EG what are you talking about? You comparing two of the best power forwards in the game to a guy who cannot guard himself let alone other power forwards in the NBA. KT was a great defensive player for that team and will be sorely missed. I cannot wait to see what the power forwards in the league do to your new defensive machine eddie g.
I too will miss KT. He was our most improved and most consistant player last year. There were also games this year when he turned the game around all by himself to help us win. He was always willing to do whatever it took to try to win. Hopefully, he will shine in the East (if AI will give him the ball). I am not sure this will be the last we see of KT. He is Rudy's kind of player but, he was the most tradeable. Maybe someday he will return in his prime. While I really hate to see KT go (I also hated to see Otis Thorpe and Othello goo too!!!!) I feel pretty good about the trade. I think Posey is a high energy player that makes that extra effort just when you need a stop or a steal. If he has had some triple doubles that means he is a complete player and gives the effort in ALL phases of the game. Good luck KT. I am really going to miss you with your footwork and hand spead.
Whatever. He's not over 280-- Clutch and Jeff have both documented this. He couldn't work out during last season because of the injury! That's why be "blew up"! And, he worked like hell in the offseason to get back into playing weight. He was good before the injury-- averaged 16 and 7 over the last four months of the season, gave us a true power forward's body (something we definitely don't have), and shot 50% from the field. In fact, I remember the BBS when Mo was signed to this extension... most were thrilled. I don't think people would be pleased with giving 50 million dollars to a player who stinks. I don't think the Rockets would do it, and I don't think the fans would like it. But, yeah, maybe the entire world outside of you is wrong, and Mo stinks, and we were all just too blind to see it...
No FARTS. It really happened. I guess we all kinda expected it (KT leaving). Ever since this summer, many on this board, including myself, have been saying that either Taylor or Thomas has to go. I personally want to keep Thomas over Taylor b/c he's a better bench player than Taylor. But we all knew that KT was much more tradeable. So what remained to be seen was what we were going to get for KT. I was hoping we could get a solid backup guard so that Francis and Mobley's PT could be reduced. Now, Posey is a "swingman." I hope he plays more at the 2 to keep Mobley's minutes to the lower to mid 30s. Many have said that Posey is the "poor man's Artest." I'd prefer to see him as the "rich man's Hawkins." He seems to bring the same things to the table as Hawkins, but with a better O. I have not seen a lot of Posey in action. Shooting seems to be his weakest aspect. But he is a good FT shooter (81%) and a decent 3-point shooter (31%). These two catagories usually tell you whether the player has a good shooting touch. So I'm not worried about his shooting at all. What I want to know more about Posey is this: 1. Does he move well without the ball on offense? That's important especially with Yao. We need players who know how to move and anticipate the passes from Yao. Our current players aren't doing very well in this regard. 2. Is he a good passer? (Assist numbers alone cannot tell the whole truth.) We don't need him shooting a lot. But we want him to be able to be a catalyst on offense. 3. Is his defense as good as advertised? If the answers of the above questions are affirmative, I'd be really excited about this deal. As of now, with the unknowns, it already sounds pretty good to me.
The bottom line is that the Rockets had three power forwards, one they don't want to trade (Eddie Griffin), one they can't trade because he makes too much money (Mo Taylor), and Kenny Thomas. I always liked Thomas as a player, but we got good value for him, and addressed a need. That's the way sports goes. I would love it if we could have traded Cato and Mo Taylor in a package for someone of similar value to Posey, but that's not going to happen when you sign those albatross contracts. The Rockets need to think more carefully about how they value the players they've already signed ... it sucks to be in a situation where you have players who have contracts out of proportion to what they bring to the team.
You were defending Mo Taylor and you didn't even know what injury he had? I thought you were defending Brent Price, because he did have knee surgery Mr. Rockets Fan. I can see why you tried to block out the fact that he tore his Achilles, because he was probably carrying too much weight when it happened. Bottom line, if this guy doesn't avg 8 boards if he starts, or 6 off the bench, he is a waste of an NBA body.
My thoughts exactly. I like dKT alot. He is (was) our best PF. Mo T looks very slow in recovering (not that he was quick before) and Griff has a world of potential, but he has more poor games right now than good. In 2 years Griff will be tha answer but until then PF will be our biggest weakness. Posey is a nice player. Now we have an even logjam at SF with Rice, Nachbar, Globetrotter, Mo-T and now Posey. Posey is a nice addition he is a solid player who will help us. Also this gives an opportunity to T-mo and Cato for more minutes. Like I said I think Mo-T is very slow now so there is an opportuntiy for someone to step up. Griff will get minutes,as well as Mo, but I suspect T-mo will get alook at PF and we may experiment with Cato and Ming together to resurrect the Dream-Sampson towers. Anyways good luck to KT, we need the players like him who play hard. Welcome Posey, we need players like him as well.
Which also means he averaged 10 and 3 the 1st 1/2 of the season that year. Bottom line...Mo has never averaged over 5.5 rebounds per game with the exception of his contract year when he averaged 6.5. Whats more is that AS A ROCKET (being that he is obviously not the same player he was when he played for the Clipps due to injury, obesity , drug problems or whatever) he is averaging about 9 pts and 4 rebounds....truly pathetic numbers for a guy who was brought in to be our future power forward.
1. I would rather have the heart of a lion playing PF than a great body with no intensity. 2. If the Rockets will pay Cato $8M a year why would you suspect they could not make a similar mistake with Mo? THe NBA is full over over-paid players.
What's up with this fixation on Mo's rebounding. The Rockets are #2 in the league in rebounding! We're coming off a game where we made Indiana's rebounders look like a HS team or something-and they were #5 going into the game. Rudy has been a smart coach, and basically worked it so there are 2 PF/C "shifts" Yao and Eddie, and Cato/Taylor. Right now, Cato is rebounding as well as anyone in the league- the last 2 games, he's averaging 11 minutes....and 9 rebounds. That is gawdy. It's semi-alarming that Mo's offensive game is off, but he's shown enough to show to me at least, that it's just rust. If Mo was getting beat for rebounds, and the Rockets were getting killed on 2nd chance points when he's in the game, I could see it being a problem. But that's not happening. Mo has played passable defense, and once his scoring gets going, which I think these minutes that have been cleared for him will help out, he'll be fine.
"I don't see much I really like about Posey. He's got long arms and can get his hands on some passes. But I think this is a case of out with the old and in with the new." -- Mavs F-C Popeye Jones, in the Dec. 19 Dallas Morning News, commenting on the Rockets' acquisition of F James Posey from the Nuggets on Dec. 18
My two cents on this deal and I'm sure much of this has already been said: Posey fits this team now better than KT does. Thomas' had rapidly elevated to one of my favorite guys on the team but his body language lately, his lack of playing time in crunch time and the type of game he plays has not been well suited to the Rockets of the moment. Last year, he was ideal. This year, not so much. Griffin has been showing signs of real improvement over the past few weeks. As a tandem, Griffin and Taylor compliment each other better than Griffin and KT or Taylor and KT. And, with the zone, there is less of a need for great one-on-one defense in the post. Kenny is going to a place where he is really wanted and will be called upon to do what he does best - score in the block and be tough. For us, Posey provides the one thing we have really missed this season: perimeter defense. Despite being one of the better teams in the league, guards and small forwards have been able to beat us off the dribble too often and get inside the defense. Posey can play two positions and defend at both spots. Offensively, Posey is a better shooter than his numbers this year indicate. He is playing on a horrific team where he is one of the primary scoring options. My guess is the difference between his looks in Denver and in Houston will be like the difference between a locked bank vault and a prarie stretching out for a hundred miles. With Yao and Francis, the guy will get more wide open look than he has probably seen in his whole life. He also can run the floor really well and the Rockets have gotten out and run much more this season because they are such a good rebounding team. His ability to get out on the break and show off his athleticism is a plus. Mainly, the Rockets needed a 2/3 who was solid defensively but not a liability on offense. Both Hawkins and Morris are above average defensively and on the boards but closing your eyes and praying everytime they take a shot is not a good sign. Posey will be a much more consistent threat on both ends of the floor. Most importantly, assuming he works out and re-signs next year, our 9-man rotation is set for quite a few years: Francis Mobley Posey Griffin Yao Bench: Norris Nachbar Taylor Cato Morris can be a solid contributor off the bench as well and Rice will contribute as long as he is here though he doesn't figure into our long-term plans. But, bottomline, sign Posey in the offseason and we have all the pieces to the puzzle and all of those pieces are young and talented AND SIGNED. That's important.
Is there something in the Dallas water that causes people involved with their sports teams to never shut up? Maybe next week we can go ask Cuban what he thinks of Ming again.
OK, retrieved my password to get the full article: Notebook: Denver trade no big deal Mavs see Nuggets' move involving Posey as par for course 12/19/2002 By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News DENVER – Because numerous Mavericks formerly played in Denver, it didn't surprise them Wednesday evening when the Nuggets traded one of their top players, James Posey, to Houston. Nor did they seem to think the trade did much to improve the Rockets' chances this season. The Nuggets dealt Posey to the Rockets in a three-way deal that sent Houston's Kenny Thomas to Philadelphia and future first- and second-round draft picks to Denver, along with veteran big man Mark Bryant and Art Long, who then was cut by the Nuggets. The trade left the Nuggets with one player, forward Ryan Bowen, who was with the club before Kiki Vandeweghe took over as general manager in August 2001. "That's what you do when you have a franchise that hasn't been good for so long," said Mavericks forward Popeye Jones, who played in Denver in 1999-2000. "You want to bring in your own guys." As for what the trade does for the Rockets, who expect to be a threat in the playoffs, Jones said: "I don't see much I really like about Posey. He's got long arms and can get his hands on some passes. But I think this is a case of out with the old and in with the new." Guard Avery Johnson, who came to the Mavericks in the February trade from Denver that also netted Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel, said he saw merit in the deal for Houston and for Denver. "They have a whole new management and new coaching staff here in Denver," Johnson said. "I would do the same thing in their shoes. Houston had an abundance of power forwards, and you couldn't have all three of those guys and keep them happy." Coach Don Nelson was a lone voice in thinking the Rockets made a significant improvement with the 6-8 Posey, who can play shooting guard or small forward. "He will help," he said. "They had too many players up front. But the maturation of Yao Ming is going to have more than anything else to do with their growth."
WINNERS: Sixers: Sixers get a hardworking man who will fit into Larry's philosophy nicely. Expect Larry to experiment KT at SF. KT: The man wil have something to work for now. Playing time and a better contract than the Rockets were offering. ON THE WIRE: Rockets: Big gamble. Improves their defense. How well will Posey defend off the pick n roll? Hopefully as well as KT could score. Eddie/MoT: It was a logjam for a reason. These guys are our future. Like it or not. Either they step up or it's Cato revisited. LOSERS: Lebron James: It isn't too late to get a degree in communications... Boki: See Nachbar sit. Sit Nachbar sit. His playing time will be on the PS2 playing against Yao.
Fixation with what rebounding? And to your point that we don't need him to get rebounds, I want to know, why do we need him? Most teams have a three man rotation at center and pf. Mo Taylor is a man without a position, and maybe the Rockets didn't see it coming because they didn't know about Yao Ming, but they pulled the trigger prematurely on his contract and it will come back and haunt them, worse than Cato's especially since Cato has at least found a niche. What is Taylor's niche?
Sitting on the bench watching EG grow as a player, "Searching for his shooting touch", and taking up a large part of the Rockets cap for six more years.
