I always thought we undervalued James Jones. He was another one of those players (the Platonic Form of whom is Shane Battier) whose stats were very underwhelming, but who seems to have a magic effect on helping the team win. And it's still true in Miami. Now, we all hope that Batum is going to be That Guy for us, but he's out AGAIN with that damn shoulder. If he has to miss time this season, that means Martell is pressed into service as a starter. And, if memory of 2 seasons ago serves, he struggled in that role. (Just not as much as Travis.) So I'd be all in favor of the following trades, in descending order: Trade 1: Martell for Jones. (Miami unlikely to bite, although their contracts are practically identical.) Trade 2: Blake, Travis, Martell for Haslem, Jones (yes, yes, I know the infamous "Haslem stoned in Portland hotel room" picture, but he's the perfect backup PF. And this would give PG minutes to Rudy and maybe even Bayless and Mills. Risky giving up Blake, though. If Miami would give back Mario Chalmers (stoner #2) I'd be a lot happier. But I'll settle for Chris "prepubescent" Quinn as insurance.) Trade 3: Travis for Jones. (Miami more likely to like, especially as Travis's contract is expiring. But we're then overstocked with SFs.)
Re: Let's Trade for James Jones! The two threads on JJ trick was already played, mister. You need at least 3 to offer a fresh perspective!
Trading Martell for Jones would at least solve a couple of problems this team has had of too many players of similar age bunched up together at the wing position. If Miami wanted to do a straight swap of the two players I'd probably go for it. At the very least Jones' contract isn't fully guaranteed after this season so it would give the team more flexibility if he wasn't getting it done. If nothing else he'd be a reliable backup 3 if/when Nic is fully healthy and he's perfectly well suited to playing the sit and the corner role that Nate seems to favor for his 3s. Correction: I would worry some about his durability based on the past two years however ...
Re: Let's Trade for James Jones! Just giving you constructive criticism, sir. Helping you help yourself.
Why not? His career PER is 13.8 and his PER last year was 13.1. Since 15.0 is approximately average for a starter, Haslem is either a bad starter or a backup when it comes to production. I'll grant that his defense is good, but he's no stopper. Counting defense, I'd say he's probably the caliber of a mediocre starter or a good reserve. He's certainly not so good that it's a travesty if he came off the bench. He's not Andre Miller good!
james jones had problem staying healthy when he played for us too. i like him, but i dont want to trade for him.
Did you see his garbage time against the Knicks on Oct 28? 1 min and 45 secs of playing time and making 3 points. This sounds like old Ha garbage time!
