He replaces Posey's defense. James Posey, it turns out, is nothing special - and completely and totally replaceable. He's a replaceable asset, and as such, we really shouldn't be getting locked into him for any length of time for any money at all. Added a useful swingman for cheap, that's pretty nice. At least the Rocket's appear to be learning from past mistakes - and that's a good thing.
Well, as I often say, I think the whole "SO and SO is a 2, NO HE's a 3, FRANCIS must play like a PG, not an SG, blah blah blah" notion of set roles (i.e. you MUST have a 1, 2,3,4,5) on the basketball court is completely idiotic and not really that useful. I don't really care if you call Gasol a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, but when he's on the floor with 2 out of: Drew Gooden, Lorenzen Wright, and/or Stromile Swift, that presents a Matchup problem if you're the type of team that likes to collect 6-4 inch forwards. Again, I don't care if you call him a forward or a guard or whatever, but I am more confident of Posey's ability to guard taller players (and conversely, to be able to exploit the matchup on offense, where he can slash, run the break, shoot from outside, etc) than of Griffin, who (ostensibly) cannot guard taller guys and is a null set on offense.
as a mavs fan, i think this is a dynamite signing for houston. given his status around the league, griffin wasn't going to command more than $1M per year, and he's a fantastic role player to boot. he's pretty much money from 18 ft and in. he's an outstanding defender on kobe. watching every game against the lakers, he always managed to contain kobe. then when nellie went small, and griff went out of the lineup, kobe would go for 40, but i digress... i've always thought posey was overrated. signing for the full MLE in memphis, somebody should arrest his agent for armed robbery or extortion, because there's no way in the world that posey is worth even $3M a year. when you compare his numbers to griff, you get a much smarter player with much better value financially on your salary cap.
Using Posey's overall statistics is misleading. As you are probably aware, hIs percentages rose significantly over the last few months, especially his 3 pt shooting-- Hell, only him and Glen Rice can say that they were playing there best ball near the end of the season last year, not even Saint Yao can say that. "Griffin hasn't had two years of 3 point shooting like posey had but look at posey's career, he has been in the high 20's all but last year(contract year) and his rookie year". Uh, Posey only has 4 years of experience, so 50% of the time is a fluke? The two bad years are more meaningful than the two good years? Hell, Posey singlehandedly put the Clipppers away this year in by hitting all those 3's in the second Q of that game this year. WHile beating the clippers ain't so great, remember that the pre Posey rockets LOST to the clip show, at least once and I think twice. Second, if you think that Posey and Griffin are so close offensively, there's a reason why Griffin has fewer minutes and has played in more leagues than teams that Posey has played on. He's a castoff. Posey is a commodity. Could he work out? Sure. But more knowledgeable people than you or I apparently believe otherwise.
i like it. at least we're filling our 10th and 11th spots with people who have actually been in the nba, not nbdl players or summer league invites, and 2 that have actually started at some point recently. he started 48 games for a team that won 60. obviously he was the least important person starting, but obviously he didn't create a very big hole at sf or they couldn't have won 60 (which is hard enough no matter how much talent you have). him for <1M and piat for 2.5-3M over posey for 5M starting salary is fine with me b/c i didn't think posey fit in that well at all. we best not trade mobley for a pg. just b/c we now have sg's to play with steve when he inevitably takes the remainder of the pg minutes doesn't mean it's a sum gain to lose mobes for a pg. DON'T DO IT!
I couldn't agree more with you about assigning a number or slot if you will to each player. It's really all about match ups. Where you lost me was saying you had more confidence in Posey guarding taller players. Defense is about footwork and position/leverage, not the proximity of the top of your head to the floor. Most shots are taken with the players feet off the floor, so it doesn't matter how high the head of the guy in front of him is. The only sport where you play defense with the top of your head is soccer. j
This whole thing is about Boki, nothing more nothing less. I have reconciled with the move. All the moves have not solve our fastbreak unless again, Boki is playing some serious minutes. CD said he is going the veteran way and putting Mark Jackson in the mix would just wrap things up. Bottomline: It is now up to Boki to make losing Posey a smart move. Ming/Cato/Bad EG/MoT/(TMO) Rice/Boki/AD Mobley/Pike/Hawk Wink/Moochie/(Smush Parker)
i wouldn't say it's exactly singlehandedly when it comes in the 2nd Q of a 20 point blowout, since rice was also draining and clips couldn't have cared less that game it seemed. but, he did play well so that's good. posey almost singlehandedly cost us the 3rd clippers game by reaching in on andre miller taking a 17 foot TURNAROUND with his own man covering him. if not for that miracle lane violation call, we lose that game thanks to posey. so i'd say posey was pretty much average in helping us beat the clips.
Oh, I agree with what you say on defense. But, all other things being equal, if Posey and Griffin are equally good on defense (which is a GENEROUS assumption to Griffin), who would you rather have guarding 6-9 Shareef Abdur-Raheem. 6-7 Posey or 6-4 Griffin? That's a no-brainer IMO.
i am not saying that griffin is great but come on hawk better than griffin. hawk is a overrated defender plus he flops alot!
You know I was kidding, right? I don't even hate johnheath, or whatever he's calling himself these days.
Yeah, sure, maybe AG is not quite as good as Posey, but it's also about money. We got Pike and AG for less than we could have gotten Posey, and the Rockets could definetly use that kind of depth. And besides, do we really want to overpay ANOTHER rocket player? I think we've done enough of that for the next couple years, thank you.
You know, 6'4 Griffin is way stronger than Posey, and Reef isn't very laterally quick. In this isolated case, I'd rather have Griffin guarding Reef, however I do agree that Posey is better (not GOOD, just better) at guarding KG and Marion for instance.
I totally agree with this statement except for the last 36 words, which are obviously complete crap, but beyond that I am so with you on this. My mother taught me this interesting technique which, while I sometimes forget to use it myself, might serve you well at least as a guideline. 1st step: Think 2nd step: Speak. It can be readliy applied to posting as well. Take it easy, man.
