2014 Cleveland Indians Power Rankings
October 1, 20142014 Cleveland Indians: Top 3 best and worst list – WFNY Podcast – 2014-10-01
October 1, 2014WHY CLEVELAND’S JAMES POSEY REMAINS A CHAMPIONSHIP-MAKER
Prevailing wisdom in the NBA all but demands a true title contender employ at least two superstars, preferably three. The San Antonio Spurs’ somewhat defy that wisdom, though it’s fair to say a general manager is fooling himself if he thinks he can replicate San Antonio’s championship mix of aging superstars and uber role players.
The last four Miami Heat teams, the Boston Celtics of a few years ago, the Los Angeles Lakers of the early 2000s and even the Houston Rockets of the mid-1990s all thrived as true contenders with at least two megastars in the starting lineup. So it would be fair to conclude that having multiple superstars generally equates to a legitimate title contender. But a closer look into the fabric of those teams reveals an adhesive player, a guy who holds a team together as it drives towards glory. In short, a glue guy.
Players like Shane Battier, Robert Horry, and Bruce Bowen fit the archetype — essential ingredients to a team’s championship timbre. More than just a towel-waving cheerleader — think Jack Haley or Brian Scalabrine — glue guys must be productive role players who also double as their team’s heartbeat.
Cleveland’s own James Posey fits, statistically and anecdotally, the mold of a glue guy. In a way, he transcended the term: Before he was doing all the little things to help propel the Heat and later the Celtics to NBA titles, Posey fought just to stick around as a high school player surrounded by more acclaimed stars, as an ineligible college freshman and then as an NBA role player. Now he’s a coach on the most scrutinized team in the NBA, ready to impart on this Cavalier roster the lessons and tricks only a true glue guy can know.
James Mikely Posey was raised in the Cleveland projects, near East 30th Street and Central Avenue, and so it probably isn’t a huge surprise to learn his childhood was tough. His mother did what she could to steer him in the right direction on a turbulent path out of the projects. She took young James to the Central Recreation Center, a nondescript building also known as “The Bath House,” which derived its name when it opened in 1919 because it served as the one place folks in the neighborhood could grab a shower. At The Bath House, James gained his first exposure to sports and competition.
Posey moved with his father before high school, and played football and baseball as a freshmen at Shaker Heights High School, only to relocate again for his sophomore year. At Twinsburg Chamberlain High School, James starred in football and basketball, but he remained connected to his friends and the community where his mother had raised him.
“Growing up in the projects and then later living in a middle-class neighborhood with my father was like living a double life. People actually knew me by two separate names, depending on where they were from. If you were my friends or family from the projects, you called me ‘Mikely.’ If you knew me from Shaker or Twinsburg, I was ‘James.’
The two relocations and the dual identities showed Posey how to stick in a couple of vastly different worlds, how to relate to kids from different parts of town.
As a high school player, Posey was great on the court but, perhaps due to innate humility — another trait of a glue guy — didn’t quite realize how great. Even now he talks about his high school career with reverence for his local prep contemporaries, as if he was just trying to keep pace with them.
“I remember being noticed during my time at Shaker. I was always respected because I played hard, I competed, and I was all about winning. Later in high school, competing with Mel (Levett), Damon (Stringer), Earl (Boykins) and Reuben (Patterson) — all these great local players — I took notice of them and just wanted to be mentioned with them. I knew they were good, so I just competed on the same level with them.” ((Levett, Stringer, Boykins and Patterson would all go on to Division I programs and varied levels of NBA success.))
Posey averaged 18 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three blocks per game as a high school senior. The Associated Press named him Ohio’s Division II Player of the Year. Yet when asked if he had visions of playing in the league while at Twinsburg, he politely but flatly responds that he really never dreamed, but just took life one day at a time.2
Maybe the NBA was never a goal or even a dream, but Posey did have an inkling that coaching might be in his future since it was a more realistic path to stay involved with the game. “I loved basketball, had no idea how long I would play and so figured I would one day coach.3
♦♦♦
You might assume that Posey’s segue from prep star to college athlete was straight forward. You might envision how an 18-year-old Posey cavalierly sorted through stacks of recruiting mail and screened phone calls from college coaches across the nation. That might have been the case if not for Proposition 48.
Put into place by the NCAA in 1986, Prop 48 mandated certain academic benchmarks — a minimum 2.0 grade point average and a combined 700 score on the SAT — that a student-athlete must achieve in order play Division I athletics as a freshman, and Posey fell short of those benchmarks. His college choices weren’t exactly in abundance. Dayton showed an interest, and he took an unofficial visit to Indiana, due in most part to a close personal connection between his high school coach and Bob Knight.
Nothing in the way of major college interest seemed to percolate, and Prop 48 effectively presented Posey with a choice: Retreat or figure out a way to stick around, somewhere, somehow.
His chances improved when Jeff Battle entered the picture. Battle was an assistant to Xavier head coach Skip Prosser and had recruited Posey out of high school. He drove to Cleveland to take in a Twinsburg practice and watched Posey go coast-to-coast, grab rebounds, flush follow-up dunks, do basically everything. Battle fell in love with the skill-set and called Prosser to tell him Xavier had a special prospect.
At a time when Posey’s options were sparse and many of his friends assumed that street life, not college ball, awaited him, his future took a turn for the better because of Battle and Prosser’s faith in his skill and character.
“Xavier wanted me no matter what. Skip Prosser told me they were committed to me even with me being a Prop 48. I trusted them. I made a decision to work hard — I had to have a 2.5 (grade point average) to have a chance at a scholarship my sophomore year.”
Posey showed up at Xavier and, because of Prop 48, couldn’t train with the basketball team. Pat Kelsey, Posey’s roommate and teammate who now coaches men’s basketball at Winthrop University, good-naturedly recalls Posey as a skinny, scrawny, “Inspector Gadget-looking” freshman.
“That first year, I think James averaged about 70 points a game for his intramural team because he couldn’t really be around the basketball team,” says Kersey.
With the help of his father, who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet and pay Posey’s full Xavier tuition that year4, James poured himself into his school work and trained for basketball. He showed up for his sophomore year bigger, stronger and, most importantly, academically eligible,5 Posey’s confidence as a player and a person had matured exponentially. Kelsey watched from the bench, amazed.
“James was phenomenal. He went on to become a specialist in the pros, but that cat was an all-around great college player. He played with incredible energy, was on the ball for our full-court press, and was basically all about winning. Period.”
Posey managed to endure fairly significant adversity and become a different kind of glue guy. His childhood split between the inner city and Twinsburg and his basketball-less freshman year at Xavier had been about simply sticking around — remaining relevant and connecting to an outside world. But during his career at Xavier, Posey transformed into the dream teammate who held together and led his team with a singular commitment to winning.
Most NBA first-round picks strut to the podium on draft night in ridiculous suits after they share a hug and some tears with family and friends. You can see it in their eyes, they’re lost in the reality that they have indeed made it. Posey was different. When the Denver Nuggets selected him with the 18th pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, he began to plot how he could stay in the league for the long haul.
It wasn’t good enough to get drafted or bounce around for a year or two, he determined. And so he carved out a playing career as a glue guy who excelled at multiple roles as a sharp spot-up shooter, reliable locker room leader and rugged defender.
Notwithstanding, his willingness to serve in whatever role needed, Posey’s NBA bread was buttered at the defensive end of the floor. He declares defense a mindset that requires no otherworldly talent. To hear him talk about playing straight up man-to-man defense is to recognize it’s really nothing more than a choice, a question: Do you like being scored on or not?
“I took great pride in being a tough defender. I didn’t like people scoring on me. If I matched up with you, you knew I was going to be there all game long. I took pride in that, and it gave me a mental edge.”
Over the course of his NBA career, his highest scoring averages came in four of his first six seasons. But the back end of his career is why he’s remembered — Posey won two titles, in 2006 with Miami and in 2008 with Boston.
Pat Riley acquired Posey prior to the 2005-06 season and described him as “a defense-oriented, slashing player who can run the break, play above the rim and will make the open three.” With the Heat, Posey went from a starter in the regular season to a sixth man for the playoffs. That kind of demotion wouldn’t sit well with most NBA players, but in typical Posey fashion, he not only accepted his new role but thrived in it. In Game Six of the 2006 Finals, it was Posey who nailed a huge shot to cement the championship.
Doc Rivers lauded Posey’s role on the 2008 Celtics team in a way that coaches typically describe glue guys, saying he “can’t begin to say enough things about what James Posey does for us,” though Rivers did articulate that Posey “makes the defensive stops that change the game.” These are valued traits of a champion.
♦♦♦
When it came time to take off his jersey one final time, Posey arrived at a juncture he once expected to reach at a much younger age: If he were to stay in basketball, it would be as a coach. Again, the path would not be easy. But, again, Posey would demonstrate how the fighters last.
Mike Gansey, the director of operations for the D-League’s Canton Charge, found Posey a few years ago serving as a volunteer coach at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.6 Gansey was mildly intrigued, but his interest grew serious a few months later when he found Posey again volunteering to coach, this time at the D-League tryouts in New York. He coached up the players and, on breaks, sat in the stands to take careful notes on the players. It demanded Gansey’s attention, how Posey traveled to coach in relatively small-time events on his own dime. “This guy’s for real,” Gansey decided.
]Because of the impression he made on Gansey, Posey was hired as an assistant coach for the Charge. He immediately grabbed the respect of his players because of his NBA accomplishments — not just the championships but also the longevity, according to Steve Hetzel, Canton’s head coach. After one season in Canton, Posey received a call from the Cavs; David Blatt wanted Posey on his staff.
Posey, with Blatt, inherits arguably three of the NBA’s top 15 players. But the new role tasks Blatt to mold that star trio with young guys who have never experienced a winning season in the NBA. On paper, it all looks grand. But team chemistry is a fragile thing. Posey’s work will likely occur out of the spotlight, at the practice facility or in hushed conversations at the end of the bench, where he reminds young talents like Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson that their value is real if not always tangible, that championships aren’t clinched by stars alone.
James Posey is ecstatic to be home, though the thrill is contained within his trademark humility. “I never imagined this would happen just like I never imagined playing in the NBA,” he says.
No, his return certainly didn’t stop time in its tracks the way LeBron’s did. But this reunion warrants intrigue. What if Posey the coach can offer what Posey the player did; what if he can build the back end of the roster in his image?
When asked about his responsibilities, he answers in words that might sound like an empty platitude to anyone who doesn’t know James Mikely Posey. “I will do whatever Coach Blatt asks of me,” Posey says.
Of course he will. He wants to hold things together. He wants to stick around.
♦♦♦
Author: Jeff Kasler | Editor: Paul Glavic | Producer, Photo: Scott Sargent
WHY CLEVELAND’S JAMES POSEY REMAINS A CHAMPIONSHIP-MAKER
Prevailing wisdom in the NBA all but demands a true title contender employ at least two superstars, preferably three. The San Antonio Spurs’ somewhat defy that wisdom, though it’s fair to say a general manager is fooling himself if he thinks he can replicate San Antonio’s championship mix of aging superstars and uber role players.
The last four Miami Heat teams, the Boston Celtics of a few years ago, the Los Angeles Lakers of the early 2000s and even the Houston Rockets of the mid-1990s all thrived as true contenders with at least two megastars in the starting lineup. So it would be fair to conclude that having multiple superstars generally equates to a legitimate title contender. But a closer look into the fabric of those teams reveals an adhesive player, a guy who holds a team together as it drives towards glory. In short, a glue guy.
Players like Shane Battier, Robert Horry, and Bruce Bowen fit the archetype — essential ingredients to a team’s championship timbre. More than just a towel-waving cheerleader — think Jack Haley or Brian Scalabrine — glue guys must be productive role players who also double as their team’s heartbeat.
Cleveland’s own James Posey fits, statistically and anecdotally, the mold of a glue guy. In a way, he transcended the term: Before he was doing all the little things to help propel the Heat and later the Celtics to NBA titles, Posey fought just to stick around as a high school player surrounded by more acclaimed stars, as an ineligible college freshman and then as an NBA role player. Now he’s a coach on the most scrutinized team in the NBA, ready to impart on this Cavalier roster the lessons and tricks only a true glue guy can know.
James Mikely Posey was raised in the Cleveland projects, near East 30th Street and Central Avenue, and so it probably isn’t a huge surprise to learn his childhood was tough. His mother did what she could to steer him in the right direction on a turbulent path out of the projects. She took young James to the Central Recreation Center, a nondescript building also known as “The Bath House,” which derived its name when it opened in 1919 because it served as the one place folks in the neighborhood could grab a shower. At The Bath House, James gained his first exposure to sports and competition.
Posey moved with his father before high school, and played football and baseball as a freshmen at Shaker Heights High School, only to relocate again for his sophomore year. At Twinsburg Chamberlain High School, James starred in football and basketball, but he remained connected to his friends and the community where his mother had raised him.
“Growing up in the projects and then later living in a middle-class neighborhood with my father was like living a double life. People actually knew me by two separate names, depending on where they were from. If you were my friends or family from the projects, you called me ‘Mikely.’ If you knew me from Shaker or Twinsburg, I was ‘James.’
The two relocations and the dual identities showed Posey how to stick in a couple of vastly different worlds, how to relate to kids from different parts of town.
As a high school player, Posey was great on the court but, perhaps due to innate humility — another trait of a glue guy — didn’t quite realize how great. Even now he talks about his high school career with reverence for his local prep contemporaries, as if he was just trying to keep pace with them.
“I remember being noticed during my time at Shaker. I was always respected because I played hard, I competed, and I was all about winning. Later in high school, competing with Mel (Levett), Damon (Stringer), Earl (Boykins) and Reuben (Patterson) — all these great local players — I took notice of them and just wanted to be mentioned with them. I knew they were good, so I just competed on the same level with them.” ((Levett, Stringer, Boykins and Patterson would all go on to Division I programs and varied levels of NBA success. [↩]
- This nonchalance to an NBA career actually continued up through the night he was drafted, when Posey had to calm his anxious mother in the green room by reminding her that, “We never planned on [the NBA], so there’s no need to be nervous.” [↩]
- Bob Pacsi was Posey’s coach at Twinsburg and isn’t surprised to see Posey’s coaching career blossoming: “I never had to tell James to watch film or work hard. Not once. No one watched as much film as him.” [↩]
- Battle tells the story of meeting with Posey’s father before his freshman year and discussing the impact of being a Prop 48 athlete, namely the harsh reality of not having a scholarship that first year and thus having to pay full freight: “I remember talking to his dad in my office. He was willing to make the freshman year work financially if James really had a future in basketball. I told him, ‘Mr. Posey, your son is going to play in the NBA someday.’ His dad teared up and said, ‘Then I’m gonna make this work.’” Battle was in the green room with Posey and his father the day Posey was drafted. Posey’s father cried in the green room and referenced that pivotal conversation. [↩]
- Posey had his academic advisor at Xavier join his family and former coaches in the green room for his draft night. [↩]
- The PIT is a tournament held at a high school gym every April immediately following the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. It is open to 64 college seniors. While it has seen a fair share of future NBA players, the fact that it does not include underclassmen rightly suggests that the level of competition is far from the absolute best. [↩]
13 Comments
Great story a lot of people overlook Posey being on this coaching staff and that’s a mistake. Sadly I remember Posey from his HS days. I never got to see him play first hand but heard plenty of this Twinsburg native. Love his presence on this coaching staff.
#ActualSportswriting, FTW.
Well done, Jeff. My favorite of yours yet.
indeed
Excellent piece. Well-researched, well-written.
Nice that the guy has his foot back in the NBA door. A whole lot of ex-NBA players wish they could squeeze back in.
Great read. October 30 can’t come soon enough!
Fantastic read. Thanks for the story!
That’s a wonderful article, thanks Jeff. I remember hearing that James Posey was on the staff and then I must have forgot it almost immediately. I didn’t realize he was THAT James Posey. When he played for the Heat, the Celtics, and the Hornets, it was hard not to love Posey. That guy came to play and showed out every single night. I love pairing him up with Delly, who already has that same attitude, but putting him with Kyrie, TT, Dion, Harris, Kirk, and Stephen Holt (Steve Holt!) is also going to be a blessing.
Fantastic story and underlining plot of his role on this team
http://img.pandawhale.com/74757-Audrey-Hepburn-STOP-girl-gif-I-Zx3L.gif
STEVE HOLT!
Thanks, Scott. As you know, this one was fun to research and write.
Outstanding writing and pertinent.
Can Tristan accept a less prominent role? Dion?
Will James Jones, Marion and Miller be able to help the team coalesce?
All are critical to Cav success as was Posey 6 and 8 years ago.
Wow, love this story. Great job with the research and the write up. As has already been mentioned, I will love seeing him coach up a guy like Dellavedova (as well as Watiers) to see what kind of impact he can have on those guys.
I really enjoyed this. My favorite line: “What if Posey the coach can offer what Posey the player did; what if he can build the back end of the roster in his image?” Great job!