JamaicanJetFan wrote:i can't believe they were was a time when i thought david lee was good

LivingLegend wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:whether it to be to bundle Jefferies or just for young assets and or picks? Or are they being conservative believing that they will sign Lee and keep him long term?

There seem to be many young guys around the league who just need the right opportunity to play. I would be willing to look a lot of ways with Lee if I could somehow get Mcgee Bayless Randolph etc...
to walk away with nothing after he gave us quality play for 4 years would be horrible and I just cant justify paying him what he wants in this scenario. I think it's best for Lee and the team to part ways imho.

I believe we would trade him in the right deal with little hesitiation.

In fact we need to move him before he exposes himself further --- if he keeps this up much longer his value is going to plummet.

I'd take any of Bayless, McGee or Randolph for Lee. I think Donnie's going to make some moves -- what they'll be I don't know but I have a feeling some bad eggs are going to go.

djsunyc wrote:

martin wrote:

djsunyc wrote:lee would have to agree to give up his bird's rights. considering how much he wanted a big deal this past summer, there is no way in hell he agrees to a trade. lee + nate are knicks and will walk after the season...unless the knicks strike out in free agency and will have to re-sign lee.

you just said that lee won't give up his bird rights (no way in hell he agrees to a trade) and that he will also walk after the season, thus loosing bird rights.

pick one or the other.

no agent or player will give up their shot at a S&T. if there's none there, he will walk. but he's not going to give up that option today.

well, I guess I see your point. But I would have to say that this in an exception year. Lots of teams with cap space and Lee and his agent KNOWS that Donnie ain't gonna do just any old sign and trade. Maybe Lee and whatever for Bosh or Amare.

Caseloads wrote:

JamaicanJetFan wrote:i can't believe they were was a time when i thought david lee was good

I never thought d lee was good, he is a hustle player 8th man and is crap. PERIOD.

I would not go that far, but he has not improved certain aspects of his game that needed to be improved.

Offensively he is as good as he will ever be. His jumper is now quite good, he goes to the basket with both hands, and he even has some nice post moves. I think that everyone would agree that he has made great progress on the offensive end.

Defensively he almost seems to have regressed. He has refused to work on his upper body strength. If you listen to his biggest UK supporter, you will believe that he has almost a philosophical bias against weight training. I know where he is coming from in some ways, because as a HS and college athlete, I rarely did weight training. Now, years later, I realize that I was a fool for not putting in the offseason hours with the weights, and I always tell my story to the kids I coach.

I was not getting paid $7M/year, though. I also did not have a world class training complex to go to where I could have a trainer work with me. Lee does not have to look like Ben Wallace in his prime, but why not put in some upper body work for the banging he does inside.

The defensive mind set is another issue, though. You get the feeling sometimes that he goes through the motions on D, but is not really committed to it. Hill comes in for a few minutes the other day is flying around all over the place, falling on the floor, and looking like he wants to play D. Gallo, the soft Euro who plays on the wing, has more blocks than Lee, for goodness sake, and actually tries to mix it up at times.

Lee is a pretty good athlete. His combine results were not bad-he can jump and his agility score was fine. His ability to go after rebounds like he does makes me believe that he could be a decent defender and block a few shots if he really wanted to.

I just don't know what is going on in his head sometimes when he is playing D.

Finestrg wrote:

earthmansurfer wrote:Finestrg - I think Orlando is a good destination for Lee. The options are limited as he has to agree and unless a team throws money at him, I don't see him agreeing to but a few teams. Clearly Orlando is one of them. Do any good teams, outside of Utah (which has our pick) have a high pick coming to them via trade? I can only see a good team with a high pick giving it up for Lee. Maybe a mid first from any other team...

Regarding bird rights, what is the big deal with Lee losing them? I don't get it, he is only going to get so much in salary and any team that gets him will already be good and at or over the salary cap. I don't really understand the advantage for Lee so can some one explain this please?

I was thinking about it this way -- remember the game Anderson had recently against Detroit where he went something like 1-11 from 3? Rough game. This kid's still developing - the last thing Orlando would ever want to see happen is see this kid have a performance like that in a big spot against the Celtics in a conference finals or in the finals against a team like the Lakers. Not trying to say that would happen, it probably wouldn't - Anderson's a good player who continues to make good progress (he's rebounded since that game nicely before sitting out recently with a sprained ankle), but still point is, I'm not sure a win-now team like Orlando would want to be overly reliant on a 21-year-old 6'10" guy taking that many 3s in a big spot if they could come up with a different option. Plus, they already have a very similar player in Rashard Lewis...While Lee doesn't have this kid's ceiling (which is why Anderson works for the Knicks, I'd love to rebuild with him here), I think he might be more equipped right now to give them more of a consistent performance and steadier production closer to the basket over the course of a stretch drive and deep into the playoffs. With Lewis, Carter, Pietrus and Nelson they've got the perimeter offense covered - now I think they could use a lunch-pail type to help Howard in close and augment that perimeter attack. Hey in theory you can look at Lee to Orlando this way - his presence might make the Magic a lot more balanced...

As for Lee's Bird rights, I don't see how he losses them. I thought that as long as a player plays with a certain team for at least 3 years, he retains his Bird rights even if he gets traded. Now the new team will have the opportunity to go over the cap if need be to resign him. Not sure, I'm terrible with salary cap stuff -- DJ, Martin and some of the other fellas would know better..

Makes sense now, we are the best destination in the NBA for players that go 1-11, that's our schtick..

kam77 wrote:Trade Lee, Gallo and Curry for Chris Bosh.

Then sign Wade and LBJ in the summer.

bosh is playing like a monster right now. amare is not even close.

he's not going anywhere until the summer (if he wants to leave canada)...