Quick blurb on 'toughness', 'intimidation', and our friend James Posey

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Sep 4, 2007 10:25 PM CDT in News

I wrote the following for uber-blogger FLCeltsFan's site (she contributes to a ton of other Celtics blogs as well) for a piece she's doing on new Celtic James Posey.

(I'm guessing it'll post sometime this week, but I always say whenever I write basketball it goes to this site first. Ok, I've never said that, and it's not even true most of the time.)

James Posey just seems to have it out for the Bulls. I'm not aware of any repeated incidents he's had with other teams, but with the Bulls there are at least 3 acts of on-court thuggery:

2006 playoffs: hipchecking Kirk Hinrich
06-07 opening night: breaking Tyrus Thomas' nose
06-07 midseason: clobbering Luol Deng midair

Only the Thomas play could be considered borderline clean, the others were outright dirty. And enough of those get you labled a dirty player.

Such incidents can be written off (and even celebrated) as providing 'toughness' or 'intimidation' that benefits his own team, but I find such byproducts miniscule to non-existent. A far more tangible effect are the negative consequences through the flagrant foul penalties and suspensions. Posey is a decent player, so having him out of the game likely isn't worth whatever 'message' he was trying to send across.

And besides, the Bulls won each of those games, and were so scared and intimidated of James Posey and the Heat that they proceeeded to throttle them in a 4-game sweep in the 2007 playoffs.

Do those results have a lot to do with James Posey? Not really, it's a healthy Wade and Shaq that drove that Heat squad, as a healthy Garnett/Allen/Pierce will for the Celtics. But if Posey continues his antics, it won't lead to a brand of toughness for your team, it'll just mean one less available bench player for a team that needs all they can get.

Posey sucks,

-Matt

I do think Posey is a quality signing, but after reading some semi-fawning over whatever intangible toughness he brings, I'm glad I had the opportunity to shoot it down.

Remember way back when reaction to him reached a fever pitch, cooler heads maintained that there was no need for violent retaliation. And after no such retaliation took place, a 4-game sweep of his team turned out to be enough.

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Comments

As the lone Bulls/Heat fan...

...one thing I'll say in favor of Posey is that he's not afraid to take the big shot, and, much more important, he often makes them.

That said, he hasn't played a single game for the Celtics yet, and he's already been suspended. Also, his reputation as a defensive stopper is unwarranted. (See Deng, Luol.) He's a good team defender, but one-on-one? Not so much.

Finally, his offensive game is non-existent, outside of hitting the spot up three. It's not like the Heat are loaded at small forward, and they still chose not to re-sign him. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

by BenGo07 on Sep 5, 2007 1:09 AM CDT reply actions

who is going to play small forward for the heat?

The Heat haven't done much this off-season except help Mark Bartelstein get more money for Mo Williams.

And The celtics should have grabbed Ruben Patterson for a year, as long as they don't mind registered sex offenders.

by KT on Sep 5, 2007 6:44 AM CDT up reply actions

Bulls/Heat fan?

At least your wardrobe has color consistency.

-- Happiness is watching Detroit lose.

by Jimslam on Sep 5, 2007 8:09 AM CDT up reply actions

Celtic Kool Aid

When I first saw the report of the Celtics getting Posey I was bummed. He does bring toughness and that will help the Celts but when I saw that it cost Boston the remainder of their mid-cap exemption I was relieved.
Posey can only play the 3 and he's an average defender at best. That means he will be a backup for Allen & Pierce. If the're healthy he will only play about 15 -18 mins/game and if either of them are injured he can't be expected to play more than 25 minutes.
Boston still has a starting point guard who can't shoot and is a poor defender and no quality backup. They have no real help for Garnett at the 4 & 5. And now all they can offer is the veteran minimum.

If the big 3 are healthy for the playoffs they will be a tough draw but I don't see them winning more than 50 games max. I would place the over/under at 47.5.

Ye OldeBull

by OldeBull on Sep 5, 2007 10:24 AM CDT reply actions

OT

This Summer is going by way to slowly. At least training camp opens up fairly soon.

by Option27 on Sep 5, 2007 11:40 AM CDT reply actions

even slower than that...

Pushing comments to the right for a while now!!!-------------------->

by bullshooter on Sep 5, 2007 3:50 PM CDT up reply actions

Not if you live in Europe...

and like Basketball in general (not only NBA) :-)

The Game chose him !

by Diabolo on Sep 6, 2007 2:49 AM CDT up reply actions

I'm jealous

I tried to enjoy the FIBA Americas tournament, but I got so sick of hearing last year's "poor showing" at the Worlds on Kirk and Chris Paul, and the constant fawning over Kobe and Lebron. [And no, I don't care if any of it is true or valid, I'm still sick of it!:)]

At least football kicks off in seriousness tonight to fill up the rest of the time till basketball.

"They had me do a psychology test and I asked Coach Skiles if that affected his coaching. He laughed and said, `No way.'" (Joakim Noah)

by wjb1492 on Sep 6, 2007 9:05 AM CDT up reply actions