December 8, 2008
What’s up fans? I hope you all enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with your family. I know a lot of you have been sending questions in, and I appreciate all the love. Hopefully I can answer as many as possible in my post this month.

MAKING THE ADJUSTMENTS
Well, we’re a month into the season, but I feel like we could be doing a lot better. Even though we have a winning record right now, I don’t think that it reflects our team. There’s still a lot of room to improve, and one of the biggest things we can improve upon is our consistency. We’re working hard each day in practice to get everything down and be on the same page as one another. Once our consistency comes together for us, you all are going to see a much different ballclub out there on the floor every night.

As far as away from the court, I’m really enjoying the city of New Orleans. Everyone I’ve met has been so nice and welcoming to me, and I can’t thank you all enough for embracing me into your community in such a quick time. I haven’t found a restaurant here yet I don’t like, the food is amazing! Although I’ve only been here a short time, I’m still getting adjusted to everything the city has to offer, but so far, so good. The one thing I have been surprised about is how cold it’s been here in the past couple weeks. I thought I left the cold weather back in Boston… boy was I wrong!

BACK TO BOSTON
So on Friday the team will be traveling up to Boston to take on my former team, the Celtics. I’m really excited for the trip; I’m going to be getting my championship ring. That’s the reason why I play this game, why we all play this game: to have an opportunity to win a championship. It really meant a lot to me to have a chance to win a title in Boston, because of all the tradition surrounding the franchise. It’s pretty surreal to now be associated with and mentioned in the same breath as Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Larry Bird, and the list goes on and on. To be thought of as a player on that team when people look up and see the banner that reads “BOSTON CELTICS 2008 WORLD CHAMPIONS,” that’s something really special. It will be good to see all my former teammates as well. I keep in touch with KG (Kevin Garnett) and Sam (Cassell) all the time, and Doc (Rivers) and I text message each other all the time too.

(NOT) HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Last week we had our first long road trip of the season. It was one of those road trips that are a little tougher than others, because we were on the road for Thanksgiving. It’s always hard to be away from your loved ones on holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc… but sometimes it’s just part of the job. It’s hard to miss that home-cooked meal and have that special family time that you’re used to, but sometimes you just have to take advantage of other days in the year and make those special for the family. Like I said before, the team is my second family, so we were all able to have a small little Thanksgiving together while we were in Denver. Chris (Paul) was nice enough to put together a little dinner for everybody so we were able to eat some turkey and have some bonding time with one another. It was a lot of fun.

It’s hard on road trips, you’re always on the move, and time zone changes are killers, but I’m not the type of guy that always travels with one specific item or anything like that to keep me sane. Whatever city we’re in, I just try to find a good meal, get as much rest as I can, and other than that, I’m in basketball mode.

Alright, I have time to answer a couple questions from the mailbag:

From Logan Yurt: James, who were your five favorite players to watch growing up? Man, that’s really a tough one. If I had to narrow it down to just five, I would have to say Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird, and James Worthy (The original “Big Game James”). From Mark Fages: You, Chris Paul, and David West all played under Skip Prosser while playing in college. Has that helped in your play on the court now with the Hornets? I would say the biggest factor with the three of us is trust. I know that Skip taught D-West and CP the same things he taught me, and I know that when they’re out there in battle with me that they’re go going to come out on the court and play hard. We all have that foundation from Skip, and we want to represent him well, and at the same time, that’s how the game should be played, with everything you have in you left on the court.

Alright guys, that’s it for this month’s entry. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season and New Year’s, and I’ll catch up with all of you in 2009!

If you’d like to ask James Posey a question or comment on the “Pose Knows” blog, send an e-mail to jime@hornets.com. Please include “Pose Knows” in the subject of your e-mail.



Other Pose Knows Entries
Pose Knows - Mar. 20
Pose Knows - Feb. 4
Pose Knows - Oct. 30