sportskings.org

Well as I sit here at work early morning on July 29th I have been reading through remaining free agent lists and Michael Finley could very well be a viable option for the Celtics. Lets first take a look at the recent transactions by the 2008 NBA Champions. They brought Eddie House and Tony Allen back to shore up the bench that had a great deal of success a year ago. They signed bust center Patrick O’ Bryant from the Warriors in the hope that he can turn his career around and be a solid backup to Kendrick Perkins. Of course the biggest loss was James Posey bolting for more money and an extra year to the New Orleans Hornets. You can’t blame Danny Ainge for not matching the Hornets offer. Posey is 31 and is now signed until he is 36. NBA Players talents diminish from ages 31-35 and I can bet you that before the end of that contract the Hornets will be dying to get Posey out of town. So I am happy the C’s didn’t give him the full mid at the full four years because he won’t be as effective for that tenure.

Now I have been searching high and low and I believe that Michael Finley could be the guy to replace James Posey for the 2009 Celtics. The C’s still have their mid level exception to use on a player and Finley has some skills that are similar to Posey. He can shoot the three and play good solid defense on opposing teams scorers. The Spurs say they want him back so the C’s may have to give him the full mid level four years in order to pry him away. Obviously the selling points will be first getting out of the jampacked Western conference to the shallow East. Second the ability to play with the likes of Garnett, Pierce, and Allen and that chance of winning another ring before the end of his career. Finley is the same size as Posey at 6 feet 7 inches and he plays the same kind of ball. He is an agressive player on the defensive end and has the ability to light it up on some nights. I think that his age may be a factor and the Celtics could try to get him for only one or two years because he is currently 35 and will turn 36 during the season next March. If they have to give Finley the full mid level I am not so sure that is a good idea mainly due to his age. Four years at 5.6 mil a yr for a guy who is 35 does not sound healthy. Bonzi Wells is another name that will be discussed in the coming days as a replacement to Posey. Bonzi has a rough attitude and I really don’t see him as fitting the Celtics mold. Darius Miles might be an option but he has underachieved in Portland and he is another guy with character issues. To me both Miles and Wells appear to selfish to be a part of what the Celtics are trying to accomplish. One other name I like is Matt Barnes from Golden St. Don Nelson didn’t use Barnes the right way last year and he is definitely an adequate defensive presence to Posey. He can shoot the three and when he is on the court you know your getting 100 percent all the time.

Another option could be in house already. The Celtics had a very underated draft in acquiring JR Giddens and Bill Walker. Lets not forget both of these guys were sought to be lottery picks a year ago. Walker went back to school and got hurt for most of his senior year so his stock fell. Giddens got kicked out of Kansas for off the court problems and constant headbutting with coach Bill Self. Although he was Sun Belt Player of the Year his attitude has a lot to do with why teams passed him up. In a dream scenerio Ainge will obviously hope for the best and have one of these guys mature into being a Posey type player. That may be to much to ask out of an NBA rookie. Although these kids are good the pro to college game is on two different planets. Right now the Celtics options look bleak and losing Posey without any idea of how to solve the loss is huge. Remember Ainge is responsible for having the greatest 1 year turnaround in NBA history by having the worst team in the league morph into NBA champs in 1 season. That alone should give him as much time as he needs to attempt to fix this problem.

Last point on the Celtics, there was one other very interesting name still out there looming on the unrestricted free agent list. Now I know the Celtics don’t have a lot of money to spend due to their cap space but Shaun Livingston seems very intriguing to me. This is a kid who has amazing talent and had it not been for the horrific knee injury a year ago he may have become one of the best PG’s in the league. Obviously Livingston made 4.4 million last season and was out all year, so in order for the Celtics to land Livingston they would probably have to give him the full mid level at the full four years. It would be a huge risk and they would have to be certain that the knee is fully healed in order to make move like that. Things should heat up within the next three weeks and hopefully we will find out what direction Danny takes in answering the loss of Posey.

The Brain