You keep him as a role player off the bench. He is not a starter in this league. He doesn't distribute enough for the point and two guards would post him to death on defense. If he is the last piece to get a Mike Miller, or a Ron Artest along with those expiring contracts you send him away in a heartbeat.
James was horrible in game 7. At least twice, he drove in even though one could see from a mile away that Nowitzki had been waiting in the paint for half an hour to block his shot. Both times Yao Ming seemed to be open right next to him. Of course James got blocked both times. Those instances totally reminded me of the last second shot Mobley took against the Lakers when he got blocked by Shaq and we lost the series.
first off... Cat's shot was not the reason we lost the series last year second... EVERY Rocket player not namef Yao or Tmac fits your description of James in game seven...
I was talking about the series against the Lakers back when we had Pippen and Sir Charles. Mobley took the last shot and got blocked. Regarding your second point, the other guys missed open shots, but I didn't really see any of them driving to the basket as if they had blinders on.
I like him as instant offense and energy off the bench, but I agree with everything you said, Will. He's very And1.
no but maybe they should have been - one of the big advantaged Dallas had was that they attacked the basket. I believe that James was doing what his coach instructed him to do. JVG was yelling "attack attack" - I think that is what he meant. but I do understand how james can give people SF3 flashbacks !
If/when we get a true PG Bob can then play SG, a position from which he can hit open jumpers, still drive the lane on occasion, and pick up extra rebounds (since he won't be so tired from setting up the offense and pressuring the ball on defense). So, Mike probably isn't as much of an upgrade (if at all) over Bob as some of you make him out to be. Bob is just playing out of position. Trust me, Bob would be much more effective if someone else could bring the ball up court and let him conserve some energy. Hell, if he were to get 30+ mpg, I'd put money on him averaging at least 7 rpg.
James isn't a smart player. IMO, he is the only guy in our rotation that isn't smart. But he's a good scorer off the bench. That's what he should be doing. I think he got too much PT because Sura was too inconsistent. Sura was great before the midseason injury. After that, he became too erratic, which was more like who he was before he became a Rocket. (Maybe he faints too much.) We just don't have a consistent floor general who makes good decisions all the time. Wesley's shooting is very disappointing. He was shooting great during one stretch of the season and that's it. He is supposed to be a good shooter. I don't know what happened to his shot. IMO, if he shot just a little better during the playoffs, we would have won the series. Barry is our most consistent shooter among the guards. But he can't create and is not great on defense. Our guards need to (1) defend, (2) hit the open shot consistently and (3) make good decisions on offense. I like all these guys. But each one has a deficiency in at least one of these three things.
Will, you make fair points. I like James but I dont have any illusions that he is a lock to be on this team next year. He is what he is...which is a nice bench spark plug. No question he is not a pass first PG. He is a scorer first and foremost. But he has one HUGE asset that is important to this team right now and that is the ability to "create his own shot." We have James and Tmac. That's pretty much it. Maybe Sura with his floaters but that's it. I think a team can have someone like a James as long as your STARTER at PG is a pass first guy. To me, bench guys are "game changers." They bring in certain skills/dynamics to help out the starting unit while it is resting. Perhaps it is hustle, rebounding, shot blocking, defense or scoring. James brings some decent defense and scoring ability and that's what we need on this team. I really think in addition to finding a serviceable PF and potentially another athletic swingman to add to the Rockets, we also need to add a consistant "3rd scorer." James sometimes takes that role but he is inconsistant. We need points from a 3rd guy to give us a boost when Yao or Tmac is on the bench.
James, is good at what he role asks of him, being a bench player who comes in and give us an instant boost of energy and scoring. With that said, I don't want to see him for more than 20 min in a game....great energy comes at great consequences in the form of instability.
James was so much better when he first got here. I don't think it's been said enough how different he played during the playoffs. For the first time I saw him overdribbling a LOT. He didn't look smart, as people have said. I like that he can create a shot and take it to the hole...but driving it doesn't open up a whole lot unless you're looking for others at least some of the time. I liked him during the season. I guess when his minutes were limited and he wasn't asked to do too much. Sura was doing his part (not injured), etc. In the playoffs, I think James took his "I have championship experience" too far and just tried a little too hard. I like him for his quickness and on-ball defense. Solid 20 mpg backup point, or ideally playing with a bigger backup guard who is more pass-oriented. Like Doug Christie when he was younger, Eric Snow, Alvin Williams if he's healthy ever again, those kinda guys.. Steve Smith even. Someone who's smart and will make the right pass at the right time, not needing more than 10 or 15 mpg
I understand the focus on stats, but you would have to be in a coma not to have recognized Mike James' role in putting energy into our defense when we needed it in this series. I was shocked JVG didn't bring him into Game 7 earlier than when he finally did. I have no idea why he stuck with Sura who was obviously hurt or just too slow to make an impact and was getting absolutely schooled by Jason Terry. Our team speed and athleticism took a hit in the trades we made last year. Our offense seems to have improved alot, but our perimeter defense is shaky and relies too much on Yao (thus Yao consistently gets into foul trouble resulting from dribble penetration). As for offense, when T-Mac is off the court, who do the Rox rely on to generate offense? There is nobody other than Mike James. Nobody. Yao is not a great, consistant post-up guy so we can't just think dumping it to Yao will work. You need somebody who can regularly beat their defender off the dribble and create space for the other players. That is not Sura, Howard, Wesley or Barry. Wesley and Barry are nice shooters, but only when stationary. You won't see much of either running off of screens and hitting the quick shot. Sura has a nice runner that he banks on but isn't particularly stellar at beating athletic PGs on the dribble and can't bring the ball up the court. Mike is pretty much what we have right now for an all-around player when T Mac goes off the bench. He is not good enough in his decision-making to be an everyday starter at this point. But, he makes a damn good 6 man with potential to be one of the best in the league.
I agree with the sentiment that Mike James is in no way a fixture on the rox. He penetrates, makes shots, and plays decent d. That really isn't too hard to replace. But we are stuck with him until we can find something better. It's not like we have a ton of options when you already have Sura and Wesley (both bench material) as starters.
I'm sure the coaching staff knows what kind of player they have in Mike James: a shooting guard in a point guard's body. But I believe his pluses outweight his minuses, so I'm not gonna slam on him too much. He might make for decent trade bait, depending of course on who you get in return. So you can bet the Rockets aren't married to the guy. It would be too bad for him personally if that happened, given his wife's ties to the Houston area and how badly he wants to be here. The one knock on him I have is (maybe it seems exaggerated?) how he commits fouls on 3-pt shooters. Not bright.
You are right, this was why James was played behind Sura. Sura didnt play well in the last 4 games. James stepped up in Game6.
