In Hindsight, Could Re-Signing James Posey Have Ultimately Yielded David West?

[Beat LA]

For some reason, this idea popped into my head the other day.  I remember that the whole problem that Boston had during the negotiations with Posey centered around the 4th year, which would have been the 2011-12 season.  Per Basketballreference.com, in the final year of his deal with Boston, Jermaine O'Neal (who, as we all know, was the guy who we tried to trade for David West) made $6,226,200 million (http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/onealje01.html), while Posey, in the final year of his contract made $7,595,600 million (http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/poseyja01.html). 

Now, if we're being honest with ourselves, by 2011, neither O'Neal nor Posey were even close to being the players they had been, but at least with Posey, NOH would have gotten a guy that 1).  could stay on the court, and 2).  provide great leadership on the floor and in the locker room, which would have been a definite plus in a rebuilding situation; and if they didn't want him, he's still an expiring, but my point is that Posey would have been a far more attractive option than O'Neal, although I guess that that's not really saying that much   Posey's salary alone might have made the decision for West considerably more difficult, imo, because of almost $1.3 million more dollars that would have been coming his way. 

The bottom line is that we should have kept Posey anyway.  At the very least, we'd have 2 titles at the expense of the Lakers, imo to show for it, and that's much more important than money.  If you want to win, you sometimes have to give a guy an extra year, especially Posey, who was essentially our Michael Cooper.  You simply can't replace his intangibles (thanks, Danny! (sarcasm)).  The only other guy that could fill that role for us was Pietrus, as we saw when he was here, but he wasn't signing with us in 2008; and see - giving him that 4th year would have given us a very valuable expiring contract, which might have turned into David West and a third title.  Strange things happen.  I mean, did anyone foresee the league assuming the ownership of the Hornets and then trading their franchise player to the Clippers?  I know that I didn't.

[GreenWarrior]

i'll just say this. back then I felt strongly that it was a no brainer to sign posey over house. house imo was a luxury, where as posey was a necessity. posey gave us depth, it's rare that you can have 1 player take the role of 3 players. I feel posey was a bargain at the price he was asking.

i'd still sign him today over house if I had to do it all over again. we could have used the depth he gave us.

[D.o.s.]

West might have torpedoed a deal all on his own, anyway. The deal was going a sign and trade, I think, but West ultimately preferred Indiana to Boston, and surely would've communicated  that to the relevant parties.

[manl_lui]

i'll just say this. back then I felt strongly that it was a no brainer to sign posey over house. house imo was a luxury, where as posey was a necessity. posey gave us depth, it's rare that you can have 1 player take the role of 3 players. I feel posey was a bargain at the price he was asking.

i'd still sign him today over house if I had to do it all over again. we could have used the depth he gave us.

I'm with you on this one. Always loved Posey's defense as well. Could defend 3-4 positions. Shoot the 3, smart player. House was a hard worker, and mediocre pg at best, but ultimately ONLY known for his 3 in my honest opinion. He hustles a lot, but if I have to choose, I will choose Posey 10/10 times

I'd also choose a healthy Leon Powe over Big Baby Davis 10/10 as well

[Celtics4ever]

Posey showed serious decline after leaving here and only lasted two more years after leaving here his PPG were 5 then then 4.9 it was  8.9 with us.  I think we milked him for all we could get.

[LilRip]

Yeah, I didn't understand not signing posey at that time either. Back then, I was fairly convinced that the window was open for only around 2-3 more years. So if Posey's game declined, it wouldn't have mattered because KG and Pierce would've been on their way out too. Now obviously, the window was open longer than what I originally thought, but I think an extra year of Posey would've meant an extra ring in 2010.

[slamtheking]

Posey showed serious decline after leaving here and only lasted two more years after leaving here his PPG were 5 then then 4.9 it was  8.9 with us.  I think we milked him for all we could get.

agree.

Posey's last good year was that title year.  watching him after he left you could see he wasn't the same player.  as to the OP's opinion of C's winning 2 titles if we kept Posey -- wouldn't have happened.  C's in the 2010 finals needed a healthy Perk to keep Pau and Bynum off the boards.  a broken down Posey (which he was by then) wouldn't have helped one bit in that regard.

I'd offer that if the C's had a healthy Powe that year, rather than Posey, the C's could have won that title.  (for that matter, having Ray not lay a complete egg in the game after he was on fire would have won that series in 5 and we wouldn't have had to watch the C's slowly die in games 6 & 7).

[GreenWarrior]

I'd offer that if the C's had a healthy Powe that year, rather than Posey, the C's could have won that title. 

I truly believe if we had a healthy or not in foul trouble big against Orlando we would have at least beat them.

yes posey declined after he left us but I wonder if some of it didn't have to do with desire. I still think he would have helped more in the long run than house. depth was our biggest obstacle over that stretch.

[GreenWarrior]

Posey showed serious decline after leaving here and only lasted two more years after leaving here his PPG were 5 then then 4.9 it was  8.9 with us.  I think we milked him for all we could get.

we didn't need posey's offense. his ability to defend 3 positions was more valuable than any offense he could have provided.

[slamtheking]

I'd offer that if the C's had a healthy Powe that year, rather than Posey, the C's could have won that title. 

I truly believe if we had a healthy or not in foul trouble big against Orlando we would have at least beat them.

yes posey declined after he left us but I wonder if some of it didn't have to do with desire. I still think he would have helped more in the long run than house. depth was our biggest obstacle over that stretch.

Orlando was the 2009 playoffs.  I was referring to the 2010 run when we got back to the finals.  I do agree that another decent big man would have gotten us past Orlando that year.  Mikki (Don't Come Around Here No) Moore just didn't cut it.

[CapnDunks]

Wasn't West choosing Indiana pre Center-KG? So West turned down a bench role for a starting role? I bet he feels ok about that decision now, but I'm sure he was thinking hard about it during the 2012 ECF.

[SparzWizard]

That lockout summer offseason of 2011....the acquisition of Brandon Bass, Mickael Pietrus, Keyon Dooling, Chris Wilcox, and Greg Stiemsma...lotta depth there.

Had we somehow reacquired James Posey and landed David West...man I could've seen us beat Miami and finished off OKC in the finals. Embrace #18 while the Lakers still cry about their trade deal being blocked for "basketball reasons" hahahahah.

I hate you Injury Gods of Basketball. What did Jeff Green and Chris Wilcox ever do to you 

[slamtheking]

That lockout summer offseason of 2011....the acquisition of Brandon Bass, Mickael Pietrus, Keyon Dooling, Chris Wilcox, and Greg Stiemsma...lotta depth there.

Had we somehow reacquired James Posey and landed David West...man I could've seen us beat Miami and finished off OKC in the finals. Embrace #18 while the Lakers still cry about their trade deal being blocked for "basketball reasons" hahahahah.

I hate you Injury Gods of Basketball. What did Jeff Green and Chris Wilcox ever do to you 

West would have helped.  Posey was washed up before that season - wouldn't have made a difference.

[D.o.s.]

Wasn't West choosing Indiana pre Center-KG? So West turned down a bench role for a starting role? I bet he feels ok about that decision now, but I'm sure he was thinking hard about it during the 2012 ECF.

By his account, he chose Indiana because he thought that they would have a longer (as in amount of time) shot at title contention than Boston.

[Celtics4ever]

we didn't need posey's offense. his ability to defend 3 positions was more valuable than any offense he could have provided.

He made shots when it counted.   Several times he put us over the top in a game.