Hey guys, I was just writing a little piece on Posey and wanted to make sure my recollection of his time in Houston was sound. I recall him surprisingly coming into that year (his free agency year) out of shape, the Rockets trading for him on the cheap, and him playing real up and down for them all year and then wanting the full mid-level. Is that right?
we traded kenny thomas for him -- this was back when we had the eddie griffin, mo taylor, KT "logjam" and he was the odd man out. i also remember he had a triple double for denver that year. but yes he was a wildly inconsistent 3-pt shooter for us ... well i guess he still is.
out of shape? Umm, we traded for him to relive the infamous gut at PF consisting of Mo Taylor, Kenny Thomas, and Eddie Griffin. He came in, didn't play preobably the first 2-3 games at all, collected DNPs. But then came in and became a starter with Francis/Yao/Mobley/Griffin by the time the had the first Yao/Shaq showdown in Feb. '03. Also, his 3 point shot was inconsistent when he was brought in, but Jim Boylen helped him with his stroke and was consistently better by the end of the season. At the end of the season, we made him a qualifying offer, was a restricted FA, but Memphis gave him a ridiculous contract that was above mid-level I believe on a a roster that already have Shane Battier. We let him walk, and traded Glen Rice to Utah, to free up some money and spend it on Jim Jackson as his replacement, who was pretty damn good during his tenure here with the Rockets.
I guess I remember the good things and not the bad... I really liked James Posey when he was here... he ran, hustled, played good d, got a buttload of steals. I remember one game where Steve Francis threw Posey 2 alleyoops from HALF COURT on consecutive possessions. insannnneeeeee
Ah of course, now I remember the trade. I was pretty pleased with it too. And good memory Dave, I just checked it out; he shot .375 and .414 from 3 in his last two months of the season.
Didn't the Rockets have to throw in a second round pick in addition to sending KT? The thing that vexed me about that trade was that they knew that there were going to be Salary Cap issues and Posey was an expensive short term rental.
they used to run a nice fast break, posey was a fearless finisher who would really get out on the break, and the other thing is he really became a lot better three point shooter during his time here.
I don't remember Posey being out of shape. I remember him being athletic and playing hard. Not much else. When the stupid Grizz offered him that contract, we had to let him go because it was far above what a sensible team would have paid.
Yeah, I don't know if it was that Memphis offered too much money. We knew from the beginning he was a rental because they had to cut salary.
No you aren't. I think the Rockets wanted to re-sign him but Memphis gave him an offer nobody else would match. He smartly went for the money.
I remember in a game against the Lakers on ESPN (pretty sure it was the big Yao v Shaq game where Franchise hadd 44 and 11 and we won in OT) Posey threw up a wild 3 on the break that air balled by quite a margin - and Bill Walton summised, in classic Walton style, "That was the worst shot in the history of this Houston Rockets franchise".
I was listening to the Calvin Murphy show the other day and he said the Rockets treated Posey bad during his time here. They were discussing free agents. Don't know how much weight to put into that though....
When Posey was here it was like someone needed to b*tch slap him to wake him the **** up! We've had way to many players like that over the last few years.
He wasn't the James Posey you saw with Miami in the Finals and the guy you saw this year with the Celtics, but he always played hard and relatively well. You could see that he was going to become a very good and valuable role player to have on your team. I really wish the Rockets would've kept him. I think he's better than Battier.
Amen. Getting Shandon Anderson and then morphing that deal into Glenn Rice was another failed decision. There didn't seem to be much Method to the Madness in terms of setting longterm goals and solid financial management in those days.
Battier is better. Posey didn't do zip until was on a team with a healthy Wade and Shaq. Without those two on the same page, Posey wasn't much of anything in Miami. Then he smartly signs with Boston at the right time. He's just a solid role player who you can count on, just like Shane.
This happened years before we traded for Shane. Posey was a good teammate and role player for about half the season. He had been Denver's leading scorer prior to the trade (KT + a 2nd pick, which we ended up getting us zero plus the lost pick by that offseason) if I recall (but on a low %), and shot average for us though also bringing us hustle, defense and fast breaking ability with his athleticism we otherwise did not have. I also think he shot better down the stretch (I think we had our shooting coach work with him?). Also, the MLE Memphis offered was very much fair market price for him (and I think only 4 years, when it could have been 6--e.g., J Howard's). Th danger I saw going into that free agency was a well over MLE contract offered to him, which did not happen, I did not fathum we would not sign/match him for a 4 year MLE. We didn't want to pay it, but considering he was the 1st or 2nd best player/prospect for Denver (granted if he is your 1st or 2nd best player your team is lousey) and then showed he could be a fine role player/team guy on a decent team, he very much was your typical full MLE salary player. Further, instead of JPosey at starting for about 4.5 million per year, we signed Eric Pikeowski (shooting) and Adrian Griffin (defense) in his stead (during the potential matching period) for a little more than half that much. They were misreable failures, JP for 4.5 mil would have been a much better value than like 2.5 or 3 million for this pair to replace him. Luckily for us their was a fall out between Jim Jackson and Sac very late in free agency and we landed him for a bargain (whatever left of the MLE I think), and he did work out well for like a season and a half, until he wore out his welcome, like JJ always seem to do. Finally, remember a 4 year MLE is a lot less in yearly amount and total amount than what Battier has (not saying SB has a bad contract, just giving perspective), as is the case with most prime aged veteran starters or veteran 6th men in the NBA. There was a good 25% of us here who ranged from dissappointed to pissed we did not match for James Posey on a 4 year MLE deal, I am one of those. In the end I am not going to say it was a slam dunk either way--compare having James Posey here since that period VS Pike, Griffin, JJ, Wesley (traded for JJ), and now an empty roster spot-- but I still would rather have had James Posey for the last 5-6 than the revolving door we had instead of that money/roster spot that could have been his.
