Frankly, our playoff hopes meant squat thise year with or without James. What's the difference of barely missing the final spot or barely making it and getting swept had we had James? Nothing, because Tmac would still be injured. Alston is still the better PG in the long run because with a healthy squad, he's the smarter choice. Lest we forget that stretch where alston was averaging 13+ pts a game with 8/9 assists a game when both Tmac and Yao were together. THAT's what we traded for. And IMO, in a league that only respects stats, Yao's progress wouldn't nearly have been as noticeable if James was still around.
tell that to the teams that are now fighting for their playoff spot. Tell that to GMs and coaches around the league, tell that to Les who will have less revenue because of that, tell that to Yao Ming, who is still working his butts off. Tell that to JVG and his beloved black 8 Knicks. What, another year's experience playing together in playoffs for Yao and Tmac is not valuable? You may come up with many other arguments, but this one is very weak. Yao is Yao because of Yao, not because of Rafer. Any great center becomes great because of his PG? Yao may need ball in his hand, Yao may need a "stage" - in his own words, but that's what a system is for, what a coach is for. I don't think the theory that Yao won't be Yao if James is here will fly.
This says it all... http://youtube.com/watch?v=FIXwkkZyi9k Mike James is full of himself and has no place on a team with championship asparations. He's looking to be the man on his team and respect and money are more important to him than winning...FAR more important. Good riddance.
No place on a championship team? He was on the Pistons when they won it all. James is a pitbull. I'm not totally convinced the Rox will make a serious playoff run without at least one pitbull. And it ain't Alston...that's a fact.
I realize he's already got a ring. I'm talking about now, that he's putting up numbers and is obviously more concerned about getting paid. There's nothing wrong with being proud of yourself and expecting a certain amount of pay for your hard work, but people can see your stats. You don't need to beat your chest and talk in the third person about yourself and all that. That's egocentric crap and shows you where his priorities really lie these days. That's what I'm saying. Also, you can be a pitbull without having an arrogant "I'm gonna get mine above all else" attitude.
Let me pose a question to the people who would rather still have James. Do you want Yao getting 5 to 10 less touches per game? Because with James running point he's not getting that ball nearly as much as he is now, and he STILL doesn't get it enough as is. We quite possibly wouldn't even be seeing the same development from Yao that we are at the moment. Is that worth it? I KNOW we struggle to score, and James would help there, but at what cost? When your point guard has a shoot first mentality, it's going to effect the other players tremendously.
Thanks for this refreshing, new, unsubstatiated contribution to this ongoing debate. I see, so you say that Alston is a "PASS FIRST" point guard?!? Shocking! Interesting. I shall have to consider this crucial factor..... ....oh wait, I already did 10,000 times, he f-king sucks and so do the Rockets with him on them. Now I'm off to count lotto balls.
Your question was answered earlier in the thread, and in the other 5 million Mike James threads. The latest reason why you're wrong is that Bosh is scoring more points this year with James than with Alston. Now keep apologizing for his offensively challeneged, no-defense playing, under contract for a few more years ass.
James and Alston's assist # are off by half an assist. And that's on a bad Toronto team. James is killing him on every other stat. Sure he wants to get paid, because he's on a bad team with no chance at making the playoffs. If he was still here he'd be less demanding, for sure. We still owe the Bucks two 2nd round(06 & 07) picks for a guy that only played half a season. Makes me wonder who really runs the team.
It was a HORRIBLE trade...end of story. James was a fiery guy, and this team could really use someone like that, especially one who is scoring more than 19ppg. Mike James > Rafer Alston. Many of us were for the trade, including myself, now I realize how wrong I was. If Mike James was here instead of Rafer, we would probably be in the playoffs. I will take a consistent offensive threat over a guy who can dribble fancy any day. Rafer can not SHOOT.....and what does this team need most????? SHOOTERS !! Bad trade.... DD
Assist numbers do not determine whether or not Yao would be getting the ball and getting shots. It is shot numbers that tell that story. There are only so many shots that can be had. If another player is taking 20, then Yao's touches and his shot attempts are going to go down.
It's true, Rafer's lack of ability to get a shot really hurts Yao's touches since he can be triple teamed without the ball more frequently. What's rafe going to do, put it up? LOL, go right ahead Rafe. I'll let the rim defend you any day of the week.
Uhm...MJames is in Toronto and they are nowhere near the playoffs....LOL If he were here Yao would never get the bal and MJames was as bad a dribbler if not worse the year he was here. We will see how he plays next year after he gets his contract and has to motivate himself in other ways.
I seriously don't understand why people always brings out the fact that Toronto is not in the playoffs, and often with a laugh, as if this tells us how good or bad a player MJ is. News flash, KG is nowhere near playoff too. With Toronto, the first thing you notice is that they need to fix their defense more than anything. They are scoring 101 a game, yet losing. If the Rockets averages 101 a game, they would prob in the playoff right now. "Whoever signs me, Whereever I am next season, Im gonna be a terror for the next 5 years" -Mike James. Another often trotted out cliche. Seriously, if you don't think James will play with fire, play with competitiveness (regardless of how valuable he will be), you don't know Mike James, and you only talking Bullst.
