Hate to say this but I have a feeling that the Hornets are going to get him. He’s a great fit for their system and like Stein mentions above, they need a bench player. Here’s to the O’Bryant era.

Steady, steady….Have some faith in Danny. The OBryant deal onlymakes sense to most of us when we add it all up so there is much to ponder here. If we gvie the whole MLE to Posey then there is nothing really to offer E House. One move impacts other moves and Danny has earned our faith….Steady, steady

Then why give O’Bryant $3 million over 2 years, particularly considering the salary cap implications? With the O’Bryant move in mind, if we lose Posey due to the unwillingness of management to provide him with a 4th year, I’m going to be sick.

Our bench is horrible right now, we need some vets.

You are not the only one who’s going to be sick – and furious. One year and NBA pocket change isn’t a legitimate reason to visibly weaken an already weakened bench.

O’Blount and then Posey to NO is an abject disaster.

The more I see this working itself out the more I think that the Lakers will get Artest and we’ll lose Posey which could be the difference come June ’09.

It really all comes down to $$ for Posey? I think he has to consider what the likelihood would be of winning where ever he goes. Is N.O. poised to win it? Certainly they could, but you have to call them an outside shot over the Lakers and Jazz in the West. We hold the cards for another banner in the East so far, with Cleveland lurking close behind.

Then is winning the important thing or are we back to money? 8)

Hold the line. No need to give a 31 year old bench player the full MLE for four years. It’s not a “few” dollars. You have to factor in the luxury tax and consider comparative worth. The bottom line – Posey is getting his payday even if he only takes the MLE for three years.

Hornets have a good young team, Posey could really help them out.

Ask Pierce, Allen and KG what that “31 year old bench player” means to the team. In my opinion, I’d rather give the money to Posey, a proven core player on a championship team. O’Bryant’s $3 million gets you half way there for a 4th year. Not to mention that, barring injuries, Posey could be traded in the 3rd or 4th year of his contract. Just doesn’t make sense to skimp on a glue guy like Posey, and then take a flyer on a stiff like O’Bryant for essentially double the league minimum. Posey’s defense, energy, and versatility were critical ingredients to the team’s success, and it would be a shame to lose him for a lousy 1 year’s MLE salary.

Just doesn’t make sense to skimp on a glue guy like Posey, and then take a flyer on a stiff like O’Bryant for essentially double the league minimum

Has this been confirmed? That O’Bryant is really getting more than the minimum?

Meant to italicize the first half of the last post.

Sure. No one is denying that Posey played a big part in the championship run. But there is a limit to what his contributions are worth. 3 years at the MLE is more than enough compensation. Why are fans acting like the Celtics are skimping Posey? They are offering a significant pay raise for three years when in the second/third year of the contract, his skills will be in decline.

Totally disagree. C’s got him on the (extreme) cheap last year, in part as a result of the DUI charge. As to your other question, that is what Marc Spears reported yesterday.

don’t let the hornets steal this guy.

GIVE THE MAN HIS MONEY!!

Let’s hope you’re right.

I’ll be shocked if the Hornets sign another swingman to a four year full MLE FA deal, after giving Mo Pete one last year. Signing Posey means that the Hornets will be LuxTax payers in 2010 for sure, when CP3s max extension kicks in.

I don’t think the Hornets have enough revenue to support this kind of spending.

I’d love to have Posey back, especially for a three year deal. But a number of folks on this site are getting carried away with the guy.

It reminds of the fans who wents nuts in 1984 when Red traded off Gerald Henderson for a future draft choice that turned into Len Bias, besides smartly opening up more playing time for Ainge. For weeks all we heard was how disloyal the Celtics had been to an indispensable guy who won had them a championship and yaddy, yaddy, yaddy.

THIS IS ALL POSTURING…

Posey will be a Celtic, guaranteed. Ainge is going to give him 3 years full MLE, but the wait is to see if another team will offer the 4th year… if they do, we match.

Nobody will though.

I want Posey has much as the next guy but I can’t believe the crap Ainge is getting for wanting to plan a little down the road. That’s his job too. He knows in 3 or 4 years he will need some payroll flexibility. Some people automatically think it’s a given we will suck and be rebuilding so Posey’s salary won’t matter. I disagree. I think Ainge doesn’t plan on going back to the lottery again. Most of the time lottery teams stay lottery teams for a long time. All that said, I think Posey stays in Celtic Green when the dust settles.

rickyfan3.0 and no kidding are right. 3 years at full MLE is good money for a good player. Spending stupidly against the tax leads to NY Knicks hell. Ainge built the bench cheaply last year and he can re-load if Posey heads elsewhere. No one wants that but we “capped” ourselves via the Ray and KG salaries. The salary rules are too complex for me (and I can tell)for most other bloggers to grasp but I’m convinced that if we keep Posey be it for 3 or 4 years or if we lose him it will have been thought out well by Danny.

What nonsense this Posey/NO thing is. George Shinn, who owns the Hornets is basically another Sterling. There is no chance they go four years Full MLE and into the luxury tax for a guy like Posey. Just more nonsense leaked by the Posey camp to try to get the Celtics to add the 4th year. Just hold steady, the Hornets will not blow their wad on Posey..

It took Danny four years to get the team out of the salry bind they were in when he came here. He knows how hard that is to do. Go three years and no more.

Very dumb move to not sign Posey for 4yrs With Posey we have a decent shot at 2 more rings in those 4 yrs. Without them, then the big 3 $60M window has some cheap window dressing and you get what you deserve.

Dumb, dumb, dumb to play hardball and lowball Posey. Miami figured that out last year, I guess Danny’s turn this year.

Having Posey around wouldn’t have meant beans to Miami last season. They knew it, and made their offer accordingly.

As for all this business of low-balling Posey, three years at some $20 million sounds like pretty good beans. May the same fate befall me, and may I never recover.

Oh, and he gets a chance to compete for one to three titles. Yeah, that’s a bad offer.

Cfan, Ainge inherited a team with one lousy contract, in Baker’s, and luckily for the Cs, Vin drank his way to a buyout at 1/3 the contract’s value.

The rest of the “salary bind” you mentioned was from DA taking on gimpy Raef’s huge deal in the Toine trade, and giving Mark Blount a rather rich extension.

I guess Ubuntu ends when Wyc’s money is involved. This low-balling of Posey is a disgrace and will only serve to alienate future FA’s. Wasn’t it Ainge who claimed he got fleeced by Mark Blount as part of a larger effort to show the league how well the team treats its own? Now a month off a title and we’re jerking around our 6th man, our other key veteran bench player (House) and our top draft pick, while “in Danny we trust” navel-gazes to sweet dreams of Corey Maggette (not to mention “free agents lined up around the block”). Fantastic, Patrick O’Bryan now has a bench to sit on. Way to go. My Celtics Pride is swelling up at the thought of those marginal cap savings in 2011/12.

Posey has to take a shot at a big contract, it’s his last shot at the big money…if he doesn’t get four years from a contender he’ll be back…end of story..

Gosh, Clint. I guess the honeymoon’s over with that darn old Wyc and Ainge.

Well, if O’Blount is all we’ve got for a big inside and Posey walks over a year on a contract at pennies, NBA style, then the questions about the honeymoon are fair.

I urge caution to everyone. About a year ago, I remember somebody working themselves into such a lather that he announced his rooting allegiances would henceforth be transferred to the Toronto Raptors. He’s been teased about it ever since.

The Cs must think that Clifford Ray can work with O’Bryant and
make him a serviceable back up for Perk. If PJ Brown can play
when he is 39, why can’t Posey play when he is 35? Give him some of Scal’s money.

Posey is probably going to play well into that 4th year anyway. Wasn’t PJ something like 39 and KG went knocking on his door; he contributed.
Risk-reward. We lose Posey and our bench falters in quest to get #18, we are back overpaying someone else next year to try to get #18.
No brainer, give Posey his $$$. He gave us a discount last year when othters offered him more money. It took us 20 years to have a legitimate shot for #17; I think whoever survives the west takes us out if we don’t have Posey. Even with him we had to dodge the Hawks/Cavs/Pistons this year.

We had Posey at “hello” for 4 yr MLE, now we are playing cat and mouse. Folks incorrectly thought Maggatte was only going to get close to MLE #s. Some GM is going to have sense enough to give this guy 4yrs and not live to regret it.

Come on somebody in Boston start a “make a wish foundation” for Pose’s 4th year and get this done.

We had Posey at “hello” for 4 yr MLE, now we are playing cat and mouse. Folks incorrectly thought Maggatte was only going to get close to MLE #s. Some GM is going to have sense enough to give this guy 4yrs and not live to regret it.

You are aware that giving Posey 3 years at the MLE is more than compensating for his services? And everyone agreed that giving Maggette the MLE was severely underpaying him considering his offensive ability.

If PJ Brown can play
when he is 39, why can’t Posey play when he is 35? Give him some of Scal’s money.

Why is this so hard to understand? Sure, PJ Brown contributed when he was in his late 30s. Brown also got paid the vet minimum. We are all for having Posey resign. Overpaying him for 3 years is enough at the MLE.

Posey did not give us a discount last year. He signed late in the summer. He wasn’t going to do any better. This summer will probably end the same.

Oh please everyone, since when did George Shinn become Mark Cuban? This is the same George Shinn that let Mourning walk in FA and every other good FA in Charlotte because he didn’t want to pay market value. The same George Shinn that Stern has been begging to sell his team for decades. Why does everyone think NO’s bench sucks so bad? Because Shinn is too cheap to sign a good bench. CP3 is probably the first bigtime player Shinn has actually retained in FA in two decades. This is the guy that is going to go into the lux tax to sign James Posey to the full MLE? PPPUUHHHLLLLEEEEEZZZEEEEEEEEE…NO is being used by the Posey camp, plain and simple..