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發表於 2007-6-16 05:48 PM
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Ready for Relaunch
Rockets acquire James, Reed by trading Howard to Minnesota
HOUSTON -- Mike James remembers thinking one thing after hearing he'd been traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Houston Rockets on Thursday afternoon.
He's going to be a heck of a lot closer to home.
"I'm excited," said James, who is building a home in the Houston area. "My wife is from Houston and I'm playing in the same city that I'm calling home now. It's definitely a good feeling. I'm in a place where I want to be."
The feeling was more than mutual.
The Rockets re-acquired the veteran point guard along with reserve forward Justin Reed Thursday by trading power forward Juwan Howard to the Timberwolves.
The deal brings another ballhandler to Houston's roster and fills the team's need for more veteran depth in the backcourt.
Oh, and James is expected to provide a scoring boost.
"He's going to add scoring punch," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. "We're excited to have him back. He doesn't believe in luck, but he's going to wear the No. 7 like he did when he went to Detroit and won a championship. Hopefully, some of that rubs off on us even though he doesn't believe in luck."
James, 31, is a gritty veteran who can play either guard position and has shown solid shooting range. During his six-year career, the guard has averaged 11.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds. He is a 38.2 percent career shooter from three-point range.
Rockets coach Rick Adelman believes James will help his club push the tempo.
"We're hoping to push the ball and create quick opportunities," Adelman said. "One of the things the team does need is someone who can break people down and get to the basket. We're going to create opportunities for that, but (James') history is doing that. He's done it against my teams before so I'm really pleased that we were able to get him. It adds another dimension to you offensively that we don't have right now."
During the 2004-05 season, James emerged as a reliable scorer off the bench for the Rockets in 27 games with the franchise. He scored in double figures 16 times and had a strong postseason by canning 46.8 percent of his shots in Houston's 2005 first round series against Dallas.
Following that season, the Rockets traded him to Toronto for Rafer Alston. James had a career season with the Raptors in 2005-06, averaging 20.3 points and knocking down 44.2 percent of his three-point attempts. The Rockets pursued James as a free agent this past summer along with several other clubs before the point guard signed with the Timberwolves.
James will be joining a franchise that went into the offseason seeking more backcourt depth. The team relied almost solely on Alston at point guard during the 2007 playoffs with the veteran logging 44.1 minutes per game in the seven-game series. With James in the mix, the two point guards will be competing for minutes in training camp.
"I just come to play basketball," James said. "I just want to play. I just want to have fun. I just want to hoop. Where ever the chips may lay, it doesn't matter. I just want to play. I'm no good sitting on the bench, but that's anybody. Guys can only show what they can do when they're in the game. I know everybody wants to play, but you can't play all 48 minutes. I'm not coach Adelman so I can't say where I'm going to wind up."
Reed, 25, will join James in Houston. The fourth-year forward, who spent past 1 1/2 seasons in Minnesota, appeared in 41 games with the Timberwolves in 2006-07. He is capable of playing both forward spots with his 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame. Reed averaged 2.6 points and 1.1 rebounds in 7.8 minutes last season.
"We had him in Boston," said Morey, who worked with the Celtics before coming to Houston. "He's really tough. He's a good individual and team defender. He has advanced in his years in the pros. He really didn't get much of a chance in Minnesota last year and he's in competition for minutes."
Howard, 34, started 38 games for the Rockets last season, but primarily provided veteran leadership off the bench. He averaged 9.7 points and 5.9 rebounds.
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Just after playoff final....It's time to start up NBA season 07-08 with some tradings~~
Nice job...Finally can get rid of Howard...Some rumours have been stated T-mac + Sura+Battier trade for Kobe and Kwarme Brown~~
It seems not a good deal, isnt it...~~?? |
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