Rice and Posey make a great combo with Mobley and Francis. Now that MT and EG are solidified and Cato and Yao Ming are complimenting each other this should get interesting. AND, we still have a really good bench beyond that. Mooch, Hawk, TMo are all able. Later in the season even Boki may bring something to the plate...
Juan, great point about those stats. The team is definitely better defensively. My call for some love for Posey does not mean there are not others who are doing a great job. It is correct to say that Rice's defense has stepped up and he seem to have better movement and more confidence in those knees. The thing that Posey impressed me on was his speed to the basket on the break. He is probably as quick as the cat in that sense. We just have not had that kind of resource at the 3 spot in a long time. We talking Buck Johnson, McCray and possibly Pippen. I mean a wing man with speed, handles, passing and finishing ability. I hope some of that rubs off on Tmo.
I too was very impressed , Posey is becoming one of my favorite players because of his good D. Anyone know if we can resign him after the year is up? Will we have enough room in the cap?
Posey's best play of the night was easily when Tmac was trying to cross over Po. Posey just waited his turn and slapped the ball away. He even helped keep it from going out of bounds. If he can do that to whom I think is the best player in the league, then he should have no problem with the other "Kobe's" and "Iverson's" in the NBA.
Nice thread DearRock. I agree, the way Posey plays defense is a huge asset to the team. Watching him D up TMac was just awesome.
Well, I saw T-Mac blew by Rice like he's nobody yesterday, not once but anytime rice is one on one to him.
Juan, Love your number crunching jobs. Yes, it's not just a few games when we caught the opponents in "off-nights." It's the stats through 30+ games over 20+ teams.
Sorry, I spent so long finding the stats that I forgot to give Posey his love. I think he is doing a good job. But, your thread gave me a good opportunity to expound on something that's been bugging me awhile. Perhaps it should go in the Myth or Fact thread. Posey deserves his defensive props, but lots of guys who are continually dogged for bad defense are actually playing good defense and deserve their credit too.
PO-Z is the good hustler type player that every team needs. I have been showing love for him since the trade happened. He is like a Mario Elie type of player (w/o the 3-point accuracy), he gets his hands on loose balls, comes up with steals, and he is DANGEROUS if he gets the ball on the break. I've seen him throw down a couple of naaaasty dunks already with the Rockets, and he has tried to go up over people several times and drawn fouls. His team attitude is exactly why the Rox need him and not KT.
looks like no one saw my last post Anyone know if we can resign him after the year is up? Will we have enough room in the cap?
"Our shots weren't falling tonight" is what a team says when it can't do squat inside and has to take inherently low-percentage shots from long distance. That used to be us. Now it's the other guys. Yao and (to a lesser extent) Eddie mess up the inside game of physically unimposing teams. That's what drives all our good defensive stats.
Sorry, didn't see it. Posey had a contract that was 3 years or more, so we'll have Bird Rights on him when his contract ends. So, salary cap will not be an issue when it is time to re-sign him. The luxury tax, however, might be an issue.
