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Lawyer Milloy's abrupt departure was quickly appeased by the Patriots' thrashing of the entire league that year on their way to a 32-29 Super Bowl XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers.
Deion Branch's demand for a huge contract has left him in Seattle where he has averaged 51 catches a year (seven games missed) and has since been replaced with players like Wes Welker and Jabar Gaffney.
The Patriots' addition of an extra first round pick allowed them the leverage to trade their own first rounder to San Francisco, in what turned out to be the No. 7 selection in this year's draft, plus a fourth rounder a year ago.
The bottom line is that losing a player can be crippling only if the organization is of the mind that he is irreplaceable.
James Posey was a key loss, no doubt, but the Celtics have options to replace him. The team was criticized for its lack of a solid ball-handling backup point guard (sorry, Sam Cassell) and limited depth at the two-guard position.
These would seem to be ideal options to explore with the extra money from Posey's departure. (Note: The Celtics just re-signed both Eddie House and Tony Allen to two-year deals).
A year from now, some NBA player will be sitting in the exact same position that Posey was in just recently. Whether it be for an offensive explosion or lockdown defense, a free agent will be paid premium dollars for his work.
I do not blame Posey and will not blame a player for accepting the most lucrative contract on the table. It's tough to say no to an extra $10-12 million.
I do however find it interesting that NBA GMs so freely spend the limited amount of cap space on a single player, not opting to divide the cash among a few areas of need.
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