It was the oddest game I've seen in some time. They called it way too tight (which is why Chaney got a T in the 2d quarter - he almost had to be restrained from going after one of the refs). In the 3d quarter, as Bonzi raised the ball to take a shot from the corner, the ball grazed JRich as Bonzi elevated and Crawford called a foul on Bonzi. Bonzi spread his arms as if to ask "what?" and Crawford T'd him up before Bonzi had even opened his mouth. As the crowd booed and the game moved down court, they called 3 in the key on Wright. Wright started to argue and they T's him up. Then they T'd him up again, but changed it to Posey so that Wright wouldn't be ejected. And it's not like these were huge arguments...the refs apparently decided that anyone who questioned a call at all would get a T. Hubie later got ejected for saying to one of the refs "that's over the back" - and Crawford called it from across the floor. I've never seen refs overreact in such a blatent manner. Joey Crawford is a joke. The Griz didn't deserve to win anyway - Speedy had his way every time he touched the ball - but the refs made it a difficult game to watch. Of course, the Griz weren't jobbed like the Nuggets last night - that was unbelievable.
I'll take getting a game closer towards that 6 seed, and the Rockets distancing themselves a game from the Nuggets
You don't have to accept this. That's the point. You don't have to buy anything from a store if you think the owner is a cheap b*stard in putting out inferior products. BTW, how many team owners in the whole league are willing to pay the LT? Also, Kayman was right that JJ was supposed to be the replacement of Rice, not Posey. My question is: That's bad?
I was one who posted often about keeping JPo, even for the MLE. JPo + JJax + Pike less cat (for a different part of the puzzle) still sounds good to me -- and I like the Cat!
Amen! Why can the owners in much smaller markets such as Memphis and Minnesota pay what is needed to keep talent and the team from the fourth largest city in the country can't? You can say attendance have been pathetic, but if you don't invest in the product, why do you expect people to buy it? If I was a restaurant owner and my food was made from rotten eggs and produce, would I blame the customers that they don't come?
I understood your point. You didn't understand my point. I was talking to the management bashers who kept saying that CD and Company haven't make a good roster move for years, and that they are tearing down the team, etc. I was pointing out that replacing Rice with JJ was one example of excellent roster move.
Easy, for the record for moves the last year or so I harbor 90% of the blame on Les and 10% on CD and co CD and co gace up KT and a pick for Posey, it was clear they thought he was valuable. Going into the offseason we knew a team under the cap could put us in trouble with Posey by offering a 5 or 6 year deal well over the MLE like the clip trio (Maggette, Odom and Andre Miller), Jason Terry and Rasha were offered (I exclude Brand because he is a completely different caliber of player than Posey or these other guys). But the fact is Posey was only offered a 4 year MLE deal. I gotta believe it was a nobrainer for CD to keep him, he had to think going into the midseason trade that would be about the minimum it would take to keep him the following offseason (again see what Odom, Maggette, Dre and Rasha got). IMO he had to be trumped by the greedy one. Now the only blame perhaps on CD is that he wasn't proactive sooner (liek they were with Cat negotiations). Had the Rockets started with a 5 year say 20 million deal with Posey, perhaps that would have been enough to persuade Posey to sign right there even if a little less than market value for him (since JP's home in in Houston, no income tax, he liked the team/his role). But in the end we got burned because we screwed around and Les' became a cheap bum after benifiting so much from the tax payers and some draft day luck.
Losing Posey definitely hurt, but primarily because I don't many avenues in the future for which the Rockets to acquire young talent. Let's face it, losing Kenny Thomas/Posey, Eddie Griffin, and Nachbar being a bust has really hurt this team in terms of depth and trade assets. Not only that, the team didn't have a draft pick last year and won't have one next season either. They are also over the cap. Except for the brainless acquisition of Yao, management has really been inept and irresponsible with their trading of draft picks. It doesn't make matters any better that the team's role players are all either aging (JJ/Pike/MJ/Weatherspoon) or have zero trade value (Mo/Padgett/Wilkes.) Unless they land a coup with this trade exception (again, will Les even be willing to spend?), they won't be able to improve their team without dismantling their infrastructure (Mobley/Francis/Cato/Yao). It's a shame, but for a team that has twice had 3 first round draft picks in 2 different years with nothing to show for them, a summer under the cap with nothing to show but Taylor and Moochie, nothing to show for a $4.5mill trade exception a few yrs ago, and nothing to show for the few trade assets they did posess (KT/Posey/EG), I'm really starting to lose faith in the Rockets' organization. As far as Posey specifically, it hurt losing him, but I don't know that he'de have the inflated numbers in Houston now that he does in Memphis. His strength is running the fastbreak, something Jason Williams is exponentially better at running than Steve Francis.
Regarding the 3 first rounders in 2 different years that were wasted, remember that one of those picks(Michael Dickerson) was the key to the Francis deal. I agree that the other 5 ended up amounting to jack squat(and to think, we could've had Rashard Lewis and/or Richard Jefferson), but you can't say the Rockets have nothing to show for them. Anyway, back to b****ing about James Posey....
That's what it is. I know that you cannot trade nothing for something in this league. I also understand that the draft is a crapshoot however you would expect from so many mid-first round draft picks at least a role player or two. R.Rhodes, Bryce Drew, Mirsad Turckan, Micheal Dickerson, Kenny Thomas, J. Collier, The Three Picks that turned into E. Griffin, Nachbar. We have nothing to account from all these picks and we have some serious holes to worry about. We cannot field 5 All-Stars, but having Moochie play significant minutes for so long was pretty pathetic. We have to start a Center at PF and the drop from our starting SF/SG to our bench is probably the largest in the league. Imagine what this team would look like if we had Antonio Daniels and J-Pos. Also, I am pretty pissed that the organization took no proactive action in dealing with Eddie. They knew he was 19, they knew he had some problems. I don't think he is a bad kid, he just needed some "adult" supervision and the Rockets let him high and dry...
More on James Posey from ESPN Insider Today. ### Posey for most-improved The Grizzlies also have come out of the All-Star break on fire, and it's becoming pretty clear their best player is not Pau Gasol or Mike Miller but the unheralded James Posey. Jerry West signed Posey to a bargain, mid-level deal this summer without much fanfare. The thinking at the time was Posey would give the Grizzlies a big, athletic, defensive-minded swingman to balance the plethora of offensive types on the team. Who knew that by February he'd also be the team's first option on offense? Posey's improvement over the course of the season has been stunning. He averaged 8.6 ppg and 3.4 rpg on 40 percent shooting in November. He upped that to 11.9 ppg and 4.3 rpg in December on 46 percent shooting. In January the numbers jumped again to 14.3 ppg and 4.7 rpg while shooting 51 percent from the field. In February the numbers increased again to 18.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg on 54 percent shooting. It gets even better if you focus on his post All-Star break numbers -- 22.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg on 54 percent shooting. He's been doing all of this the last seven games despite a badly bruised inner thigh that would put a player like Marcus Camby out for the season. I don't think I'm going out on a limb here when I throw Posey's name into the ring for most improved player of the year. He's been downright awesome and the biggest reason the Grizzlies are 5-2 since the break. ###
Seeing what James and KT are doing really wants to make me puke. Our ownership/brass needs to pull so real magic this summer or they deserve to lose Yao and become a scrub franchise down the line.
