WEEI: Unnamed team willing to offer Posey 4th year

[Roy Hobbs]

Very disloyal and arrogant behavior of Posey, if you ask me.

What loyalty do you want Posey to have?  If he'd come back on his option, and then had had a season-ending injury in his first game, do you think the Celtics would have offered him a MLE contract extension, out of "loyalty"?  Of course not; they'd make a business decision.  Posey is just making a similar business decision for himself.

So sure, Posey isn't loyal to the franchise that he's played for for one season on a below-market contract.  Why would you expect otherwise?

[BCelts]

Bonzi Wells - Have you watched a basketball game in the past two years?  Wells has regressed badly and has a reputation of being in bad shape/a cancer.

Someone will say "KG will light him up and make him behave".

Matt Barnes - Tweener PF/SF whose slow feet makes him a poor defensive player.

Someone will say "he'd do better in Thib's system".

You are right that someone will say that.  However, there is no way that this team should take that risk while in pursuit of 18.  Why risk destryong great team chemestry on proven cancers?  Why take risks on guys that might not fit?  The defending champs say "no thanks."

[P2]

Very disloyal and arrogant behavior of Posey, if you ask me.

What loyalty do you want Posey to have?  If he'd come back on his option, and then had had a season-ending injury in his first game, do you think the Celtics would have offered him a MLE contract extension, out of "loyalty"?  Of course not; they'd make a business decision.  Posey is just making a similar business decision for himself.

So sure, Posey isn't loyal to the franchise that he's played for for one season on a below-market contract.  Why would you expect otherwise?

All our transactions depend on Posey, but you only would expect that from a superstar, not a 6th man. Posey can single-handedly break this franchise by dragging this process out and then signing with another team, while other free agents will have signed already. That would be the worst case scenario, of course. If we agree to his terms, we will also not have enough money to sign other good players, and most likely we won't agree. So ultimately, Posey makes our team worse for next season in every single case.

[BballTim]

Very disloyal and arrogant behavior of Posey, if you ask me.

What loyalty do you want Posey to have?  If he'd come back on his option, and then had had a season-ending injury in his first game, do you think the Celtics would have offered him a MLE contract extension, out of "loyalty"?  Of course not; they'd make a business decision.  Posey is just making a similar business decision for himself.

So sure, Posey isn't loyal to the franchise that he's played for for one season on a below-market contract.  Why would you expect otherwise?

All our transactions depend on Posey, but you only would expect that from a superstar, not a 6th man. Posey can single-handedly break this franchise by dragging this process out and then signing with another team, while other free agents will have signed already. That would be the worst case scenario, of course. If we agree to his terms, we will also not have enough money to sign other good players, and most likely we won't agree. So ultimately, Posey makes our team worse for next season in every single case.

  Posey can't singlehandedly break this franchise because he's not that important. Worst case Posey leaves, we sign another backup center, we back up Pierce with Tony Allen, we re-sign House and we still win 60+ games.

[Sweet17]

^^^ No one thought Posey had the stuff BEFORE last year. He came through for us - but he wasn't thought of as special player. And he certainly doesn't have a reputation for quick feet. If anything Barnes is the better athlete.

[cordobes]

^^^ No one thought Posey had the stuff BEFORE last year. He came through for us - but he wasn't thought of as special player. And he certainly doesn't have a reputation for quick feet. If anything Barnes is the better athlete.

Memphis and Miami fans beg to disagree. Posey was instrumental in two NBA finals already. Without Posey shutting down Dirk, without his clutch steal and basket against the Bulls, without his 3s against Detroit, Miami would never won that championship.

There wouldn't be a banner in Miami without Posey's timely perimeter bombs and scrappy defense. The idea that he wasn't thought of as special player before last season is a fantasy.

"The biggest plays of the game was when Wade found Posey" - Pat Rilley, after winning the NBA Championship

[goCeltics]

Marc Spears says teams are trying to clear salary to reduce luxury tax they'll owe before offering posey $$$.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/07/12/celtics_get_their_big/

Also note that apparently in an other report the Knicks were interested in Wally world, putting two and two together, if the cavs can dump some $$$ on the Knicks they may be more willing to offer posey more

Presumably, though, wouldn't the Cavs have to bring back nearly equal salary in any deal?

I love the idea of the Cavs wasting one of their few trade chips, though.  While people overestimate the value of expiring contracts, in this case those contracts are really the only hope the Cavs have of improving in the foreseeable future.  If they would like to cash those in to make a run at Posey, more power to them.

i was thinking zack randolph goes to the clips, with cleveland sending wally world + extras to ny, something like that. Or clevland sending salary with picks to a team with an trade exception like how the 76ers did. 

[Roy Hobbs]

Marc Spears says teams are trying to clear salary to reduce luxury tax they'll owe before offering posey $$$.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/07/12/celtics_get_their_big/

Also note that apparently in an other report the Knicks were interested in Wally world, putting two and two together, if the cavs can dump some $$$ on the Knicks they may be more willing to offer posey more

Presumably, though, wouldn't the Cavs have to bring back nearly equal salary in any deal?

I love the idea of the Cavs wasting one of their few trade chips, though.  While people overestimate the value of expiring contracts, in this case those contracts are really the only hope the Cavs have of improving in the foreseeable future.  If they would like to cash those in to make a run at Posey, more power to them.

i was thinking zack randolph goes to the clips, with cleveland sending wally world + extras to ny, something like that. Or clevland sending salary with picks to a team with an trade exception like how the 76ers did. 

My thoughts on those proposals:

1) The Knicks would be better off just clearing the cap space, rather than taking back Wally in a deal.  Also, I think Cleveland wants to hold onto that contract, because they know that trading will be their easiest shot to improve

2) That would work for a small amount of salary (like in the case of the Philly deal), but Cleveland has to clear a major amount of money.  I don't think a draft pick or two is worth taking on $8 - $10 million in salary (especially when draft picks are usually sold on draft night.)

[hwangjini_1]

Very disloyal and arrogant behavior of Posey, if you ask me.

What loyalty do you want Posey to have?  If he'd come back on his option, and then had had a season-ending injury in his first game, do you think the Celtics would have offered him a MLE contract extension, out of "loyalty"?  Of course not; they'd make a business decision.  Posey is just making a similar business decision for himself.

So sure, Posey isn't loyal to the franchise that he's played for for one season on a below-market contract.  Why would you expect otherwise?

All our transactions depend on Posey, but you only would expect that from a superstar, not a 6th man. Posey can single-handedly break this franchise by dragging this process out and then signing with another team, while other free agents will have signed already. That would be the worst case scenario, of course. If we agree to his terms, we will also not have enough money to sign other good players, and most likely we won't agree. So ultimately, Posey makes our team worse for next season in every single case.

  Posey can't singlehandedly break this franchise because he's not that important. Worst case Posey leaves, we sign another backup center, we back up Pierce with Tony Allen, we re-sign House and we still win 60+ games.

that sounds about right. plus, giddens or walker will probably get more playing time during those many blowouts.

[goCeltics]

Marc Spears says teams are trying to clear salary to reduce luxury tax they'll owe before offering posey $$$.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/07/12/celtics_get_their_big/

Also note that apparently in an other report the Knicks were interested in Wally world, putting two and two together, if the cavs can dump some $$$ on the Knicks they may be more willing to offer posey more

Presumably, though, wouldn't the Cavs have to bring back nearly equal salary in any deal?

I love the idea of the Cavs wasting one of their few trade chips, though.  While people overestimate the value of expiring contracts, in this case those contracts are really the only hope the Cavs have of improving in the foreseeable future.  If they would like to cash those in to make a run at Posey, more power to them.

i was thinking zack randolph goes to the clips, with cleveland sending wally world + extras to ny, something like that. Or clevland sending salary with picks to a team with an trade exception like how the 76ers did. 

My thoughts on those proposals:

1) The Knicks would be better off just clearing the cap space, rather than taking back Wally in a deal.  Also, I think Cleveland wants to hold onto that contract, because they know that trading will be their easiest shot to improve

2) That would work for a small amount of salary (like in the case of the Philly deal), but Cleveland has to clear a major amount of money.  I don't think a draft pick or two is worth taking on $8 - $10 million in salary (especially when draft picks are usually sold on draft night.)

I took the report from spears to mean that teams may only be wanting to reduce their luxury tax liability for this year, not eliminate it, it's all spec, they may only be looking to do a deal where they clear as 'little' as 3-4 mill off the payroll before offering Posey big $$$.

I agree about knicks being better off just dumping zachs contract, however donnie walsh and the knicks don't think so from what I can gather from reports, they might not mind wally worlds salary so much since they make so much anyways, and it gives an expiring salary to deal and to pick up salary later on if a miracle does happen and they are half decent.

[Surferdad]

Very disloyal and arrogant behavior of Posey, if you ask me.

What loyalty do you want Posey to have?  If he'd come back on his option, and then had had a season-ending injury in his first game, do you think the Celtics would have offered him a MLE contract extension, out of "loyalty"?  Of course not; they'd make a business decision.  Posey is just making a similar business decision for himself.

So sure, Posey isn't loyal to the franchise that he's played for for one season on a below-market contract.  Why would you expect otherwise?

All our transactions depend on Posey, but you only would expect that from a superstar, not a 6th man. Posey can single-handedly break this franchise by dragging this process out and then signing with another team, while other free agents will have signed already. That would be the worst case scenario, of course. If we agree to his terms, we will also not have enough money to sign other good players, and most likely we won't agree. So ultimately, Posey makes our team worse for next season in every single case.

  Posey can't singlehandedly break this franchise because he's not that important. Worst case Posey leaves, we sign another backup center, we back up Pierce with Tony Allen, we re-sign House and we still win 60+ games.

Definitely agree.  Even though I feel resigning Posey is the top priority, not resigning him is not the end of the world.  Posey is not a superstar.  As far as the loyalty thing, I agree with Roy here.  I do not understand why some people feel Posey needs to be "loyal" to the Celtics.  He has a chance at a big payday after helping two teams win championships on relatively cheap money.  I can't blame him for that.  Athletes only have this kind of earning power for a short period of time.  Of course I want Posey in green and I certainly do not want to see him on an opposing squad guarding Paul Pierce (mark my words), but he respect his right to earn a living.

[goCeltics]

Marc Stein on Posey

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=FA-News-080712

James Posey remains the most coveted unrestricted free agent still on the market and New Orleans is being increasingly described as perhaps the biggest threat to Boston keeping him.



The champs are said to be reluctant to offer the 31-year-old a deal longer than three years starting at the $5.6 million midlevel exception, but the Celtics are bracing for a difficult decision depending on how high rival suitors are willing to bid and given Posey's immeasurable contributions to their title run.

Getting Posey would be a huge coup for the Hornets, who are desperate to fortify their thin bench and import a glue guy knows how to win, as Posey has proven in Miami and Boston.



Washington is highly interested as well, but the Wizards have to find a way to shed a salary or two to have the financial flexibility to make a representative bid.

and

You haven't heard much about the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency so far -- and at least one source close to the process believes they're out of the Posey running even though he's an Ohio native

[wdleehi]

I can see why NO would be desirable.   Good team.  Paul will get you alot of looks.



Don't think DC would be high on the list. 






I don't see NO going for the extra year.  I just don't believe that owner will be willing to pay more then other teams. 

[Who]

I don't see NO going for the extra year.  I just don't believe that owner will be willing to pay more then other teams. 

• Outbidding everyone for Peja
• Taking on Chandler's contract instead of letting PJ expire
• Or when he outbid everyone for Rasual Butler?
• Or when he outbid Utah for Mo Peterson a year ago?
• Or taking back another year of the MLE on Mike James' contract in order to get Bonzi Wells?

Still no?

Their owner has been good about handing out paychecks over the past few years. Feels like his past reputation has become outdated to me.

[winsomme]

I don't see NO going for the extra year.  I just don't believe that owner will be willing to pay more then other teams. 

• Outbidding everyone for Peja
• Taking on Chandler's contract instead of letting PJ expire
• Or when he outbid everyone for Rasual Butler?
• Or when he outbid Utah for Mo Peterson a year ago?
• Or taking back another year of the MLE on Mike James' contract in order to get Bonzi Wells?

Still no?

Their owner has been good about handing out paychecks over the past few years. Feels like his past reputation has become outdated to me.

giving away that first round draft pick for cash was REALLY bad. especially in a deep draft where the team had needs that definitely could have been addressed....