Persistent point guard knew he had a fighting chance
Mike James is about to become quite wealthy.
The Toronto Raptors point guard becomes a free agent this offseason and, following a breakout campaign in which he's averaging 18.5 points and 5.5 assists per game, teams are going to line up at his door.
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| Mike James is with Toronto, but he started in Miami with stops in Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee and Houston. (Getty Images) |
"Teach me the skills, and I'll provide the street fighting and the heart," says James, who comes from a boxing family and will be trained by his brother Milton, a pro fighter. "Boxing, man. That's what's on my mind. No contracts. Nothing like that. That will take care of itself.
"One of two things are gonna happen (in the ring). I'm going to get hit with something good and say, 'Ooh, just joking.' Or I'm gonna give someone a little something and get excited about it and really start training."
It shouldn't be a surprise that James would be passionate about fighting, as it's all he's done throughout his basketball career. Fight to prove himself. Fight to find a home.
James, 30, may just be entering your radar as the sweet-shooting guard who's lighting up scoreboards and helping Toronto climb back toward respectability, but he has been around the block. He has played in two European countries and the CBA, and has bounced around the NBA with six teams in five years.
He earned a championship ring for his work in Detroit in 2003-04, where he was acquired as a midseason acquisition and quickly became a fan favorite because his tenacious defensive style fit right in. He started that season as a stopgap in Boston, starting regularly for the first time in his career while the Celtics waited for rookie Marcus Banks to mature.
Last season, he bounced around between Milwaukee and Houston, joining the Rockets just before the trade deadline. It was there he felt he finally had a place to thrive. Jeff Van Gundy was the type of coach who would appreciate his abilities, and it certainly seemed like James had arrived after playing starter's minutes and averaging double-digits in a seven-game playoff series loss to Dallas.
Then, on Oct. 4, he was swapped to Toronto for point guard Rafer Alston. To say it came as a shock would be an understatement. It was temporarily demoralizing.
"I gave a lot towards that city," he said. "That was my home. It's still home, but I just assumed I was going to spend the rest of my career there. I took a chance and was hopeful, and that's something I'll never again do. I let my guard down.
"I've never told this story before, but I was driving my two daughters to school with my wife and I was just thinking, How much have I done for this city, for the Hurricane Katrina relief fund? I just didn't see it coming. I started to cry. I was asking my wife, 'When am I going to get the respect that I deserve?'
"While I was crying and saying that, my youngest was laughing. My eldest daughter, it crushed her, but my youngest started laughing. She said, 'Daddy is a crybaby, daddy is crybaby.' I started laughing, too, and it kind of brought me back to reality."
