Saturday, June 16, 2007
By Zach Harper - Email Zach
The Timberwolves and Kevin McHale decided to end their short relationship with Mike James this week by dealing him and the final 3 years remaining on his contract to his former team, the Houston Rockets. In return Minnesota received 13 year veteran, Juwan Howard. The Houston Rockets also received SF, Justin Reed, as part of the deal.
Mike James signed with the Timberwolves in the Summer of 2006 to a $24 million contract over 4 seasons. It was thought to be a significant acquistion for the Wolves who were well over the salary cap and in desparate need of a scoring punch. James was heavily pursued by the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets that Summer and considered to be one of the best free agents for the price. But he struggled mightily in Minnesota this past season, only scoring 10.1 points per game, his lowest total since the 2003-2004 season. He managed only 25 minutes per game due to his poor play and inability to mesh with the flow of the T'Wolves offense. Towards the end of the season, he found himself losing most of his minutes to rookie Randy Foye and oft-injured Troy Hudson.
Justin Reed was a defensive specialist that didn't see much action throughout the season, until the last 5 games of the year when Minnesota made him a much bigger role in their attempts to tank the rest of the season. A player that averaged under 8 minutes per game throughout the year averaged 23 minutes per game during this 5 game stretch. Not only did he play more, but he was a "prominent" part of the offense. He took only 107 field goal attempts all year but 51 of those came in the last 5 games of the season. He managed to make just 19 of those 51 as Minnesota successfully lost those last 5 contests.
Juwan Howard will enter 14th season for his 6th team after playing for Houston, Orlando, Denver, Dallas and Washington throughout his career. Once a prominent scorer and All Star forward, he will now backup Kevin Garnett and add some much needed basketball skill and IQ to the Wolves thin frontcourt. He should still be able to provide double digit scoring for the Wolves off the bench but most importantly, he gives the Wolves a little more cap flexibility a year earlier than they would have had with James. In fact, if he chooses not to pick up his player option, this upcoming season will be the only one Minnesota is scheduled to pay Howard.
Mike James should provide the Rockets with another shooter for Yao and McGrady to pass to, and he will probably find his form of the previous two seasons prior to signing in Minnesota. He averaged over 20 points per game with Toronto in '05-'06 and was a deadly 4th quarter scorer. This trade gives both teams some of what they need.
Players Involved in Deal:
Mike James- 3 yrs, $18.15m (3rd yr Player Option), '06-'07 Stats- 10.1 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.6 TO, 42.3% FG, 37.2% 3FG
Juwan Howard- 2 yrs, $14.26m (2nd yr Player Option), '06-'07 Stats- 9.7 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.4 TO, 46.5% FG, 82.4% FT
Jeff Reed- 2 yrs, $3.01m, '06-'07 Stats- 2.6 PPG, 1.1 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.5 TO, 37.4% FG, 86.7% FT, 7.8 MPG