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
I completely agree with both of you. Yeah, I liked Eddie House a lot, but at the same time, his weaknesses were rather glaring - he was too small to defend sgs, yet not quick enough to guard pgs, and he could pass a little, but couldn't handle the ball to save his life. Yikes
Still, when he got it going, which was often, he would flat out torch the opposition, but that is something that could have been more easily replaced, imo.
As for Posey, I really don't need to say anything more. His leadership, defense, versatility (on both ends), hustle (I loved how he'd dive on the floor and out of bounds. The guy was like a walking TP
), willingness to do the dirty work (along with Leon), and ability to make huge shots are not skills that you can ever replace. He was our Robert Horry, our Michael Cooper, our glue guy. Thanks Danny (sarcasm)!
For example, let's compare him to Ainge's replacement for Posey - Marquis Daniels. 'Quis was great when he was here. He was a great defender, versatile like Posey on both ends, another ball handler, passer, but he couldn't shoot at all, although his post game was great imo. The other thing that really hurt us was the fact that he was injury prone, but when he could play, he was great.
Here's what I would have done in the 08 offseason, starting with the draft - 1). select Deandre Jordan. 2). Sign James Posey, who should have been our biggest priority. Ugh. 3). This is where I'm going rogue lol. Okay, you know how Pierce and KG talked to PJ Brown during All Star weekend and convinced him to come out of retirement? Why not also do the same for Stephon Marbury, who had an ETO? That's tampering, though, right? Eh, the Knicks were trying to rid themselves of him anyway in their bid to clear all of that cap room for Lebron, so why not help them and ourselves in one move - Marbury opts out (yeah, I know. He likely wouldn't walk away from all of that cash, but it's worth a shot to me, anyway.), and we sign and trade Eddie House and Scal to the Knicks. If not House, then just Scalabrine. Why? Because his contract expired after the 09-10 season. Checkmate
In the likely event that that never happens, however, why not sign and trade Eddie House to the Magic for Keyon Dooling, who was signed and traded to the Nets anyway. Keyon was an excellent defender with good size, and would have, in Marbury's absence (sorry, I just really wanted that guy on our bench behind Rondo and Ray. That would have been the best 3 guard rotation since the bad boys, imo.), been the perfect backup point guard for Rondo, which was another thing Ainge never seemed to find after 08. Like Posey, Dooling's locker room presence and leadership would have been great to have, and even though he sucked during the regular season when he was here, Keyon really did make some big shots and play excellent defense in that run to the ECF, especially in Bradley's absence. 4). Continuing with going rogue
here's one out of nowhere - with Dooling and Posey already in tow, we'd still need another wing. Someone who can shoot, defend, play a couple of positions, etc., and that guy is Alan Anderson. I'd never even heard of him prior to this past year, but he was big for the Nets off their bench. The guy is like Marquis Daniels with a jump shot, and he's not injury prone. He can post up, shoot, pass, take it to the basket, finish with either hand, and create his own shot. What's not to like? 5). Birdman. Need I say more? 6). Jannero Pargo, anyone, as insurance? He can defend, shoot, handle, and, like House, fill it up in a hurry, even though he's not really a point guard. I'd also have looked into Bonzi Wells.
Thoughts? I know, I know - Scal was untouchable (sarcasm)
I also greatly preferred Leon over Baby, but I also think that Brandon Bass would have been a way better player for us had we signed him after 2009 and traded Davis and Perk for something (preferably a draft pick, but I don't think that anyone would have been that dumb lol.). Their respective values were never higher than after the 2009 playoffs, and we might have been able to get something great for our future, like the 2010 Knicks pick that Utah had. I know that they already had Millsap, but they desperately needed a great post defender to counter Bynum and Gasol. Plus, Boozer was going to become a free agent, so they needed to win that year. Put Perk next to Boozer and have Okur coming off the bench. Now there's a tough out for the Lakers, imo.
Topic: In Hindsight, Could Re-Signing James Posey Have Ultimately Yielded David West? (Read 14902 times)