The Posey trade was a mistake.

I don't neccesarily think the trade was a mistake, because I knew Kenny had to go sometime. But, under no circumstances do I think Posey should be resigned this offseason. This is a team full of inconsistent shooters, and Posey is probably the worst.

Nobody was very sad to see Shandon Anderson go, and frankly, I think Posey is a Shandon Anderson clone. An overrated defender, who is a terrible offensive player. And when I say "overrated defender," I'm referring to the notion that his defense makes up for his horrible offense...it doesn't. I think Hawkins even proved yesterday that he's a better defender than Posey.

Message to CD: DO NOT RESIGN POSEY!!!

 

hahaha...A-hole-Train? Did you think of that all by yourself? Girl Cureton....uhhh, I mean Hurl Cureton....ummm, I mean Earl Speweton...

You know how to use the ignore feature, so use it, 'tard...Of course I wouldn't be suprised if you didn't know how...

 

While Posey may not be our dream 3 for next year, I think we need to look at who's available for the amount of money we're willing to spend. Of course he's not going to be the man, but what we really need is slasher like Posey to work with our shooters (SF, CM), and our Franchise Center-YAO. Maybe Posey isn't the problem, every great team has solid role players (ie: Elie, Horry w/ the 93-93 Rox

 

Yes every team needs role players. But role players shouldn't be given a very fat long-term contract. If that's what Posey asks for, I am afraid we need to pass. Plus good role players should be able to hit OPEN SHOTS. Elie and Horry could hit OPEN SHOTS.

 

Not to turn this into a bash Rudy thread, but could it be possible Rudy is telling Posey to continue to shoot. That's how Rudy tends to be with young players. When they struggle, he tells them not to get down on themselves and continue to shoot when open. I get the feeling he's saying the same to Griffin.

 

The only thing is, I would much rather Posey's role be to hit open outside shots than play tough defense.

 

That's true Carayip. Do we know yet how much Posey is going to be asking for this offseason? Or if there are any prosects the Houston will try to pick up for the 3 spot? Not being a smarta**, just wondering

 

The only time I've seen Posey as an effective player has been in transition. Unfortunately we don't run until the 4th quarter.

 

I dont think Posey is out of control. I think he just cant shoot. Last night he took some good open shots, 3's included, that a small forward should take. Unfortunately, the shots hit nothing but air most of the time. He was aweful. I would not mind having Posey on the team next year, but not for more than about 3 mil./peryear.

 

Of course Rudy would/should do that to give them confidence. But at certain point during games, intelligent role players (which obviously Posey and EG are not) would recognize that today is simply not their night and stop shooting even when they are open. Good role players should understand their own limits and know when to shoot and when to stop and defer to the stars.

 

I have serious concerns about Posey, though not from his playing perspective, but from the strategy in his use. He is a system guy and does not fit well on the perimeter. His shot is horrible and his game is not hitting open jumpers. His game is slashing and getting to the basket. When we made the trade, we needed a D guy who could hit the open shot and I think we underestimated how as the season progresses how these shots would be there. Early on the shots were not there, but now that teams are giving Yao so much respect with double and in some cases triple teams, this has opened up our perimeter...but let's look at the big picture:

at our forward position, we are shooting 39% combined! Combine our PF position in that stat and it hurts just as much also. That hurts big time on any team, but especially here because the forwards are starting to get so many wide open looks with our penetration and Yao Ming attention getting offensive game. Imagine Bullard out there right now. Imagine Eddie Johnson out there......wow!

Now, finally Mo showed what open looks will do when you can hit, but imagine if we could hit the league average at the forward position and how many more wins we could have. We need some serious perimeter shooting to get anywhere at this point. We would have won at least 5+ more games shooting 43% at the forward spots.

A move has to be made in the offseason to get a pure shooter. Rice is not cutting it. Posey should be coming off the bench and not shooting from the perimeter and EG needs some series shooting help. All this means .500 basketball.

 

Shooting guards (2) and small forwards (3) are the easiest players to find in the league. The hardest to find are centers, followed by point guards. These are the two most important positions, and the Rockets are already set at those two positions with two young all-star starters. The next most important position is the power forward, especially in the western conference.

So I think our most pressing need is still a stud power forward. Maybe Griffin will turn into one. KT was obviously not the answer, he was only going to be a servicable short-term option, or a good role player off the bench. The KT/Posey trade was just tweaking of the roster with players in the last year of the contracts. I still stand by the trade, because we needed to give Griffin the playing time to see if he will develop into a stud power forward. If we get that stud power forward, we will develop into such a force that we can always fill the 2/3 spot with role players, with MCE players, or with veteran minimum players. What the heck, the Lakers have been successful doing that with just two stud players (albeit the two best players in the league).

Now if the Clippers can be suckered into an Elton Brand sign and trade for EG/Rice/$3 million this summer, we'll be set!

 

Posey trade a mistake? I don't think so. Let me explain...

The Rockets had a log jam at the 4 spot with 3 players. It was uncomfortable for all three of them. They could not get into a rhythm. Because of this it was addition by subtraction with Thomas. Hey, I loved Thomas' work with the Rockets. I still root for him with the 76ers. But this team just could not function with 3 PFs. Taylor got the big contract and needed to play. Griffin is the young future PF that needed time to play to mature. Thomas was the odd man out. PLUS this was the "last" year of his contract. Chances were that the Rockets would NOT resign him because his demands would be too high. So why play him?

Instead the Rockets traded for a swingman in James Posey. We all agree that the Rockets perimeter defense was lacking so this seemed like a good trade. Posey's defense has been decent. He has played agressive on the floor but at times does make some mental mistakes. And yes his jumper is horrible.
In the few games I have watched lately Posey HAS been an offensive LIABILITY on the floor which pretty much negates his defensive effors. Teams are forcing the ball out of the Rockets primary scorers hands and DARING Posey to shoot the ball and more often than not he misses which accomplishes the opposing team's defensive plan.

Posey is a free agent after this season (like Thomas is). Right now we are "test driving" Posey. If he plays well then we keep him. If he doesn't then we let him walk, (just like we would have done for Thomas). So really it is a "win/neutral" trade. If Posey plays well we win the trade. If Posey doesn't play well then it is neutral since Thomas would have walked anway.

There really isn't a downside here.

In my opinion, Posey's play has been inconsistant just like this Rockets team. He has nights when his defense, athleticism, and agressiveness makes a mark on this Rockets team and there are nights when his shooting is "overly" exposed and it costs us. And lately the latter has been the case.

The question the Rockets will have to make in the offseason is can we resign T-Mo and Hawkins for less than Posey? And do they bring enough to the table to allow Posey to walk?

Right now with the way Posey is playing his contract demands have to be pretty low.

Chris

 

He's not dealing with a veteran team here. He's not dealing with intelligent role players here either. Posey is used to being the star player of his team (Nuggets). Being a role player is totally new to him. And Eddie is still a 20 year old kid. It's Rudy's job to tell them their limitations. If he tells them to shoot when open even if neither can shoot worth a lick, they're going to do what he says.

 

Some of ya'll are so wishy-washy its pathetic.

Posey has a good game, he's the Best. Posey has a bad game, trading for him was a mistake.

The only mistake made in the Posey-KT trade was that they maybe should've held on to KT a little longer, he could have been much more attractive as the team got closer to the trade deadline.

But that's has nothing to do with Posey, who's been good for the Rockets, bad shot and all.

 

Posey sucked last night and has had many bad games with the Rockets. He is counterproductive on offense and his defense has been unseen in several games this year.

Posey is a wart on this team and my opinion has been consistent since the day we traded for him. I was skeptical from the start and I am growing tired of his unintelligent play.

 

I know, it's bush league to quote yourself. Sorry.

FWIW, I was wrong. The KT-Posey trade was a mistake.

You never trade a well-rounded player for a specialist.

Time for me to be wishy-washy.