James "Eleven Win" Posey

It's kind of amazing how quickly the NBA season turns around. I only really get warmed up around Feb/March as I find the NBA season kind of farcical. Too many teams get in the final tournament, it's too obvious who are the contenders (usually a small group relative to other sports, although this year it was a pretty open field) and that they will cruise all season. The "race" of the season is for spots 5-8 in either conference generally and really, who the fuck cares?

Anyway, because I only really get into it late, it takes me a while to fully unwind from the rigours of Naismithball and lo and behold, when I look at the calendar we are only seven weeks away from tip off - seriously! ESPN, however, came prepared, and as September dawns, so do their first bout of 2008-2009 power rankings. Well...not quite, it's East and West rankings (don't really know why this was necessary, maybe Marc Stein owns a patent to the concept of "power rankings"). It's all speculative stuff anyway, so I don't really care about their east or west picks (although Toronto seems low, Detroit high, Houston low, Phoenix way too high - they'll be terrible, bottom five team, you heard it here first) but I did catch this piece of comedy gold about Boston.

How big is the Posey problem? Enough that the departure of Big Game James helps take the Celtics down 11 wins in our survey. Plus, by next June, the Big Three will nearly be the Big 33 (Kevin Garnett, 33; Paul Pierce, 31; Ray Allen, 33). But guess what? They're still the East's beasts.

now, I'm no rocket scientist like the boys at ESPN, but I think I know it when I see bullshit, and ladies and gentlemen, I am reaching for the nearest megaphone, clearing my throat and with the heartiest cry yelling "bullshit" at the top of my lungs.

I get it, ok? Team unity, "glue guy", intangibles, all that stuff, I think there's a place for that in sports, especially basketball with it's emphasis on using resources effectively rather than counting stats. I respect defensive acumen, and the difficulty of pinning stats on a players defensive ability. I'm totally there, I'm with you, Bruce Bowen should start on a championship quality team, despite being 313rd in all players in PER, below Acie Law and Jared Jeffries. OK? I get it.

Secondly, I don't like the Celtics, I was really surprised at how well they did last year, and there's a million reasons to doubt them (I like Philly for that division myself). Garnett is old, Ray Allen is fucking done and if he is, no one except Paul Pierce can shoot, no more hunger (that's an intangible, see! I'm not a monster), long, long season, injuries are inevidable, etc. But James fucking Posey is like 93rd on that list of reasons.

James Posey averaged 7.4ppg last year, shooting a terrible 41.8%, played the lowest mpg in his career (24.6) and had an A/TO of 1.75 (below Jemario Moon) and will be 32 through this season. He is MAYBE Boston's fifth best player. I found this, it's from here, take it for what it's worth but it seems at least a rough approximation.

Players worth eleven wins?

Yao Ming.

Tony Parker.

Carmelo Anthony.

David West.

James Posey? He was worth three. Along with immortals like Anthony Carter, Kyle Lowry and Kelenna Azubuike.

The good news? Hornets fans can expect 67 wins from this team next year with the injection of Posey, congratulations - he's basically as good as Carmelo Anthony apparently.