After watching him as a Rocket, it feels weird seeing him become "that guy" in the NBA. He has become that veteran guy in the NBA synonymous with 'championship experience.' Charles and Kenny took the words out of my mouth tonite on Inside the NBA when they said 'he's the new Robert Horry.' It's strange because he drove me crazy with the Rockets with his boneheaded play. But in retrospect, I think the fact that he was on a team with Francis and Mobley only compounded the issue and made it seem worse. Neither Miami nor Boston win their titles without James Posey's play in the playoffs.
New Orleans is obviously very glad to have him on their team. Posey plays tough and is a winner. A very important role player who can be dangerous against any team when he is on.
After all the bad contracts we gave out during the latter RudyT/CD regime, it was understandable that we got gunshy of resigning Posey to a big contract. It was sorta of a big contract he signed with the Grizzlies (21 mill I believe) that we weren't in any shape to match. He's that X factor on the Hornets team that could give the Rockets problems. He's the one that will guard Tracy or Artest and also make them play him honest on the offensive side. Hornets made a wise decision on signing him and letting go Bonzi.
I guess it's mostly experience and an improved understanding of the game. He always played hard D, and he shot the ball well. I liked him during his time as a rocket. He made boneheaded plays, but part of that might come from the system. We didn't really have a good offense in place, and was relying too much on iso plays. I guess when Francis or Mobley made boneheaded plays on isos, we kind of accepted that or got used to that, but when the role player messed up it was really painful to watch. I didn't follow him during his Grizzly years (who did?), but when he got on that Heat team, he became that sort of critical role player, playing tough defense, knocking down clutch shots, taking charges here and there, basically the ultimate role player that does all the little things. And he really showed it last season with the Celtics. I think Battier is essentially in the same mold as Posey, the only thing Shane is lacking are the rings. But that's not a knock on Shane. Every championship team needs a super role player like Shane or Posey, but they cannot make a team into a contender by themselves. Posey happened to be on two contender teams that he was able to contribute a lot to and put them over the top, while Shane hasn't got his chance to shine in such a setting. But I do believe that this will be our year, and this will be the year that Shane becomes the veteran player with "Championship experience".
i really hated the idea of not resigning him. jimmy jackson and whoever else we tried to replace him with wasn't even close to what he gave us.
Didn't we replace him with Eric Piatkowski? In my opinion, he is like Battier. Except maybe a little bit less defense, and a little bit more offense. The only thing is, Posey has been winning, while Battier hasn't. Hopefully that will change this year.
i think the money was used to sign jj, pike, and adrian griffin. then (i think it was the following year) when we traded for tmac, rather than use the MLE to sign derek fisher the team went with sura and ward. imagine what posey and fisher could've added to a team that twice blew a 2-0 lead in a 7 games series.
Posey did play a big role when Miami won a championship, but I don't agree with whatever he did in Boston. IMO, the emergence of Rondo as a suitable PG, Eddie House, and PJ Brown all played bigger roles than Posey did in their championship run.
Posey is a case of being in the right place at the right time. You can argue that all of the key role players were essential for the Heat and Celtics to win their championships, not just Posey. But he deserves credit for stepping up the way he did. It's one thing to be in the right place; it's another to make the most of it and be a key part of bringing home the bacon. Props to Posey for his clutch play when it mattered the most. That all said, I still think the Hornets overpaid. But if he helps them win a championship this season or next, it becomes a bargain.
PJ Brown came up with more big plays in that Cleveland series than Kevin Garnett did. I can't remember which game it was, possibly game 7, but he saved them a few times down the stretch with some HUGE plays.
I agree. He's way overpaid and is very overrated. People have been talking about this signing as if they just signed Scottie Pippen in his prime to fill their hole on the wing and put them over the top. Posey's one hell of a role player though.
I agree with this. He has had good fortune in terms of being in the right place at the right time. Granted he made key plays to help both the Heat and Celtics win championships..... I wouldn't label him as "that guy" aka ala Robert Horry. Rondo, Powe, etc made just as important of plays that you would consider a player of Posey's caliber to make. In Miami he made contributions but nothing out of the realm of what Haslem, Walker, Payton etc made. New Robert Horry? Hardly.
He was a good player to begin with. He sorta was asked to play a reduced role as a defensive specialist and stand still shooter. He accepted and did a good of it. But I am not sure he is the new Rob. Big shot Bob were instrumental in some of the Championship runs with LA and the Spurs. I don't know if the same can be said. My personally feeling is that there is an over-hype on Posey started by JVG.
What, Derek Fisher over our half-season hero Sura? Adrian Griffin at the time made sense to replace some of Posey's defense. But that was too much Shandon Anderson-ing hoping he'd kinda "blossom" with the Rockets, when he was an is-what-he-is player. Playing wing next to Francis and Mobley had to have been a really fun job...shots for themselves, passes to themselves, alley oops to Cato, shots for themselves, occasional pass to Hakeem so he wouldnt feel slighted, wing gets the ball after it bounces off Francis's foot.
If I'm a GM, I'd be really happy with either player on my team (for the right price). Posey is probably suited more for an uptempo team and Battier is more suited for a half-court team. btw, Posey is no Horry until he starts draining game winning shots on championship teams.
Good points. I will add we actually lucked into JJ later in FA. Pike and AG were who we planned to replace him with--I was pissed we didn't match. I will say I did think Fisher was probably washed up and that GS had horribly overpayed at the time. Fisher had a poor last year with the Lakers and looked bad at GS initially too. I am surprised at his resurgence back into a very good role player the last 2 years.
