I'd say he would be a good fit here in a minor role if we shedded some of our bulk.
I don't think the game has passed him by.

Nalod wrote:
Love this guy and was glad for his success in GS. He had a big role in the playoffs which had to be gradifying. Celts just have too many youthier bodies in front of him.
To me he was a dave Debussure type player that could rebound as well. But Dave Debussure could play great defense!!!!

I'd say he would be a good fit here in a minor role if we shedded some of our bulk.
I don't think the game has passed him by.

Celtics have a lot of young, talented players, but Lee was a near-20/10 guy just 2 seasons ago. So why is he not playing a major role? What has made him no longer capable of those numbers?

nychamp wrote:

nychamp wrote:Always detested Lee. Has a guaranteed spot on the first team all NBA worst defenders all time. Inexcusable at his position.

How many humans in the history of sports had the ability to put up 20 points 12 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 55% for a full NBA season? Only a few. Not a great NBA defender but great at everything else.

BRIGGS wrote:

nychamp wrote:

nychamp wrote:Always detested Lee. Has a guaranteed spot on the first team all NBA worst defenders all time. Inexcusable at his position.

How many humans in the history of sports had the ability to put up 20 points 12 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 55% for a full NBA season? Only a few. Not a great NBA defender but great at everything else.

Empty points on losing teams. He sure did put up some numbers though, and got real rich! Also every opposing player would salivate when going against him. Basically an automatic bucket.

...but you can make a pretty strong case that the Knicks would have been better off staying with Lee and not signing Amare.

Yeah, Amare was a "star" and Lee only a home grown talent, but, taking everything into account, Lee turned out to be the better player of the two if you compare them from the point in time of the trade, and especially after the Amare injury...and he would have been a better complimentary player with Anthony than Amare ever was, IMO.

I always had issues with Lee as a defender, but Amare was just as bad- maybe worse in some ways, was never the rebounder or passer that Lee was, and didn't have Lee's BB IQ. He also improved on his game every year he was with the Knicks...just wish he had made himself into a better defender.

Lee had a pretty good run in the NBA, and his "fall" was preceded by membership on a title team. Not a bad career for a late 1st rnd. pick.

Knixkik wrote:

Nalod wrote:
Love this guy and was glad for his success in GS. He had a big role in the playoffs which had to be gradifying. Celts just have too many youthier bodies in front of him.
To me he was a dave Debussure type player that could rebound as well. But Dave Debussure could play great defense!!!!

I'd say he would be a good fit here in a minor role if we shedded some of our bulk.
I don't think the game has passed him by.

Celtics have a lot of young, talented players, but Lee was a near-20/10 guy just 2 seasons ago. So why is he not playing a major role? What has made him no longer capable of those numbers?

Injuries, declining athleticism, and the complete inability to play defense.

I love how we seem to have a zero tolerance approach to our current players, whereby they're not even allowed to struggle for more than 5 games, yet when it comes to ex-Knicks they are allowed to suck for years and we still want them back.

CrushAlot wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Of course I'm saying this with 20/20 hindsight...

...but you can make a pretty strong case that the Knicks would have been better off staying with Lee and not signing Amare.

Yeah, Amare was a "star" and Lee only a home grown talent, but, taking everything into account, Lee turned out to be the better player of the two if you compare them from the point in time of the trade, and especially after the Amare injury...and he would have been a better complimentary player with Anthony than Amare ever was, IMO.

I always had issues with Lee as a defender, but Amare was just as bad- maybe worse in some ways, was never the rebounder or passer that Lee was, and didn't have Lee's BB IQ. He also improved on his game every year he was with the Knicks...just wish he had made himself into a better defender.

Lee had a pretty good run in the NBA, and his "fall" was preceded by membership on a title team. Not a bad career for a late 1st rnd. pick.

I think you are right. I think Walsh had to make a splash and that was why Amare was signed. It made a splash but the Phoenix doctors were advising against STAT getting a deal that long because they said his knee wouldn't hold up. Walsh was a gentleman and had character but many of his moves hurt the franchise at the time and for the future. The Knicks reputation was so bad after Isiah they needed something but Walsh chose the wrong coach and then tried to make moves to make the wrong choice work. I listen to mike and mike on the way to work and I still remember greenberg going to the bit repeatedly, 'hello Isiah' whenever a team was looking to move a bad contract.

I always thought that the quick Amare signing was also aimed at enticing Lebron. Bit of a desperate move because there was nothing else on the roster. In this sense I understood it. Knicks needed to make themselves attractive to LBJ, so signing Amare immediately was to offer him as a running partner for Lebron. Obviously for the money it was not the smartest signing, but we were between a rock and a hard place, trying desperately to bring in LBJ to save the franchise.
I too was baffled at the Dantoni signing, thought it was terrible.

WaltLongmire wrote:Of course I'm saying this with 20/20 hindsight...

...but you can make a pretty strong case that the Knicks would have been better off staying with Lee and not signing Amare.

Yeah, Amare was a "star" and Lee only a home grown talent, but, taking everything into account, Lee turned out to be the better player of the two if you compare them from the point in time of the trade, and especially after the Amare injury...and he would have been a better complimentary player with Anthony than Amare ever was, IMO.

I always had issues with Lee as a defender, but Amare was just as bad- maybe worse in some ways, was never the rebounder or passer that Lee was, and didn't have Lee's BB IQ. He also improved on his game every year he was with the Knicks...just wish he had made himself into a better defender.

Lee had a pretty good run in the NBA, and his "fall" was preceded by membership on a title team. Not a bad career for a late 1st rnd. pick.

A bunch of us here were actually saying that at the time. Amar'e was the better player at the time... but only for the 2010-11 season. After that, you can make the case Lee was the far better player and value. Que sera.

I was actually bummed when they blew up the Crawford / ZBO / DLee core 9 games into D'Antoni's coaching career here, and 150 games before Lebron was due to be a free agent.