MIKE JAMES

Mike James, Duquesne's number 11 career scorer, was acquired by the Houston Rockets from the Milwaukee Bucks on the Feb. 24, 2005 trade dealine. James has been signed to a three-year contract by the Bucks on August 5, 2004. At the time of the trade, he ranked third on the Bucks with a career-high 11.4 points per game and was second on the team with 3.9 assists per game. James also stood second at Milwaukee with 58 3-pointers made of 152 attempts for a 3-point percentage of .382. This is the second season in a row where the Amityville, N.Y. native moved to a playoff contender on the final trade day.

James completed his third NBA season with the NBA Champion Detroit Pistons. get playoff series wins over Milwaukee, New Jersey and Indiana. He came off of the bench in all 22 of the team's playoff games, averaging 2.6 points in 8.9 minutes per game.

On Thursday, February 19, 2004, James was part of a seven-player, three-team trade that sent the 1998 DU graduate from the Boston Celtics to the Detroit Pistons. He averaged 6.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 steal in just under 20 minutes in Detroit's final 26 regular season games.

At Boston, James had been the starting point guard for interim head coach John Carroll, the ex-Duquesne coach who recruited James to the Bluff. James started all 55 games for the 2003-04 Celtics averaging 10.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.27 steals in 30.6 minutes per game.

He had signed a free agent contract with the Boston Celtics on Friday, July 25, 2003. The Miami Heat did not make a qualifying offer by the June 30, 2003 deadline to retain the Duquesne grad as a restricted free agent.

James played two years for the NBA Miami Heat. During the 2002-03 season, James averaged 7.8 points, 3.2 assists, 1.9 rebounds in 22.1 minutes per game. He started eight of the 78 games in which he played, missing action in just four contests during the season. In his two seasons with Miami, James appeared in 93 games and averaged 7.0 points, 2.8 assists, 1.8 rebounds in just under 20 minutes per game. James was not offered a qualifying contract by the Heat before the June 20, 2003 deadline and is now an unrestricted free agent.

James was signed by Miami in July 2001 but released just prior to the start of the regular season. He was re-signed to a full-year contract by the NBA team on Tuesday, Decemeber 19, 2001. In 15 games, he averaged 2.8 points, 1.3 assists and 0.9 rebounds before being placed on the injured reserve in April. In his final contest, James had 10 points, five rebounds and two assists in the Heat's 103-89 win over Orlando.

A 1998 graduate, James sits in 11th place in scoring all-time at Duquesne with 1,411 points. He played in France for two seasons prior to catching on with the Heat. He signed with the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association following the Heat's final preseason cut in October 2001. In his 14-game stint, he ranked second in the league in scoring (23.3 points), sixth in three-point field-goal percentage (41.8, 38 for 91) and seventh in assists (6.3). He was twice named CBA American Conference Player of the Week and became the first CBA player that season to record a triple-double (33 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists) on December 13, 2001, against Grand Rapids. He also had seven steals in that game.

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