No Worries From Ainge (Herald Article)

[bucknersrevenge]

so now a 6th man that averages 7ppg decides who wins a title next year simply by picking a team? well hell lets just sign him now and raise our 18th banner.

I didn't realize that ppg was the only way to evaluate a player. Maybe we should get rid of Rondo, too? He only scores 10 ppg and he plays more minutes.

Posey is the kind of player that every title team has. He can defend three positions, he is an agitator, he opens up the floor with his shooting and allows the primary scorers room to operate. Posey is EXACTLY what CLE and LAL need. He would make a difference for them, and losing him would set us back.

But hey, thank heavens we won't have that $7 million on our 2011-2012 cap! That would be crippling! I'm sure someone else will step up and give us what Posey did. Maybe we can bring back Ron Mercer?

were talking about a role player off the bench not a starting pg that leads the team at the point of attack at both ends. yes every team has a player like posey on a championship team. but not one making 6 mil and certainly not making 8mil in the final year of his contract. 8mil is a number reserved for considerable core talent, not roleplayers brought in to support the talent.

sorry not buying the ruse. 1 role player does not decide who wins titles. sure would posey help cleveland and la? sure. posey would help ANY team. but titles are won by talent. buy guys like kg ray allen and paul pierce. sure role players can help make plays and posey is certainly good at that. but championships are won with TALENT.

sure someone could possibly give us what posey did. thats why theyre called roleplsyers. because they fill a ROLE. poseys role was wing defender. surely posey is not the last player in the nba that can play defense on the wing.

[bucknersrevenge]

We can sign Posey, and contend for years, or lose him to CLE or LAL and watch them win the title.

  Just so there's no confusion, Posey wears number 41, not number 5 or 34.

THANK YOU...

[Truth Hurts]

were talking about a role player off the bench not a starting pg that leads the team at the point of attack at both ends. yes every team has a player like posey on a championship team. but not one making 6 mil and certainly not making 8mil in the final year of his contract. 8mil is a number reserved for considerable core talent, not roleplayers brought in to support the talent.

sorry not buying the ruse. 1 role player does not decide who wins titles. sure would posey help cleveland and la? sure. posey would help ANY team. but titles are won by talent. buy guys like kg ray allen and paul pierce. sure role players can help make plays and posey is certainly good at that. but championships are won with TALENT.

sure someone could possibly give us what posey did. thats why theyre called roleplsyers. because they fill a ROLE. poseys role was wing defender. surely posey is not the last player in the nba that can play defense on the wing.

Bruce Bowen makes similar money, and is much older than Posey. Our series against CLE came down the final two minutes of game 7. Would Posey on CLE rather than BOS have made a difference? Maybe. I sure don't want to find out how good CLE will be with Lebron a yr older, and Posey on the squad.

Is Posey a role player? Yes, but a very important one. The 6th man on a contending team is a very important part of the rotation. Posey played 24 minutes/game in the regular season. I think you're really minimizing what he brings to the table. Are there a couple of other similar players in the NBA? Maybe. Are any of them going to be available to us? NO. You're kidding yourself if you don't think Posey would be a big loss. Apparently, Pierce agrees with me. There is absolutely no one available that could fill his shoes right now.

[BCelts]

were talking about a role player off the bench not a starting pg that leads the team at the point of attack at both ends. yes every team has a player like posey on a championship team. but not one making 6 mil and certainly not making 8mil in the final year of his contract. 8mil is a number reserved for considerable core talent, not roleplayers brought in to support the talent.

sorry not buying the ruse. 1 role player does not decide who wins titles. sure would posey help cleveland and la? sure. posey would help ANY team. but titles are won by talent. buy guys like kg ray allen and paul pierce. sure role players can help make plays and posey is certainly good at that. but championships are won with TALENT.

sure someone could possibly give us what posey did. thats why theyre called roleplsyers. because they fill a ROLE. poseys role was wing defender. surely posey is not the last player in the nba that can play defense on the wing.

Bruce Bowen makes similar money, and is much older than Posey. Our series against CLE came down the final two minutes of game 7. Would Posey on CLE rather than BOS have made a difference? Maybe. I sure don't want to find out how good CLE will be with Lebron a yr older, and Posey on the squad.

Is Posey a role player? Yes, but a very important one. The 6th man on a contending team is a very important part of the rotation. Posey played 24 minutes/game in the regular season. I think you're really minimizing what he brings to the table. Are there a couple of other similar players in the NBA? Maybe. Are any of them going to be available to us? NO. You're kidding yourself if you don't think Posey would be a big loss. Apparently, Pierce agrees with me. There is absolutely no one available that could fill his shoes right now.

As always, the truth (no, not PP) is somewhere in between this debate.  Posey's role on this team is very valuable. but not irreplaceable.  However, given the chemestry, his skill set, how he knows the system already, and how he fits in, we should resign him.  I agree with others that ideally we would sign him to a three year full-MLE deal.  However, should we balk at a third year, especially now that Maggette and Petruius (I can't spell, I know) are gone?  No, probably not.  Really, $7.5M for a player that may be declining in four years is not a problem.  Why?  That year he is an expiring contract.  Those are tradeable.  So we have Posey for three years and then have the expiring contract of James Posey to trade in year 4.  Whats not to like?

[Hoops]

Ainge seems to be playing hardball with Posey with zero leverage .  If he doesn't sign Posey that would be a huge loss considering what is left out there.  I'd be highly upset if Ainge compromised the teams chances of repeating by trying to be a hardass.   Posey is worth 4 years at the full MLE and Danny needs to give it to him so he can move on and try to complete the roster.

Let's not forget that until last season, Danny hasn't been all that good with trades and free agents, which scares me right now.

Ainge's primary obligation is not to Posey, it's to the team. Sure, Posey has been valuable and deserves a nice offer, but Danny can't offer so much that it hurts the rest of the team.

Just like people questioned Ainge in the past because they lacked his long term vision, people are questioning him now, again, because they lack his long term vision. Ainge is proving to be a shrewd business man. And at the end of the day, this is a business.

I agree with this.  Although I should say that I don't fault anyone for not having "long-term vision" as a fan.  Fans care about the team winning, and thats it.  While that is also (most) GM's main goal, they also have to take a lot more into consideration....namely, money.  Danny has to be looking down the line how these guys will be effecting the overall pay structure of the team, and how that effects their ability to compete, and reload.  If he does not think that Posey will be worth the money in 3-4 years, then he knows that it would be smart not to make the move.  For a fan, they can say "it is worth it, if they end up winning another championship", but a GM needs to have both the short term and long term plans in mind.

I agree that it's hard to fault a fan for lacking long term vision. However, the existence or lack of long term vision can be seen by contrasting the SA Spurs and the 2006 Miami Heat. As a fan, I think most people would prefer to be in San Antonio's long term run of success. So while I sympathize with the short-term, "win now" outlook of most fans, it's hard to have too much sympathy when the goal is to win now and later.

[Birdbrain]

Posey's value has went from no one offering him the MLE in 2007 to being more valuable then 3 future HOFs in 2008.  Ugh yeah.  Gotta love Red Sox nation.

Posey do yourself a favor and take the 3 years MLE.

[BballTim]

were talking about a role player off the bench not a starting pg that leads the team at the point of attack at both ends. yes every team has a player like posey on a championship team. but not one making 6 mil and certainly not making 8mil in the final year of his contract. 8mil is a number reserved for considerable core talent, not roleplayers brought in to support the talent.

sorry not buying the ruse. 1 role player does not decide who wins titles. sure would posey help cleveland and la? sure. posey would help ANY team. but titles are won by talent. buy guys like kg ray allen and paul pierce. sure role players can help make plays and posey is certainly good at that. but championships are won with TALENT.

sure someone could possibly give us what posey did. thats why theyre called roleplsyers. because they fill a ROLE. poseys role was wing defender. surely posey is not the last player in the nba that can play defense on the wing.

Bruce Bowen makes similar money, and is much older than Posey. Our series against CLE came down the final two minutes of game 7. Would Posey on CLE rather than BOS have made a difference? Maybe. I sure don't want to find out how good CLE will be with Lebron a yr older, and Posey on the squad.

  Bruce Bowen has been a better defender than Posey, has been a full time starter for years, averages over 30 minutes a game every year, and is a $3M-$4M a year player.

[Truth Hurts]

  Bruce Bowen has been a better defender than Posey, has been a full time starter for years, averages over 30 minutes a game every year, and is a $3M-$4M a year player.

Bowen is 37 years old, and has two years left at $4 million/yr. Posey is 31, a better rebounder, a better shooter and has proven his worth on this team already.

So if CLE or LAL or NO offers Posey 4 yrs, and we don't go beyond 3 yrs, and he leaves...who is our 6th man next year?

[bucknersrevenge]

were talking about a role player off the bench not a starting pg that leads the team at the point of attack at both ends. yes every team has a player like posey on a championship team. but not one making 6 mil and certainly not making 8mil in the final year of his contract. 8mil is a number reserved for considerable core talent, not roleplayers brought in to support the talent.

sorry not buying the ruse. 1 role player does not decide who wins titles. sure would posey help cleveland and la? sure. posey would help ANY team. but titles are won by talent. buy guys like kg ray allen and paul pierce. sure role players can help make plays and posey is certainly good at that. but championships are won with TALENT.

sure someone could possibly give us what posey did. thats why theyre called roleplsyers. because they fill a ROLE. poseys role was wing defender. surely posey is not the last player in the nba that can play defense on the wing.

Bruce Bowen makes similar money, and is much older than Posey. Our series against CLE came down the final two minutes of game 7. Would Posey on CLE rather than BOS have made a difference? Maybe. I sure don't want to find out how good CLE will be with Lebron a yr older, and Posey on the squad.

Is Posey a role player? Yes, but a very important one. The 6th man on a contending team is a very important part of the rotation. Posey played 24 minutes/game in the regular season. I think you're really minimizing what he brings to the table. Are there a couple of other similar players in the NBA? Maybe. Are any of them going to be available to us? NO. You're kidding yourself if you don't think Posey would be a big loss. Apparently, Pierce agrees with me. There is absolutely no one available that could fill his shoes right now.

our series against cleveland came down to paul pierce droppin 41 and playing like a man possessed actually. but posey did help...like a good roleplayer should. but if you wanna argue "roleplayer semantics" you could also say the series came down to a great shot by pj brown as well. wanna pay him 6mil too? fine you dont wanna find out how good they would be with him. still...big talent wins championships. top talent. thats how it works.

as for finding another guy who can do what posey did. off the top of my head- devean george. solid wing defender. quinton ross. solid wing defender. there are guys that can do the job. we have a tendency to overvalue our own guys. even moreso now that we won with them so now were emotional about it. but this is a business and sometimes you have to make tough business decisions for the overall betterment of the franchise. as chris said as fans all we care about is winning next year and what happens next year. thats why were not gms and thats why danny is. he has to think longterm.

[bucknersrevenge]

Posey's value has went from no one offering him the MLE in 2007 to being more valuable then 3 future HOFs in 2008.  Ugh yeah.  Gotta love Red Sox nation.

Posey do yourself a favor and take the 3 years MLE.

i still dont think danny has any intention of letting posey sniff the mle. hell do resign with the bird rights option. danny will need the mle to fill a pg spot, a backup center spot, signing bill walker to a 3yr deal, replacing posey with another wing. possibly taking a flyer on a miles type or leaving some money behind to fill the 15th spot again if need be like this last year.

[Chris]

  Bruce Bowen has been a better defender than Posey, has been a full time starter for years, averages over 30 minutes a game every year, and is a $3M-$4M a year player.

Bowen is 37 years old, and has two years left at $4 million/yr. Posey is 31, a better rebounder, a better shooter and has proven his worth on this team already.

So if CLE or LAL or NO offers Posey 4 yrs, and we don't go beyond 3 yrs, and he leaves...who is our 6th man next year?

If Posey agreed to sign for $4 million per year, he would already be signed. 

This is not a good comparison, because Bowen, who is a better player, and more valuable to his team, because of the minutes he plays, has been playing for bargain contracts for his whole career in San Antonio.

[Truth Hurts]

Devean George? Quinton Ross? Are you kidding me? Those guys can't defend three positions like Posey does, are not nearly as tough as Posey, nor do they stretch the floor like Posey.

You can sit here and say "we'll sign a wing defender, we'll sign another 3 point shooter, we'll sign another tough guy..."

You're not going to find one guy who gives you all those things. Even Bowen can't defend power forwards.

Remember, the whole Lakers series turned when Rondo and Perk were hurt and they put Posey and House in and spread the floor with shooters. Again.....there is no one guy available that gives you everything that BGJ does.

[Truth Hurts]

I'm still waiting for one person to tell me who our 6th man is next year if Posey walks...

Maybe we can build a player like Frankenstein, we can put Devean George and Quinton Ross and Matt Barnes together and create one decent player that does everything that BGJ does?

[cordobes]

Devean George? Quinton Ross? Are you kidding me? Those guys can't defend three positions like Posey does, are not nearly as tough as Posey, nor do they stretch the floor like Posey.

You can sit here and say "we'll sign a wing defender, we'll sign another 3 point shooter, we'll sign another tough guy..."

You're not going to find one guy who gives you all those things. Even Bowen can't defend power forwards.

Remember, the whole Lakers series turned when Rondo and Perk were hurt and they put Posey and House in and spread the floor with shooters. Again.....there is no one guy available that gives you everything that BGJ does.

Yeps, that's the point I was going to make. Posey's versatility is a big asset. Ross is probably a better perimeter defender than Posey, but he can't defend PFs, let alone the Dirks of this world and he can't provide the spacing (as he has zero offensive game) or the rebounding. Barnes is a tough guy, who can defend some PFs or big SFs, but he can't defend quicker SFs or guards, nor provide the spacing because he's a poor 3pt shooter. Etc etc etc.

[Chris]

I'm still waiting for one person to tell me who our 6th man is next year if Posey walks...

Actually, plenty of people have given suggestions that you have shot down.  You just have to accept that other people evaluate talent differently, and have different opinions than you.  Just because you don't like a player, does not mean they are a legitimate option.