------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have to admit that when the trade went down, I was like ??? because Mike James was doing so good... Then I read that the Rockets needed a "pure" point guard. We then got Alston... Injuries started to erupt, and then seeing the player that we JUST GOT, got injured, as well as other Rockets... I was like: "Oh boy, there goes the Rockets' season!" But as of late, there is this Rafer Alston guy, who is lighting it up from the field, passing the pall with ease, and playing defense... I was like: ?! Where did this come from!? So now i'm like: "Who is Mike James... Who? Mike James..." Hit him up? I don't think so. Go Rockets! Keep it up Alston!
I was happy with this trade at first but I'm now firmly entrenched in the "WTF were we thinking" camp. I cringe every time this guy does ANYTHING other than passing the damn ball. When he dribbles into the post, bad things happen. When he takes outside shots, bad things happen. I wish the NBA had an "Undo" command.
Rafer is a softy. Turn the heat up by a few degrees and watch him melt faster than Ben and Jerry's Chunkey Monkey inside a Pizza oven. No matter how you cut it, Mike James was a tough player. I was surprised with this trade because JVG, of all people, preaches toughness. But then again, he also claims Bowen and Howard are two of his most consistent players. Senility might not be out of question.
Alston isn't a terrible player, he's just a mediocre starting PG. I don't think he's a great decision maker with the ball either, for the most part. Mike James may not be a great distributor, but he's a very potent scorer and a better defender. It a suspect trade at the time. Now it looks downright goofy.
Let's face it. The move was a mistake. I wonder how much money James is looking for this offseason. If we draft a SG, I'd toss our full MLE at James. Course he's probably worth at least 6-7 million for some team out there.
I wonder how many of the people that hate on Rafer here are the same people that used to bash Mike James when he waves off T - Mac and ignores Yao in the post and just drive it to the hole. Mike James reminds me a lot of a young Cassell, fearless and puts the game on his shoulders, more than happy to be either the hero or the goat. I liked MJ when he was here, and I still like him as a player. I think he woluld definitely helped us out this season. However, I just wish people realize that not every player is going to be the perfect player and that most of the role players are going to have short comings in their game. You want a guy that can break down the defense and attack the basket, more than likely if he's a role player, he'll have to create those opportunities outside of our set offense (running it through T - Mac and Yao). If you want a guy that takes care of the ball and run the offense, more than likely that player will play fairly rigid and not shine as much if you're looking for him to take over games.
rafer alston is doing alright right now and still getting better. IMO mike james is a chemistry killer. we would have gotten alston maybe for david wesley, it would have been better. then we trade the hot james during mid season for some other veterans. the mistake was we traded mike james beginning of the season, thats y this season is suffering right now.
I loved Mike James last year. It was hard to dog on him because he would always make his shots. But this year when he said to Tracy, "Make ME an all star" that just shows you what his motive is. I am all for him trying to become an all star but this year he was out to get his money. Sadly and ironically that scoring punch was much needed this year
I never bashed MJ because I loved his heart and his guts. Like you said, he was never afraid to be the hero or the goat, and to my knowledge didn't complain regarding his instant-offense-off-the-bench role. I wasn't afraid in the least to have him start, either. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but Rafer's body language seems to be genuinely unhappy, and yeah I'm well aware that losing will do that to you. MJ might wave off Tracy and Yao from time to time, but I always had a LOT more faith in him than I do in Rafer with his bone-headed Lone Ranger tactics. I won't discount his passing ability, but he's too inconsistant with his shooting and ability to finish, and other teams know this. In fact, everyone EXCEPT Rafer seems to know this. I hope he proves me wrong, but he leaves me scratching my head and yelling at my TV. Granted, its your opinion, and you're entitled to it, but how can you say that MJ is a chemistry killer given the amazing chemistry we had last season? You contradict yourself with that comment followed by the rest of your post, imo. Also, I see your point on MJ vs. Wesley....that would have been a better risk vs. reward scenario.
Alright, lets end this Alston-James trade s#!3+, Because for onething, we got a true point guard on Alston than James. See, James is more like a SG than PG, he loves to shoot a lot.Watching him play with the Rockets, he took a lot of awkward shots rather than passing the ball. Alston made a lot of good judgement with the ball. Hate to see that trade go down to the wire, but at least Rafer does'nt dribble the ball as much as James and Francis.
See, I read this differently. Maybe we're just arguing semantics, but to me, that is MJ telling one of our super stars to turn him (MJ) into something special; that he WANTS to be better and recognizes Tracy's ability to do just that. All that comment did for me was cement his heart, guts, and desire. Hell, Dream made Kenny Smith an All Star, so why not a current scenario with T-Mac and MJ?
I don't think Kenny was ever an All Star. http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_a...ust_looking_for_one_team_to_believe_in_(him)/ Mike James at it again. He's hilarious.
Wow, what's with all the thread necromancy lately? I suppose it's better than a thousand Trade T-Mac/Tank/Fire Van Gundy threads though. As for the trade, I was definitely torn at first on whether it was a good move for the Rockets; I really wasn't comfortable with Mike James as our full time starter, but at the same time, I was extremely unsure of whether Rafer was mentally stable enough to mesh with the team. It's pretty ironic that Rafer's reputation as a headcase has been basically non-existent this season (in fact, I really like the fact that he takes losing personally; when he comes out in a blowout loss, the look of total disgust mirrors my own), but rather his lack of talent has been magnified. There really isn't a debate on who won this trade; it's the equivalent of the Rockets trading Juwan Howard for Al Harrington straight up. Of course, Mike James is going pretty crazy right now with all his talk about how he should get paid this summer; it must be something in the air up north, just as there's something in the air around Houston that makes it impossible for anyone who isn't Chinese to make a jumpshot....
There's no better way to "end" this debate by trotting out all of the same tired cliches we've been hearing for months as Alston continues to stink it up. Yeah, that'll put the whole thing to bed.
This topic has been tirelessly argued and debated so I don't want to add anymore fuel to the fire. All I will say is: the truth hurts.
...to put some things in perspective I was a big Mike James fan when he was with us. He brought this fire and energy to the team that we obviously don't have this year. I was sad when we traded him away, but I thought it was probably for the best since this is his contract year, and if I'm not mistaken, he said he was going to go to whatever team gave him the most money. Still, I'm surprised many people here don't like RA. I really like him. He does what he was brought here to do - handle the ball, penetrate, feed the ball to Yao (seems like most the other Rockets have problems doing this). And I think RA will be even better with a healthy T-mac and Yao in the lineup. He needs to work on his outside shooting, but I've been pleased with what he has done with so few options.
Don't get me wrong, I love his play and desire to get better and improve. But that comment I thought wasn't PC I guess. I mean if the Rockets had won something(playoffs, championships) then he can say, hey TMAC, make me an all star but Rockets haven't done anything as a team and MJ wants to be an all star? Just screams ME ME ME. IMHO, MJ wanted to be on this team for the exposure it got from Yao and TMAC and then he'll request his "fair share" at the end of the season.
I realize many ppl want to "put this to bed"......but I'm a rookie so i gotta put my two cents in....I think most ppl would agree with me when i say that rafer can't score like mike james....but MJ also needs the ball in his hands to create for himself....while rafer needs the ball to create for others.....This is why we got Rafer, and if Yao and T-mac are healthy Rafer is a better fit because of his distributive ability. Since T-mac is out, it is true that right now we would be better with MJ because we need his scoring punch....but no matter who our PG is, if Yao and T-mac aren't healthy, we're screwed. And when they are healthy, which they will be next year, we will be much better off with rafer rather than MJ.
