Should we have resigned James Posey?

[Allanon]

In reality Lebron is a BIG 6'8' and TA is a smaller 6'4". He was 6'2.5" at the combine thing..

LeBron said he's 6'9 260 now. I've also heard Cavs fans say he's bigger than Ben Wallace now.

[billfromBoston]

The only time LeBron uses his size to any effect is after he's beaten his man on the dribble from the perimeter - his shot is consistently good enough to obsess about the height of the defender on him and he'll almost never go into the post and do anything other than shoot a turn-around or face-up, back-out, and go ISO...

The idea that this team NEEDS a 3/4 because LeBron is alive and well in the East is nonsense IMO - It was team defense, not man defense, that gave LeBron the most problems last year - Posey was actually pretty terrible against both Bron and Kobe when he got left in space - because of that footspeed someone alluded to earlier.

Pierce/Ray/TA/Scal is enough versatility in terms of looks to cover the assignment - the team isn't going to add another wing to this team with so many currently on the roster - maybe they do, but I'm thinking its unlikely they would acquire one with Bill Walker, Giddens, TA all young and developing and House, Ray, Pierce all playing in the rotation - who are they going to get and for whom?

The team has shown every indication that their primary interest is in finding a legit backup center, so the notion that there is a pressing need for a SF with length is in direct contradiction to all the rumors that have suggested otherwise.

People romanticize Posey too much - the bench was JUST as inconsistent offensively last year as Posey was not a very productive offensive player by volume - he was clutch, but not consistent in terms of putting up points.

The defense of the bench was good, but so is the defense of this year's bench. Eddie House has started rounding back into form and i'd argue that he is just as clutch with his 3 point shooting as Posey - and has proven it over the past week as well as during last year's finals.

TA is scoring more consistently than Posey did last year, has had some big games where he was the difference, and is getting more consistent as the weeks go by. His slashing creates more problems for the defense than Posey's 3's, and complements House's 3's very nicely.

The biggest thing missing from the bench is a consistent plan of attack. They don't run Pick-and-Roll with Powe hardly at all - at least not a real P&R where the ball-handler actually passes. TA doesn't get a ton of motion run for him and is usually attacking of spot-up and P&R where he is the ball-handler, which is not consistently effective for getting him going toward the basket.

My biggest pet peeve is the lack of consistent post touches for Powe when he is in the game. The team has almost completely eliminated P&R with him, which he was extremely effective in. Now, he is getting between 3-5 post touches on average, which is absolutely no way to establish a rhythm on the block. He is basically given the ball until he misses one and then its over and back to jump shots.

The bench has been far too reliant on whichever of the Big 3 is out on the court with them, instead of finding ways to establish their top 3 bench player's games and have them play off each other. Powe/TA/House complement each other so nicely, but they need to use those skills to work the defense and exploit it - I think they will before the season is over though as there have been signs over the past 3-4 games.

[GuyClinch]

LeBron said he's 6'9 260 now. I've also heard Cavs fans say he's bigger than Ben Wallace now.

I believe it. Like i said you can talk about on paper matchups but if you watch Lebron he is a guy who could easily play PF in the NBA. Maybe if he grew a crazy fro people would start talking about him as a center.

I really like TA. . He is the kinda athlete that Bill Belichick could "coach up" into a fantastic big NFL corner... But he has no business guarding NBA PFs.

Pete

[GuyClinch]

he'll almost never go into the post and do anything other than shoot a turn-around or face-up, back-out, and go ISO...

But in the playoffs the coaches might actually game plan some and exploit such a ridiculous matchup. You can be OKAY in the post and dominate tiny dudes. It happens all the time in the NBA. It is the NBA. Post moves are not some great mystery for these guys. Many post moves are very simliar to face up moves after an intial pivot..

[MVP16]

GuyClinch, you are talking like TA is going to cover Lebron for 40 minutes a night. If Ray plays as well against Cleveland as he is playing now, then Ray/Pierce will both play over 40 minutes a night and Pierce will have to be the one guarding Lebron anyway. TA will only be matched up against Lebron for maybe 6-10 minutes. We gave Posey a lot of help on the perimeter because Lebron could easily blow by him, but in this instance we'll not have to give as much help to TA on the perimeter, but rather more help in the post.

It's going to be virtually impossible to get someone who would do a better job defensively against Lebron then TA and at the same time not be a liability offensively. The better hope is that Ray Allen(scoring) and Rajon Rondo(creating) can take a lot of the offensive load away from Pierce and Pierce can focus more on containing Lebron. He did by far the best job defensively on Lebron last year and there are very few in the league who can defend Lebron better IMO.

[Datruth345]

no it would not have been in our long term interests to have posey & his contract on our books
Posey would have been great this year and possibly next
but that wasn;t feasible as he wanted a deal that was too big and too long
i'm glad danny realized this, and didnt make the "sentimental" mistake