Nate Robinson isn't worth 6-7 mill per. I'd keep Lee and trade Nate with Jeffries if that was the case.

09/10 - 7
10/11 - 7.75
11/12 - 8.55
12/13 - 9.45
13/14 - 10.4
14/15 - 11.5

starts at 7 mil with 10.5% raises every year...

5 year deal starting at 7 mil = $43.5 mil
6 year deal starting at 7 mil = 55

lee is going to get 5 years $50 mil minimum...

[Edited by - djsunyc on 02-19-2009 10:19 PM]

Nate.

Posted by KnicksSince88:

Nate may not be worth 6-7 but i think that value is closer to his actual worth than Lee getting 9-10 would be. I know im in the minority but id rather keep Nate if thats what their price tags would be. I think id rather keep Nate period. Im not high on the idea of 9-10 million to a guy who is going to play 35 minutes in our frontcourt and play less than zero defense, be invisible as a shotblocker, and if we ever improved the frontcourt around him with a legit defensive presence at Center it would possibly eat into his rebounding totals exposing him as a good rebounder who pads his stats somewhat on a team with no rebounding

As much as I love Lee and really, really hope there's some way we can keep the guy so he can be part of a winning Knicks team, I can't help but agree with KnicksSince88.

Lee is a big guy who rebounds but does little else that you need a big guy to do, namely be an enforcer in the paint. So, even if we keep Lee, we clearly will need a "real" big guy at some point, and when we get that guy, where does that leave Lee? Would he be worth anything close to $10 million a year?

If you look at it objectively, you really can see that (assuming Walsh's master plan works) once we get a team with a legit superstar and a legit inside guy, Lee will not be nearly as valuable to us as he is now.

A lot of this just depends on who we plan on targetting. I love both players.

But if we get a legit running center-- then that devalues Lee. We also have Chandler and Gallinari supposedly being groomed to play the 2 forward spots. So Chandler/Gallinari/Legit Center + PG / Max Contract SG (Wade/Joe Johnson) would make a lot more sense than dishing out a lot of money for an overrated Lee who can't really play Center and overlaps position wise with Wilson and Danilo.

Nate would also be cheaper. So, as much as I love Lee, I gotta go with Nate.

[Edited by - jamaicanjetfan on 02-19-2009 11:18 PM]

That is very hard to choose. I will choose wisely.....and it is both of them.

I have strange doubts that Lee will get 10mil/year. Numberswise, sure, he sounds like a likely candidate. Heck, he's outperforming nearly the entire crop of true centers (Chandler/Dalembert/Curry/Nene) who recently all got roughly $10mil/year for multiple years.

However, they all have what Lee doesn't - true size. AND... of course, none of them played for D'Antoni (this is for y'all who believe D'Antoni pads all of his players' numbers). AND... none of them signed their contracts 1-year before a big free agent year.

What's David Lee worth? Well, he's a very talented player, but offensively he's really more along the lines of a guy who plays well within a system, but doesn't have true go-to move nor a go-to jumper. He's also not a rare 7' tall shot-blocking center.

In the end, I wonder if teams will see him as significantly more valuable than a player like Andersen Verajao, who also had trouble on the FA market.

Nate.

Is it me or are these guys both too good to say "which one should we keep". They were both drafted by the Knicks--have tremendous heart and game--why would I want to get rid of either of them unless I got an unusual talent package back? It's too bad we royally screwed up the draft because we could easily have another impact player on the team and this obsession that somehow we are going to land a player that is that much better than either of them is absurd. These guys are really really good players. Trade Jefferies[it can happen] and then offer Curry a buyout if he cant make good weight--that would add 9-10mm to the cap. Who can justify letting either of them up and walk with no compensation? I know there are haters on both--some idiots who call nate dumb and some who say Lee doesnt play D--+ both rationale's seem to have racial overtones--it's ridiculous. You have good players who we drafted--keep them. When has money mattered to any sport team in NY ever? We cant pay good players like these guys who want to be here? Then we'll give a 34 year old a 5 year max contract Let's see if the team improved over the next 5 and take it game by game. We cant afford to give away good players for nothing.