Balancing Basketball and Family

Mike James has changed his address many times over the past eight years, but one constant in his life has been his family.

Since finishing his four-year collegiate career at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1998, James has truly been a basketball nomad. But it definitely hasn’t been by choice. James has craved a more permanent NBA address ever since he began his professional career, but it just hasn’t worked out that way. He hopes that Minnesota can be the basketball home for him, his wife Angela and their daughters Jadon (8) and Amaya (3) — oh, and daughter number three, Michael Micayah, whose birth is expected in late December — for a number of years.

Regardless of his basketball port of call, Mike, Angela and the girls have stayed together, sometimes moving in mid-season if necessary. There simply is no other way the James’ would have it.

“My wife and kids have been with me every step of the way,” Mike said. “Sometimes the kids will get friends, but they understand. They’re still young, still babies. But we’ve been like this since the beginning of my career. My wife understands the business. My kids understand what it is and we just keep it moving.”

Angela accepts the fact that Mike’s job might mean a move at any time.

“It’s been quite interesting to say the least,” she said of the frequent moves. “It’s not the easiest thing to do. But, you now, it’s a part of the business. And we try to keep it a family unit because we think that’s so important. If he goes, we go — it’s just that simple. No matter where, just pack it up and go.”

Family has been important for the Wolves’ new point guard ever since he grew up in a large family in Amityville, New York. Mike was the youngest of seven kids — with three brothers and three sisters, Mike was the tie-breaker. He said his family experienced the usual chaos one would expect with nine people living under one roof.

“It was crazy, but was fun,” Mike recalled. “Nine people living in a three-bedroom house with two bathrooms. People were scattered all over the house. It was a lot of fun.”

Being the youngest child gave James advantages as his older siblings had already broken in, or broken down, his parents.

“They [Mike’s siblings] used to get mad at me because the things they couldn’t get away with growing up, I was getting away with,” James said. “By the time I came along, my parents were tired — like ‘I’m too old to be chasing after this kid.’”

Mike began chasing his basketball dream the hard way, going overseas to Austria in August of 1998 after being undrafted that summer. While in Austria playing for St. Polten, Mike and Angela were married in October of 1998. They had met while both were students at Duquesne.

“For about three or four weeks straight we used to walk past each other and I used to say ‘how you doing’ and just say hello to her,” Mike recalled. “Then we finally talked and we became friends first. We fell in love with each other while we were friends. I was able to talk to her and before we even kissed, it was just strictly a friendship.”

Angela corroborates Mike’s version of how they met, but adds a bit more detail. “We were really good friends first,” she said. “Then one day he just said, ‘Will you be my girlfriend?’ He actually said, ‘Will you be my girlfriend!’ And I said ‘Yeah!’ Then he asked, ‘Can I kiss you?’ It was like we were 10 [years old]. I said yeah and we tried to kiss and we bumped teeth... so that’s our story. We were all nervous. We were like two kids.”

Mike and Angela were trying to plan a stateside wedding when they were in Austria, but the logistics and monetary constraints were hampering the process.

“We were trying to put a wedding together back in the States, but it was off of his salary and my salary and we have huge families, so that wasn’t working too well,” Angela said. “We ended up having a huge wedding, but the team paid for it. They said, ‘If you have a wedding here, we’ll pay for it.’ We looked at each other and said, ‘Okay... no problem.’ ”

So they were married in Austria and began their life together and their series of basketball-related moves. From Austria it was on to France where James played for ESPE Châlons-en-Champagne Basket during the 1999-2000 season and SLUC Nancy in 2000-01.

Mike, Angela and Jadon came back to the United States when the Miami Heat signed Mike to a free agent contract during the summer of 2001. He was waived in late October and caught on with the CBA’s Rockford Lightning. After averaging 23.3 points in 14 games for Rockford, James was signed by Miami for the remainder of the 2001-02 season. The James family actually got to spend the following season with the same team and Mike had a fine season in 2002-03 with the Heat, playing in 78 games and averaging 7.8 points.

James was a free agent that summer and signed with the Boston Celtics. He played in 55 games for the Celtics and was averaging more than 30 minutes per game. But just when it looked like he might have found his niche, James was heading to Detroit in a thee-team deal at the trading deadline in 2004. While it meant another move for the James family, it did allow Mike the opportunity to appear in the playoffs for the first time. James filled a valuable reserve guard role for the Pistons. He appeared in 22 of the team’s 25 playoff games and helped the Pistons win the NBA title.

He was a World Champion, but that did not mean that James had found a basketball home. A free agent once again, James signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in August of 2004 and it was off to Wisconsin. But the James’ stay in Brewtown would not last long. Mike was once again involved in a February trading deadline deal, this time going to the Houston Rockets.

The move at least allowed Angela to go back to her hometown of Houston. Mike finished the 2004-05 season with the Rockets and was just starting training camp the following fall when he was dealt north of the border to the Toronto Raptors.

Once again, Angela had to play the part of travel coordinator for the family.

“I usually coordinate the move,” she said. “As soon as we find out, I’m on the plane a few days later finding a place to stay, finding schooling, interviewing... doing all that. I get that done, go back and get the girls, schedule the move and we’re out of there.

“I’m a pro, so I should start a business [and call it] ‘Just Moving,’” she laughed.

After his finest season in the NBA, James was once again a free agent. But this time he had suitors to choose from and a bigger payoff at the end. He chose the Timberwolves over Houston and Dallas and the family bought a house in Eden Prairie and added two baby pit pull terriers — Bella and Prince — to the household.

For Mike, balancing basketball and family has meant many moves and many nights away from his wife and kids. Long road trips are especially hard for this close-knit family.

“It’s hard because you miss your family so much,” Mike said. “You miss being around your family. You miss the laughter of your children. But it makes it that much more fun when you come back home and they’ve missed you and they finally see you. I went to pick my kids up from school after the first road trip and they went bonkers. They were bouncing off the walls. Phone calls aren’t the same as when they can see you and they’re hugging you and loving on you.”

Angela say Mike has been able to establish a healthy balance between basketball and family.

“Now that [having a good balance] he does,” she said. “He’s gotten a lot better. In the beginning it consumes you. It’s the NBA and I gotta do this and I gotta do that. But it’s a lot better now.”

The James family hopes they will now be able to put their pack-up-and-move lifestyle behind them. They also have a home in Houston and will live in Minnesota during the season and Houston in the offseason.

But, regardless of where Mike’s NBA career takes him or what the future holds for the James family, you can be sure that they will take any changes in stride and, more importantly, will tackle life as a family.