Duquesne grad James played his NBA career always feeling like he had to prove himself

Mike James didn’t have a Plan B.

While growing up in Amityville, N.Y. — yes, that Amityville, site of the “Horror” — James said he learned mostly by trial and error. And the one place he made few errors was on the basketball court near his home.

So as far as he was concerned, there was only one path.

“I really didn’t give myself too many options outside of basketball,” James told the Tribune-Review.

He didn’t need a fall-back, as it turned out. James earned a scholarship to Duquesne, then put the “journey” in journeyman as he embarked on a pro basketball career that took him to 11 NBA cities and four foreign countries on two continents in 17 years.

He teamed with stars such as Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett. He won an NBA title, made history for undrafted players and collected a professional paycheck until he was nearly 40.

A storybook career, right? Not necessarily.

No matter where he went, James felt like he always had to prove himself. Always.

Sometimes it was enough to sap the joy out of doing what most people would be elated to do.

By the 2008-09 season, James was a veteran of eight NBA campaigns — including a title with the 2004 Detroit Pistons — and more than 400 games. During a practice with the Washington Wizards, his team du jour, he committed a turnover, and coach Flip Saunders called him out.

“He asked me where I went to school,” James said. “I said, ‘Duquesne.’ He said, ‘Figures.’ ”

James (6-foot-2, 188 pounds) always had a belief in himself. The trick was getting others to believe, too.

After going undrafted in 1998, he played a few years in the U.S. Basketball League Continental Basketball Association — now defunct — and in Europe. He then got a trial run with the Miami Heat in 2001-02, appearing in 15 games. He played in 75 games with the Heat the following season, averaging 7.8 points and 3.2 assists in 22 minutes per game.

Pat Riley, the Heat’s coach and president, offered James a two-year deal to stay. James decided to go elsewhere.

“I just believed he never really believed in me,” he said.

He signed as a free agent with the Boston Celtics and averaged 10.7 points and 4.4 assists in 55 games before going to the Pistons in a midseason trade. He became a key bench player for the NBA champions and teamed with fellow reserve Lindsey Hunter to form “The Pit Bulls,” a pesky tandem that hounded opposing guards and became fan favorites in Detroit.

Still, there were those annoying reminders of what he, presumably, wasn’t.

“I used to tell (Pistons starting guards) Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups I used to kill them when (I) played against Detroit,” James said. “At the end of the year, we were about to go up against Milwaukee, and Rip calls a meeting. It was real serious.

“We go into the locker room, and he plays a video of all my bloopers. All my turnovers. All of Ben Wallace’s blocked shots on me. I was so angry, but it was funny at the same time. Every time I saw them after that, I thought about that video.”

After he left Detroit following the title run, he averaged 14.5 points and 3.6 assists over the next five seasons (11 games) against the Pistons. Not surprising to former teammate and current ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose.

“I enjoyed playing with Mike,” Rose said in a statement to the Tribune-Review. “Fearless, tough and always played with a chip on his shoulder.”

James continued to bounce around the NBA until 2014 — with stops in China, Turkey and the G League sprinkled in.

He had his best season while playing for the Toronto Raptors in 2005-06. He averaged career highs of 20.3 points — the first undrafted player to average 20 points in the NBA — and 5.8 assists.

But James never spent more than two seasons with any franchise. Sometimes he was part of in-season trades. Other times he simply was seeking a team that would appreciate him the way he felt he should have been.

“I always thought I was better than the roles I was given,” he said. “That’s why I was a journeyman.”

Said Scott Edgar, James’ coach at Duquesne: “It was a different game back then. The way the game is now, he might have been one of those guys who was looked at every night getting 20-25 (points) instead of one season. Everybody in the game now is a perimeter player.”

James’ journey ended in 2015 with the G League’s Texas Legends. That Jan. 25, five months shy of his 40th birthday, James had 21 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds in a win over Delaware.

Perhaps he wanted to show the youngsters the old man still had it. But if he was trying to show the NBA he deserved a final hurrah, it was not forthcoming.

His time in the NBA was done. His career numbers are respectable by any measure: 9.9 points and 3.5 assists per game.

Stardom was fleeting. But his longevity was, said Edgar, a credit to James’ work ethic.

“When you’re not a ‘star,’ and you stay around that long, it’s a testament to your character,” said Edgar, now coaching juco ball at Eastern Oklahoma State College. “That means you have ability, you have dependability and you have availability.

“And that’s what they’re looking for at that level. You can put him in at any time, and he can be productive.”

Maybe James never got the respect or the spotlight he felt he deserved as a pro, but he got the life he wanted.

James lives in the Houston area with his wife and five daughters, ranging in age from a college junior to a 10-year-old. He and his wife are pursuing business interests, and in his spare time, James is an 8-handicap golfer.

He said he still tries to keep up with the Dukes and is hopeful of coming back to Pittsburgh again to visit.

Duquesne, after all, is the one place he found basketball immortality. In 2017, James became the sixth Dukes men’s player to have his number (13) retired.

“Mike was the best. Always had a smile on his face and love in his heart,” said Paul Hightower, Duquesne’s senior assistant AD of facilities and events and a longtime member of the school’s athletic staff. “You always knew he would succeed in whatever he pursued after college. He was always willing to put in the work.”

Work. That’s what James’ basketball career ended up being.

He admitted he could have enjoyed himself more. Sure, there were plenty of happy moments, memorable moments. But basketball turned out to be a means to an end rather than the end itself.

“I don’t think that, financially, I would be in the position in life that I’m in if I didn’t play basketball,” he said. “My career was for the people around me more than it was for me.”