I always have a problem with this arguement that we should be supportive. Well then you're a supporter.. but if you're a FANatic where the word fan comes from.. then you don't simply follow blindly.. and in some cases you protest. I'm not suggesting that now is the time.. but i'm also not going to say i like everything that is going on. Mike
$8mil per year would be ridiculous but the fact that he doesn't WANT to outscore his man (like a couple of other guys on this team) and that he's the best individual defender on the team is what makes him a good fit. Posey is probably the 4th/5th option on this team so seldom outscoring his man isn't so important. Plus, he's the only guy on this team who actually runs the floor and understands the concept of getting easy buckets in transition.
I think the above to posts are most on target and show the two strategies we can take. A) we can do nothing at first/low ball qualifying offer (alluded to by Kayman). This is like what Dallas did with Wang (though they let him go), Milw did with Redd (they matched) or like GS did with MJ (they matched, though they did so with unbelievable clumsiness). The one thing you don't want to do here is try this approach and bungle this, and end up keeping a pissed off player with limited trade options (like GS). B) As discussed by harumph, we can go ahead and make a reasonable offer first--like what we did with CM (yes, he has a very reasonable contract for what he produces). With the FA list I really doubt teams that are under the cap (can offer more than the MCE) will go after James Posey--those teams will go for all-stars or potential all-stars, not role players, even if they are very good role players. IMO what we will do a modified-harumph approach. I think what we will do is to basically assure James he can have a contract with us at the MCE or starting at just a little (200K, 500K) over the MCE. Now the timing of the actual contract signing may very depending on other offseason goals--but again I think James/us will have this understanding either way (and by overpaying guys like Shandon/Maloney due to prior comittments James/his agent should be willing to trust us). This shows him we value him even a little befond the max MCE, immediately removes any direct threat from teams over the cap (most of the teams), and gets us a very good role player secured for a long time. If James still wants to test the waters and can land a contract starting at 6 or 7 mill--well, we say good luck to you James and thank you for your contributions as a Rocket.
I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd nod and smile while reading someone say "modified harumph"... and think to myself "yes, that makes perfect sense!".
