Anyone else have a terrible feeling that Posey is going to end up in Laker Gold?

[JHTruth]

Three teams can spend more than the MLE this summer, Clippers, Grizzlies, and the Sixers. No way are the Lakers going to blow their wad on Posey. If you're Posey, you schmooze the Celtics hard. This is a terrible market for FA's. Posey would be an idiot to play hardball with the C's. He should go right to Danny's office after midnight and work a deal out. There is no way he finds a better situation where he would be more valued anywhere else..

[celticmaestro]

Let's hope not.  They already have Odom, VladRad, Walton, and Ariza who play small forward, and they're well into the luxury tax.  I'm hoping they're frugal and decline making an offer.

would anyone disagree with me if i said pose was better than all of those? ok, lamar has his moments but he plays no d can't shoot the 3 and is inconsistent. i'll take posey any day.

[nickagneta]

I've got this mental picture of opening night in LA and Posey is at half court giving Bynum, Fisher, Gasol, and Odom hugs and words of encouragement. Then Kobe goes up to Posey and James tries to give him a hug and Kobe responses by kneeing Posey in the cajones and telling him "Homey don't play that!"

Then I wake up, laughing myself silly, realizing the Lakers would never be able to sign James Posey.

[crownsy]

Let's hope not.  They already have Odom, VladRad, Walton, and Ariza who play small forward, and they're well into the luxury tax.  I'm hoping they're frugal and decline making an offer.

would anyone disagree with me if i said pose was better than all of those? ok, lamar has his moments but he plays no d can't shoot the 3 and is inconsistent. i'll take posey any day.

right, and im sure the lakers would too, but thats alot of contract to somehow maneuver.

thier main problem is there in the same boat we are, they can't really make an offer that we can't match.

i could see portalnd making a run, and on a side note, if you were a NBA gm, wouldn't you, ya know, stop trading with portland?

they are absolute money making trades, they have some kind of uncanny ablity to convince teams thier young guys stink and thier proven vetrans with bad contracts are the way to go. for the good of my team, if im a contending team, espeaclly in the west, im turning down any calls from portland on principle  

[Barnabas]

It seems to me that the teams who would value Posey's services are those teams who already have a solid core of star veterans.  And among those teams, only those teams who need a swingman SF/SG.  Posey is not at the level where he should be the second-best, or third-best, player on a playoff bound team.  So which teams fit those criteria?  To my mind, the two most obvious are Boston and LA.  

Both are over the cap.  However, LA has a slight advantage if Posey is simply looking for more money.  LA's core is younger, therefore, they may be willing to sign him up to a longer contract because their contending window, theoretically, is longer.  Another thing is that Posey and the return of Bynum, theoretically, would complete the Laker puzzle.  They can let Turiaf go and not miss him.  They'd miss Vujacic, but Farmar should be adequate.  

The problem for Boston is that keeping Posey won't complete their puzzle.  They can use the MLE on Posey, sign him up for multiples years, and they'd still have a hole to fill at the backup Center.  Heck, you could argue that they'd still need a backup PG!  Having said that, I am leaning towards offering the full MLE to Posey.  And then just sucking it up and paying up some more luxury tax to get a backup Center.  The Celts just may have to make do with Pruitt at the backup PG position, along with Eddie House if he chooses to come back for the min.  

If the Celtics lose Posey, and the Lakers let Vujacic go.  I would encourage Danny to go after Vujacic.  Vujacic can play backup PG, SG, and some SF.  Maybe Giddens can get some small time at SF and play competent defense.  I don't think that would be a bad backup situation, with Powe, House, Vujacic, and a veteran big man (even Pollard would work fine if he can stay healthy).  The Celtics would have a really outstanding three-point shooting bench with House and Vujacic.

[BballTim]

It seems to me that the teams who would value Posey's services are those teams who already have a solid core of star veterans.  And among those teams, only those teams who need a swingman SF/SG.  Posey is not at the level where he should be the second-best, or third-best, player on a playoff bound team.  So which teams fit those criteria?  To my mind, the two most obvious are Boston and LA. 

Both are over the cap.  However, LA has a slight advantage if Posey is simply looking for more money.  LA's core is younger, therefore, they may be willing to sign him up to a longer contract because their contending window, theoretically, is longer.  Another thing is that Posey and the return of Bynum, theoretically, would complete the Laker puzzle.  They can let Turiaf go and not miss him.  They'd miss Vujacic, but Farmar should be adequate. 

  In terms of contending for the title, the Laker's "core" is Kobe, who I think is less than a year younger than Pierce. Their window is about as long as he's a top 5 player. In other words, not much longer than our window if longer at all.

[celticmaestro]

i could see portalnd making a run, and on a side note, if you were a NBA gm, wouldn't you, ya know, stop trading with portland?

they are absolute money making trades, they have some kind of uncanny ablity to convince teams thier young guys stink and thier proven vetrans with bad contracts are the way to go. for the good of my team, if im a contending team, espeaclly in the west, im turning down any calls from portland on principle 

portland are going to be the team to beat very soon. i'd like to think we wont fall off - we most likely will at least for a short period - but when we do, portland will pick up the torch happily. their a dynasty in the making.

[Barnabas]

It seems to me that the teams who would value Posey's services are those teams who already have a solid core of star veterans.  And among those teams, only those teams who need a swingman SF/SG.  Posey is not at the level where he should be the second-best, or third-best, player on a playoff bound team.  So which teams fit those criteria?  To my mind, the two most obvious are Boston and LA. 

Both are over the cap.  However, LA has a slight advantage if Posey is simply looking for more money.  LA's core is younger, therefore, they may be willing to sign him up to a longer contract because their contending window, theoretically, is longer.  Another thing is that Posey and the return of Bynum, theoretically, would complete the Laker puzzle.  They can let Turiaf go and not miss him.  They'd miss Vujacic, but Farmar should be adequate. 

  In terms of contending for the title, the Laker's "core" is Kobe, who I think is less than a year younger than Pierce. Their window is about as long as he's a top 5 player. In other words, not much longer than our window if longer at all.

LA's top four players are under 30.  Of Boston's top four, three are over 30 (that's if you consider Rondo to be fourth-best, and not Posey).  I would think LA would have a longer championship window.  By longer, I meant something in the order of 3 years or so.  But for the purposes of a hypothetical Posey contract, that could be significant, Tim.

[cordobes]

   

Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak recently said he would call Vujacic's agent immediately after free agency begins at 9 p.m. The Lakers also will try to keep Turiaf but are willing to spend more money to bring back Vujacic, who might receive a payday of close to $5 million a year.

    The Lakers will pay almost $5 million in luxury taxes for last season and aren't expected to dip too far into other options if they re-sign Vujacic and Turiaf. The most the team could offer a free agent from another team is the mid-level exception of about $6 million a season.

    "A lot of it's going to depend on the progress we make with Sasha and Ronny," Kupchak said. "I think we feel if we can bring those two players back, and we get Trevor [Ariza] and Andrew [Bynum] back, we'd be happy going into training camp with that group. If we run into a roadblock . . . then we'll have to look in other directions.

    - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nba30-2008jun30,0,5247254.story

Kupchak, the Lakers' general manager, indicated he would rather keep his team intact for next season — getting healthy, re-signing restricted free agents Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf and probably letting his mid-level salary-cap exception go unspent in free agency for budgetary reasons.

"If we did nothing," Kupchak said, "and brought back the players that are our existing free agents, just by virtue of this team aging one more year and getting Trevor (Ariza) and Andrew back, I think we're right back in the hunt."

- OC Register

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kupchak-odom-jackson-2073990-bynum-don

So, answering the question:

No. No team is going to offer Posey more than the MLE. I don't think that  any team will offer him more than a 3 years full-MLE contract. And I'm pretty sure the Lakers aren't one of the teams making offers.

Once again, luxury tax hell is very underrated... Lakers aren't going after anyone if the resign their players.

Just because the lakers may not show up wih the big bucks doesnt mean someone else won't. If someone offers Posey, age 31, 3-4 years at the full MLE we won't match it. We simply can't afford to take the risk that in a year or so he loses his hustle or athleticism. We're already in the hole to KG for 4 more years, and Pierce for 3..as these players age and their game changes we'll need to be able to change with them, and 4 years of posey at the MLE kills that since we've already got over 56 million invested in three guys over 30  as it is.

Posey's future in Boston I think will come down to that third or possibly fourth year at the MLE..Danny I think would be a fool to offer him 4, a bit cavalier to offer him 3, and smart to offer him 2. Posey, probably looking at his last big pay day, has a tough choice to make, because at age 33 or 34, he won't command the MLE again.

I'm aware of that, but the thread was about the Lakers, not other teams.

I don't think any team will offer Posey the 4 year full-MLE and I agree that's too much for Boston. That's the reason I still have hope we can resign him with the non-Bird exception, though the chances are slim.

[BballTim]

It seems to me that the teams who would value Posey's services are those teams who already have a solid core of star veterans.  And among those teams, only those teams who need a swingman SF/SG.  Posey is not at the level where he should be the second-best, or third-best, player on a playoff bound team.  So which teams fit those criteria?  To my mind, the two most obvious are Boston and LA. 

Both are over the cap.  However, LA has a slight advantage if Posey is simply looking for more money.  LA's core is younger, therefore, they may be willing to sign him up to a longer contract because their contending window, theoretically, is longer.  Another thing is that Posey and the return of Bynum, theoretically, would complete the Laker puzzle.  They can let Turiaf go and not miss him.  They'd miss Vujacic, but Farmar should be adequate. 

  In terms of contending for the title, the Laker's "core" is Kobe, who I think is less than a year younger than Pierce. Their window is about as long as he's a top 5 player. In other words, not much longer than our window if longer at all.

LA's top four players are under 30.  Of Boston's top four, three are over 30 (that's if you consider Rondo to be fourth-best, and not Posey).  I would think LA would have a longer championship window.  By longer, I meant something in the order of 3 years or so.  But for the purposes of a hypothetical Posey contract, that could be significant, Tim.

  Kobe turns 30 in about 2 months, and Pierce turned 30 in October. I don't see that as a huge difference in age. And the fact that their other players are younger doesn't mean much since none of them are going to lead the Lakers to a title. I don't see Paul or KG's skills eroding at a much more rapid rate than Kobe's. And why would our window be less than 3 years?

[Who]

If .... the Lakers were wise they'd consider signing a James Posey
If .... the Lakers couldn't trade Odom for a better option they should sign Posey

Never underestimate the complacency of general managers. From all accounts and quotes I've seen from Kupchak since the finals ... he wants to keep the team together and let them play. He likes the idea of Odom at the three.

For those making points about the Lakers luxury tax. That's solvable in 12 months when time if they let Odom walk and Kupchak has already he isn't sure about resigning Odom.

The most important position the Lakers need to fill is small forward and they need a defensive player who can shoot. Posey fits the bill. Their big man situation will look a lot better with a healthy and maturing Andrew Bynum, so that's a secondary need.

  Kobe's a pretty good defender. Adding Posey would be mainly to match up with us. How many teams have 2 great wing players like Paul and Ray? And it's just as important if not more that they upgrade their pg spot as sf (which they have a lot of). What happens if they face NO in the playoffs? If they can't handle Rondo at all, what's Chris Paul going to do to them?

Whoever comes out of the East will have a top small forward with good size. It's either Pierce or LeBron or Rashard/Hedo (I think Detroit have fallen off). They're the top three teams in the East. The Lakers need a top defensive small forward to win the NBA Finals.

You're signing a defensive small forward to beat the team from the East. They can win the West without it but not the title.


The Lakers can still beat New Orleans because Kobe has just as big a matchup advantage over Mo Pete as Paul does on Fisher. Fish also did a great job on Tony Parker in the Conference Finals and a great job on Deron Williams in the second round and a good job on Iverson in the first round. Also Bynum outplayed Tyson before getting hurt. Gasol and West is an intersting matchup .... which brings us back to small forward.

Actually the biggest swing factor for New Orleans-Lakers in the regular season was Peja Stojakovic. The Lakers have no forward with the defensive discipline to stick with him on three pointers and he ended up lighting them up. The Spurs stopped Peja and stopped the Hornets. Defensive small forward has huge benefits for a Hornets matchup.

Hornets are one of the few Western teams were having defensive small forward would give the Lakers a big bump in the matchup.

[nickagneta]

It seems to me that the teams who would value Posey's services are those teams who already have a solid core of star veterans.  And among those teams, only those teams who need a swingman SF/SG.  Posey is not at the level where he should be the second-best, or third-best, player on a playoff bound team.  So which teams fit those criteria?  To my mind, the two most obvious are Boston and LA. 

Both are over the cap.  However, LA has a slight advantage if Posey is simply looking for more money.  LA's core is younger, therefore, they may be willing to sign him up to a longer contract because their contending window, theoretically, is longer.  Another thing is that Posey and the return of Bynum, theoretically, would complete the Laker puzzle.  They can let Turiaf go and not miss him.  They'd miss Vujacic, but Farmar should be adequate. 

  In terms of contending for the title, the Laker's "core" is Kobe, who I think is less than a year younger than Pierce. Their window is about as long as he's a top 5 player. In other words, not much longer than our window if longer at all.

LA's top four players are under 30.  Of Boston's top four, three are over 30 (that's if you consider Rondo to be fourth-best, and not Posey).  I would think LA would have a longer championship window.  By longer, I meant something in the order of 3 years or so.  But for the purposes of a hypothetical Posey contract, that could be significant, Tim.

I have to agree with BBall Tim here. No Kobe no window. It doesn't matter how young Odom is(he won't be there beyond next year), Gasol is(he's so soft I hear he's auditioning to be the new Mr Whipple in the Charmin commercials), or Bynum is(as of yet he hasn't proven he's going to be any better than Perk). Without Kobe that "young core" sucks.

Kobe is 29 now and has a lot of miles on those skinny little legs of his. One bad fall and he'll go from the best player on the planet to the most overrated player on the planet overnight. Have him ask Ray Allen how quick it is to go from 27PPG with good ankles to less than 20 on hurting ankles.

[Triboy16]

no way james posey goes to the lakers. That will be just plain dumb for posey to do at this point of his career.

Ainge needs to just forget about cassell, house, tony allen and concentrate on signing posey to a 4 year 20 million deal. Bid at 3 year 13 million deal , then 4 year 17 and max at 20. Posey can prob get a 4 year 22 million on the free agent market but if he signs for that somewhere else then he should just go for being dumb.

Sign posey to the deal i was talking about above because thats what it will take, then offer house a 2-3 year at 2.5 million per year, then sign allen if you want.

Celts will near 80 million with just the posey, house, draft picks signings. I think the big three should donate a mill each

[Barnabas]

It seems to me that the teams who would value Posey's services are those teams who already have a solid core of star veterans.  And among those teams, only those teams who need a swingman SF/SG.  Posey is not at the level where he should be the second-best, or third-best, player on a playoff bound team.  So which teams fit those criteria?  To my mind, the two most obvious are Boston and LA. 

Both are over the cap.  However, LA has a slight advantage if Posey is simply looking for more money.  LA's core is younger, therefore, they may be willing to sign him up to a longer contract because their contending window, theoretically, is longer.  Another thing is that Posey and the return of Bynum, theoretically, would complete the Laker puzzle.  They can let Turiaf go and not miss him.  They'd miss Vujacic, but Farmar should be adequate. 

  In terms of contending for the title, the Laker's "core" is Kobe, who I think is less than a year younger than Pierce. Their window is about as long as he's a top 5 player. In other words, not much longer than our window if longer at all.

LA's top four players are under 30.  Of Boston's top four, three are over 30 (that's if you consider Rondo to be fourth-best, and not Posey).  I would think LA would have a longer championship window.  By longer, I meant something in the order of 3 years or so.  But for the purposes of a hypothetical Posey contract, that could be significant, Tim.

I have to agree with BBall Tim here. No Kobe no window. It doesn't matter how young Odom is(he won't be there beyond next year), Gasol is(he's so soft I hear he's auditioning to be the new Mr Whipple in the Charmin commercials), or Bynum is(as of yet he hasn't proven he's going to be any better than Perk). Without Kobe that "young core" sucks.

Kobe is 29 now and has a lot of miles on those skinny little legs of his. One bad fall and he'll go from the best player on the planet to the most overrated player on the planet overnight. Have him ask Ray Allen how quick it is to go from 27PPG with good ankles to less than 20 on hurting ankles.

Well guys, we'll just have to disagree on this one.  In my opinion, the Lakers have a longer window of not more than 3 years, but certainly atleast one more season on the Celtics.  

As to the main topic, given the information posted by cordobes, it seems the Lakers are more intent on keeping their team intact.  They may not be interested in Posey, as some of us (including me) are assuming.  Bynum, if he progresses nicely, should answer a lot of their issue with "softness".

[LarBrd33]

I can see Artest going to the Lakers before I see Posey going.