Enjoy the Big Easy, James
James Posey is heading to New Orleans, wallets bulging with a four year, 25 million dollar contract. The move makes sense for the Hornets who have a lot of money spent on Peja and Morris Peterson for three more years so it's not like they'll have much cap space to play with anyway. Year 4 is a wash since James will be an expiring contract and, at the very least, a tradeable commodity.
Part of me wishes we kept James but, on the other hand, I don't think this is a crushing blow to the Celtics and it should definitely keep the guys from getting complacent. ESPN claims the move was due to "luxury tax concerns" but I don't buy that because the stumbling block was the amount of years and the luxury tax problem would be at its worst in the next couple of years (with the Big Three still on their big contracts).
It was a tough call on Ainge's part but the real impact of the move won't be felt until the other shoe drops. The C's now need to look at their backup options (I'll be posting about this tonight or tomorrow) and see what they can do to reload for their title defense.
