Could James Posey's Next Stop Be with the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Over the past several seasons the Cleveland Cavaliers have made major roster changes routinely. Although the focus is always on winning now there's also a long term strategy in play, however if they're going to build the dynasty of their dreams which will shatter the Cleveland curse and propel LeBron James' legend to near mythic proportions, it's going to take more than just one more piece. It's becoming more and more clear looking at how complete teams like the Spurs, Celtics, and Lakers are that basketball's as much of a team sport as it's ever been. One of the pieces that each of these teams has needed to win it all once if not several times has been a clutch guy coming off the bench. The key word here is CLUTCH, oddly enough there really have been only a couple of players over the last decade to fill this role; Robert Horry, James Posey, and Trevor Ariza. As we are all more than aware of Ariza is going to be in Houston for the next half decade (poor choice in my opinion) which brings me to the point of the story, James Posey.

When Posey signed with New Orleans in the 2007-2008 off season, they appeared to be a budding contender (much like the Celtics were when he signed with them) however since then they've traded away one of their key big men in a salary shedding move and fired their coach of the year Byron Scott, which their franchise player isn't too happy about. So here's one way this may lead James Posey to the Cavaliers:

New Orleans gets - Delonte West 6'2" SG ($6.25M this season) & Jamario Moon 6'8" SF ($3.75M, $3.97M, & $3.19M)

Cleveland gets - James Posey 6'9" SF ($6.03M, $6.47M, & & $6.92M)

As it's been brought to light, Delonte's contract can be bought out at the end of the season for $500K (after which he can re-sign with Cleveland after 30 days) leaving the Hornets with Moon until the summer of 2012 (the same as James Posey would've been). Even better, on paper Moon is a younger more athletic James Posey as they're both averaging roughly the same numbers;

Posey (32 yrs) SF - 4.1 pts, 1.8 reb, 19.5 min (career 9.1 pts**)

Moon (29 yrs) SF - 4.6 pts, 3.4 reb, 14.8 min (career 26.1 min**)

Jamario is averaging more points and rebounds than Posey in significantly less playing time than him, and Posey is down on his career average of 9.1 pts. However, when all is said and done it would still be a salary shedding move on New Orleans part (saving them $7.25 million over the next 2 seasons) and is the best idea right now since their superstar is sidelined indefinitely with a sprained ankle and they're 2 games out of dead last in the west. Teams with payrolls well over the salary cap simply cannot afford to miss the playoffs and that's the reality in New Orleans right now, they're being faced with re-structuring/re-building and at the top of that last has to be shedding cap space. Although Posey's numbers careTer numbers are down he's a huge element the Cavs just don't have, a clutch guy coming off the bench. They've got some good bench caliber players but no one who's proven it with the season on the line like Posey has, also in the past he's been assigned to guard the other teams best perimeter player which would be a huge load off LeBron. Simply put, the Hornets are being faced with some tough salary cap decisions and the Cleveland Cavaliers could essentially swap Jamario Moon for James Posey, and if holding on to LeBron James is priority number one a move like this may not be such a bad idea.

James A. - Professional NBA Handicapper, http://www.Whaleroom.com