"Unless someone blows them away with a trade," one source said, "[Lee] was told the preference is to sign him to a long-term extension."

Nate, on the other hand, is another story.

The core Knicks are being graded by Donnie Walsh in his road trip critique. Here are the ones that pass GO and collect $200.


1. Lee, playing alongside a legit center, would be even better

2. Chris Duhon's lungs are learning what 48 minutes feels like

3. The Mayor is gradually calibrating his shot selection

4. Al Harrington needs to stop playing like Dominique Wilkins

5. Gallinari - incomplete, but at least he's on the court.

Posted by Vmart:

If the KNicks sign Lee you can kiss 2010 good bye. Walsh is putting to much into Lee he is an OK player but give me cap space over him any day.

I dont disagree but if by some miracle we can package Curry and say Nate....then we can afford Lee. I think Lee is a really nice piece to have when your putting together a contender. Now if we can't move Curry, then Walsh has a tough call on his hands.

Posted by Vmart:

If the KNicks sign Lee you can kiss 2010 good bye. Walsh is putting to much into Lee he is an OK player but give me cap space over him any day.

Are you sure? Fish has posted a number of times explaining that we can re-sign Lee and still have room for a max contract FA. How are you calculating the 2010 payroll?

Posted by Uptown:

Posted by Vmart:

If the KNicks sign Lee you can kiss 2010 good bye. Walsh is putting to much into Lee he is an OK player but give me cap space over him any day.

I dont disagree but if by some miracle we can package Curry and say Nate....then we can afford Lee. I think Lee is a really nice piece to have when your putting together a contender. Now if we can't move Curry, then Walsh has a tough call on his hands.

I have great difficulty understanding why Lee is such a HUGE key to the Knicks having cap space?

Coming off the books after 2008-09 season:
Stephon Marbury $21 million
Malik Rose $7.6 million
Total: 28.6 million

Sign 2 players, one year contracts each


Coming off the books after 2009-10 season:
Harrington 10 million
Mobley 9.5 million
Q 9.3 million
Jerome 6.6 million
Tim 6.4 million
Duhon 6 million
Gallinari 3 million
Nate 2.9 million
Lee 2.6 million
Chandler 1.2 million
Roberson 800 thousand

Total: $58.3 million

Grand total: $86.9 million dollars of potential open money


The two difficult tasks is trading Curry's 11.2 million dollar contract and Jeffries 6.6 million dollar contract, because they both end in 2010-11.

If you add those totals onto the grand total of potential cap space money it comes up into the neighborhood of something like $104.7 million. If that' doesn't give Walsh flexibility then I don't know what will.

Walsh has been lining up these contracts. By signing Duhon, Roberson, Harrington, Mobley and Tim to end after next season is true to his word to make cap space. So this has no baring on wether Lee is signed or not. He's certainly not worth 10 or more million a year. I think the highest he'll go is 9, if even. And like many people have already said (and been pushing), including a writer who has an inside word, Lee's not going to be a Knick anyway, so why worry either way?

In the end, Walsh should go after the big boys first, get them signed and then' make offers to players Walsh and D'Antoni still want on this team. Because once you fill the big money, each players agent will be able to see what kind of money you have left over. And they won't be asking for a whole lot by then.

Posted by misterearl:

"Unless someone blows them away with a trade," one source said, "[Lee] was told the preference is to sign him to a long-term extension."

Nate, on the other hand, is another story.

that's not exactly a definitive reliable source on the D Lee issue... u mine as well have gotten that quote from King1... the big rumors were that Donnie Walsh was trying to trade D Lee on draft night last year, & this season all you've been hearing are trade rumors involving D Lee going to other teams.

Half of what Donnie knows, not even Donnie knows what they are yet.

It wouldn't make any sense to just all of the sudden sign Lee to an extension. They didn't sign him right away from the beginning for a reason. And as you said TMS, it's all the concrete evidence we have. I'm not going to defend Lee anymore. What happens will happen. I cannot predict this team anymore, because like the market, it is very volatile.

Instead I will be focusing on Donnie Walsh from now on. I think as the Yankees have taken a definate stance to improve the Yankee defense, and getting younger, the Knicks should at least focus on getting defensively stronger to. If we can have a type of player who can run a D'Antoni offensive play and equally have defensive skills, then trading anyone on this team for that kind of player is in our best interest.

Posted by misterearl:

TMS - I'm running with this particular rumor because it is a cheap form of entertainment. Based on your participation in the discussion, it must be working.

i just find it comical how you're gonna make some proclamation that D Lee is all of a sudden not going anywhere based on a cheap 3rd source rumor you read on the internet, then u rag on me for buying into cheap internet rumors for thinking Donnie's holding his options open on D Lee.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by misterearl:

TMS - I'm running with this particular rumor because it is a cheap form of entertainment. Based on your participation in the discussion, it must be working.

i just find it comical how you're gonna make some proclamation that D Lee is all of a sudden not going anywhere based on a cheap 3rd source rumor you read on the internet, then u rag on me for buying into cheap internet rumors for thinking Donnie's holding his options open on D Lee.

Why bother?

ny media is hilarious.

one guy says lee stays.

the other guy says lee goes.

and fans keep running around in circles based on what each person says.

imho, watch repeats of "good times" instead of following the drama that is your new york knicks...