in the deal. My only concern/question about bringing James back is will he be content to be the known third fiddle. If not, pass.... if so, I think he's the right fit.
Deuce - There is another very interesting element at play here which I just realized! Toronto's cap situation Right now, assuming the Raptors renounce the Bird Rights of Lamond Murray, they have $39.3M committed for 2006-07. We have to also include the salary of the #1 pick (3.75M) so they are at ~$43M. However (and this is where it gets really tricky), none of what I just stated has yet to factor in Mike James' Early Bird Rights (or not renouncing all other exceptions including the MLE) which IMHO takes TOR slightly over the cap. Why is this critical? Because if TOR is over the cap when they SnT Mike James using his Early Bird Rights, he becomes a BYC player if his raise exceeds 20% of his current $3.4M contract. Re-stated...if TOR is over the cap at the time they SnT Mike James and TOR uses Early Bird Rights to give James a big raise then James becomes a BYC player for any contract exceeding a year 1 salary of $4m. James' BYC possibility is IMHO another reason the Rox are the front runners.
Another way that I believe Mike James helps our team is that he gives us some semblance of leadership. I think his type of mentality combined with his skills makes for a nice fit on this team.
I like the idea of bringing James back as much as the next guy, especially with this weak free agent crop. But imo, his ego has to take more of a backseat than even being the third option. We need to draft that would be third, and utilize James as quality depth. (ala Jason Terry) I know this is semantics to an extent. But if I were to chart Dallas top four, Terry would come in at the bottom, below Stackhouse. To me, this is the reason for his success in the postseason. If teams have multiple tough covers, one person isn't going to be game-planned for. I think you can game plan for Yao, Tracy and then close out on Mike James. But if he's your fourth component and we draft a Roy/Brewer, then either James or the additional component gets to be a tougher cover when managing the whole and their ability to attack the rim becomes a huge asset. *to emphasize my point, Terry was fine with taking a backup role in the playoffs (against the Suns I believe) after being a starter all year. Would James be as receptive?
you're right about that. has anyone here seen more than a few raptors games last season with mike james on the roster? many of my friends up in toronto can't stand mike james anymore and want to see him traded asap. countless games have been lost because mike james wanted to take the critical shot rather than defer to chris bosh or even morris peterson. sure, mike james can put up numbers here and there, but he is also a huge liability in crunch time. the raptors have a limited amount of options which allows mike james to have the 30 pt+ games that he has, but if we bring him back to houston i seriously doubt that he will decline his game any lower than it is right now at toronto.
Gater: Can you expand on this for me? How would James' BYC make us the front-runners for him? Thanks for your patience...
I think once James is settled his ego will calm quite a bit -- there will be flashes of course, but not the constant chirping we were hearing during the season.
Another reason why they are trying to trade down from #1? What if they trade down to #4 thru #6 (thus lowering the first round draft pick salary), would that be enough reduction for them to bypass the BYC hurdle?
Without getting too technical on the numbers thing, here a short version of Mike James, TOR and BYC. 1) A team can have cap space or it can have exceptions. You can't use both in the same "season". All exceptions...Bird Rights, Early Bird Rights, Trade Exceptions, your 1st round picks and the Mid-Level Exception count against your cap. 2) The Exceptions stop counting against your cap once a player is signed (in which case his salary is counted instead of his Bird Rights) or that player or Exception is renounced. Now for the very tricky part. I will defer to NIKEstrad, aelliott or a few others on the next points but this is how I see it... 3) If the Raptors renounce all Bird Rights including those of Mike James and they renounce their MLE and other exceptions...they would have some cap space. How much I can't say with certainty. But let's say they can trim down to $40M including their 1st rounder. If (and this is a very big if), the cap raises to $48m, they would then be $8M under the cap. They could conceivably sign MJ to a 6.4M contract, trade him for a player or players worth +/125% of $6.4M and have the remaining ~ $1.5M of cap space. At issue in #3 are... A) What will be the 2006-07 cap? B) How far can the Raps get under the 06-07 cap? C) Since Mike James is unresticted, will he go to whomever the Raps' trade partner is? D) Was renouncing all exceptions and trading MJ more valuable than what you could have received with your MLE? (Keep in mind that TOR also has a trade exception that they would have to give up for the cap space). 4) If the Raptors are unable or unwilling to use cap space to re-sign Mike James, then any salary increase over 20% (a Yr 1 contract of ~4.1M) makes Mike James a Base Year Compensation (BYC) player. He is then very difficult to trade to an over the cap team without a 3rd under the cap team taking on salary. Clear as mud, right? The key points are the 06-07 cap and how much TOR can get under.
Clutch, I agree--he was huge against Dallas, but that was only because he was our only guard with speed. Also, at that time, Yao wasn't as dominant as he showed this season. I'm not talking dominant in terms of numbers, but dominant in terms of presence. The point is that we won't be that desperate for speed next year. We have some young guns we'll go to for speed and quickness in Swift and/or Head (seeing that at least one will be on the roster next year) and our draft picks. Not to mention, if we re-sign Bogans, that just gives us more strength and speed in the backcourt. So James' assets aren't as neccessary as they would have been 2 years ago. And, yeah, 44% FGs and 47% 3s for a team that was practically worthless last season. He was one of the lone offensive threats on the Raps, so of course he was going to post numbers. I think it's ludicrous when people refer to james' season this year and saw how brilliant he is. Sheesh, put Head on the Raps and he would've given you atleast 16-18 ppg, 4-6 apg, and 2-3 steals a game and people woul be hailing him as a potential superstar. All that matters is that TMac did not care for James. The image of James waving off McGrady in the series against the Mavs will be one entrenched in my mind as how ridiculously high this guy actually thinks of himself. What did we see with Rafer that we didn't see with James? More ball movement and better shot selection. Those two attributes are more significant for our type of team than a club like the Raptors.
How are you correlating field goal percentage with the quality of your team? You're still shooting against the same opponents. If anything, you're argument hurts you in that he had more defensive attention against him and still shot at that clip. The "numbers on a bad team" only works with ppg, not fg%. And what is entrenched in my mind is his critical game saving steal in Game 2 and how he came in with a 10 point deficit in Game 6 and turned the game around. I don't think it was as bad a trade as Clutch because I agree with you on Rafer's ability. I think Rafer showed he fits this team very well with a healthy McGrady, but there's no question James is the better player. We could really use his intensity and shooting on this team.
Huh? Terry was the Mavs second option. Second leading scorer and second leading shot attempts (and both of those numbers went up in the playoffs). If James signed with us he would be the third option and the rookie would be fourth, most likely. If James were to continue his shooting from last year there is no way a rookie would instantly come in and be more efficient. Even if they were exactly equal, I would certainly stroke his ego over a rookie (who would put up with it more) and have the "unfortunate" result of having our fourth best offensive player be a guy who could score 15-20 any night.
You forget that speed means nothing if you cannot finish or hit the pull up jumper--both things James can do very well. And if speed is the only reason why he excelled against Dallas, it's sure a lot better than not having anyone excel against Dallas (other than Yao or Tmac) at all. Against a team like Dallas, Avery Johnson doesn't care if Tmac and Yao combines for 80 points a night. If they can shut down everyone else, Dallas wins 9 times out of 10. That's why James or a another 3rd option is crucial--they, or anyone for that matter, can't stop/contain 3 legitimate scorers. As for Yao, I'm encouraged that he played like a beast in the 2nd half, but I will hold my final opinion until I see the same tenacity and demand at the beginning of the season. Head is the only perimeter player on the Rockets that has speed and can finish. Swift? He'll be on the bench 6 minutes into the game because of foul trouble. Bogans..now there's the most overrated Rocket. He is like a poor man's version of Mario Elie and that's not saying much. I saw so many botched lay ups/finishes from him last year it's just sickening. His perimeter shooting is decent at best. You can not be any more wrong. If he was their lone offensive threat, wouldn't that mean that the other team would collapse on him on defense or even double team him? If he was their lone offensive threat, the opposing team must not care much about stopping him if he's shooting 44% and 47%. I don't care if he posted those numbers on a bad team--the fact that he CAN post those numbers is a testament to what he can do if given the opportunity. There are many players in the league that wouldn't be able to do that even if you put him on a team with 11 Ryan Bowen's As I recall, TMac said he wouldn't have any reservation if James came back. I'm pretty sure it's because he knows James can score and take some of the weight off of his and Yao's shoulders. Who give a rat's ass that he waved off Tmac. It was ONE possession. If it was 41 games out of the season he did that, then we would have front page news. As for his ego, it's a gift and a curse. A curse because we need to know that he can reign it in and make the transition from being a 1st/2nd option on the Raptors to 3rd option on the Rockets. It's a gift because at least I know the Rockets will have another fearless player when they go into battle. Fearlessness and confidence can't be quanitified, but if any one watched Game 6 of the Finals, you can be damn sure it's the difference between winning a championship on the road or choking away a 2-0 lead.
Sheesh, put Head on the Raps and he would've given you atleast 16-18 ppg, 4-6 apg, and 2-3 steals a game and people woul be hailing him as a potential superstar. All that matters is that TMac did not care for James _______ Nonsense.
He did not take an option to play the 2006-07 season for $3.7M because he felt he could get more in the open market. That option in no way affected the Early Bird Rights TOR obtained on James after playing 2 years on his current contract. Had the "marriage" of James and the Raptors been successful, the Raptors could have re-signed James for 175% of his current current of 3.4M or the value of the coming seasons' MLE whichever is greater. Likely, the 175% being 5.95M will be the greater. Since the Raptors and James both desire to part ways, all that is left is to determine is if the Raps will have cap space to SnT James or if they have to rely on the Early Bird Rights. The latter is the scenario which makes James BYC.
