AbrahamLincoln wrote:Superstar players are only worth maximum salary. David Lee is far from a superstar.

Yep... Nothing shiny about him.
Stars should shine and supperstars should shine bright.
Lee is boring finisher and pickenroller.
He reminds of bbal that was... but not any more.

BRIGGS wrote:22.5p 14.3r 3.5a FG% 66%

That is maximum salary production.

absolutely, if he sustains that over the course of the season, you're right, it's definitely max salary production... funny thing is Chris Bosh is putting up those stats like that for the entire season & alot of posters around here don't seem to think he's worth the max.

There are six teams with more than $11 million in cap space. Knicks, Nets, Heat, Wolves, Bulls, Thunder

Every major FA would have to stay put for there to even be an opportunity for that to happen.

TMS wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:22.5p 14.3r 3.5a FG% 66%

That is maximum salary production.

absolutely, if he sustains that over the course of the season, you're right, it's definitely max salary production... funny thing is Chris Bosh is putting up those stats like that for the entire season & alot of posters around here don't seem to think he's worth the max.

bosh has been putting up numbers like that for a few years now, plus a blocked shot. plus, defenses often key on him and double team him. and i believe he is actually younger than lee. and bosh has a bigger frame that i think is more conducive to putting up those numbers for the next six years.

i'd love to keep dlee, but i think giving him the max is ridiculous. 6yr deal starting at $8M - that winds up being something like $60M over the life of the deal - that's good money and it's fair.

King1 wrote:Lee isnt a max player but neither is Bosh or Johnson. David will get a fair contract and hopefully be on a winning team

i agree with the last part and hope both things happen here.

but with so many teams with cap room - you know joe johnson and bosh will both get max deals, or near max deals from someone. watch the bulls offer joe johnson the max.

SupremeCommander wrote:Lee is not a max player... in my estimation, max players get you to the playoffs.

That said, I'd say he's earned 80-85 percent of a max deal

I don't know what the Knicks are going to do but IF I owned the Nets and I did not get LBJ--I would offer David Lee a max contract. There is no choice--he's going to get paid--now is there a big difference if Im paying him 12 or 14-15mm$ You almost ALWAYS pay a premium in FA. The Nets need a veteran foundation piece. They can move Yi to SF[or first big off the bench] and go Lopez Lee and Yi across the frontline--if they draft John Wall--they could easily go from the gutter to a playoff team in one year. On the Knicks side--even if we get LBJ--how do we account for losing lee--with who?

BRIGGS wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:Lee is not a max player... in my estimation, max players get you to the playoffs.

That said, I'd say he's earned 80-85 percent of a max deal

I don't know what the Knicks are going to do but IF I owned the Nets and I did not get LBJ--I would offer David Lee a max contract. There is no choice--he's going to get paid--now is there a big difference if Im paying him 12 or 14-15mm$ You almost ALWAYS pay a premium in FA. The Nets need a veteran foundation piece. They can move Yi to SF[or first big off the bench] and go Lopez Lee and Yi across the frontline--if they draft John Wall--they could easily go from the gutter to a playoff team in one year. On the Knicks side--even if we get LBJ--how do we account for losing lee--with who?

I would prefer to have Lee and James, if that can somehow be worked out, but if you have James, Lee's role as the go to player on the Knicks, which is what he has become, is diminished. You would not need Lee v2009 with James on your team, since much of the offense would go through James, and Lee would have fewer opportunities to do what he has done this year. So if we do lose Lee, we don't necessarily need another player who has the capability to put up Lee's 2009 production to replace him.

I think 10 mil a year is the right price for Lee right now. He is not a number 1 guy, the max contracts should only go to guys who you build around. However, Lee is most definitely an awesome 2-3 rd player to have next to a max lead guard.

If I'm Bron, and I see Lee playing it the way he is, and Gallo also, I'm really starting to wonder if I can run with these guys for a long time. If the Knicks continue to play well, regardless of making the playoffs, I think he comes. It almost feels like we only really need 1 max guy.