Retired - Retired after 2015 season
- Birthdate: 06/23/1975
- Drafted (NBA): Undrafted, 1998
- Pre-draft team: Duquesne
- Country: USA
- Hand: Right
- Agent: -
March 13, 2011
Mike James - 8 games, 38.8 mpg, 27.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.6 spg, 0.0 bpg, 3.4 TOpg, 47% FG, 35% 3PT, 82% FT
Boone and James signed early, recipients of the new rules for this CBA season that removed salary restrictions on import players and allowed teams to spend as much as they liked on players with good name recognition. It worked rather well for Boone, who has been incredibly productive in his comparatively limited minutes, and who has even managed to reverse the decline in his free throw percentage that he had been on for the previous four seasons. It did not work out as well for James, however; while he was playing well and scoring heavily, the team felt he was not playing a sufficiently team-oriented game, and released him a few weeks into the season to bring back Williams, one of the best players in China last season, if not the very best.
James's scoring numbers, had they been good enough to qualify, would have ranked him seventh in the CBA. His replacement Williams has bested that by placing fourth, as well as tied for second in assists. Williams plays a lot of point guard on the incredibly young Cyclone team, and has been making the transition to that position for the last couple of years. The production outlined above, the best we've seen so far in this post, shows the kind of NBA calibre talent Williams has. He'd probably be there already had he not turned down the Indiana Pacers for no obvious reason.
January 5, 2011
Mike James - James started the season in China with the Zhejiang Cyclones, marking the first time since 2001 that he has played in a league outside of the NBA. (Miami picked him up midseason from the CBA's Rockford Lightning, back in the day when the CBA was the primary American minor league. The CBA no longer exists.) James played well, averaging 27.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.6 steals per game, but he was released anyway as the team started 2-6. They have won both of their games without him.
July 30, 2010
Mike James - James was another caught up in the Wizards guard mess, yet after starting 50 games for the team in 2008/09, the man who one redefined the phrase "contract year" played only 46 minutes with them this contract season. James was a decent player who became genuinely good in that 2005-06 season; however, since that time, he has been genuinely bad. Now 35, he will probably not return.
March 24, 2010
- Mike James
James was traded to the Wizards last season as an ever so slightly cheaper alternative to Antonio Daniels. He played in 53 games for the Wizards after the trade, starting 50 of them, and playing 1,575 minutes. It feels weird to say that Mike James played 1,649 minutes in an NBA season as recently as last year, considering how this year has transpired, but so it is.
This year, James spent most of the year on the inactive list, playing in only 4 games and 46 minutes. He shot 30% and sported a 1:1 turnover ratio, and was eventually bought out for his contract for a small $150,000 saving. It was reported that he might be an option for the Miami Heat, but that was more of an idea than it was news. James remains unsigned and now spends a lot of time talking about the Bible on Twitter.