Moonangie wrote:

nychamp wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:don't let David Lee walk away.

I couldn't disagree more. Last night's game in Boston was the quintessential Lee game: if you just looked at the box score you would think he had a great game. As if he gave his all but the team was overmatched.

In reality, if you watched the game, Lee was raped all night long by every Celtic who approached the basket with the ball, starting right on the first couple of plays. Often Lee just let it happen, not jumping, just sorta being roughly in position with his hands raised half-assedly. No body contact. No jumping to contest the shot. I mean, why bother right, it's not his fault he's playing out of position, right?????? Poor Dave, life is so unfair. When helping, he was his usual clueless and slow-reacting self. In the first quarter alone he allowed at least 5 or 6 red-carpet style baskets as whoever waltzed right by.

This is why Lee is all the more dangerous to our team, because he can deceive you into thinking he is a main guy with his box scores, when in reality he is a huge hole in the ship through which water is rushing in.

Sign and trade for Bosh would be a huge upgrade for us, and a great deal to make. If it can't happen, let Lee come back IF he fits in AFTER we lock up at least two other dudes. Honestly, I can't stand watching this guy play, he is just so ****ing negligent and aloof on D. Not just bad, offensively horrible. And sorry, that point can't be argued by reasonable people.

I think you meant "defensively horrible", which I completely agree with. However, if he played PF and we had a Camby at the 5, I could definitely see resigning him. His efficiency on offense is remarkable, his ambidexterity among the most polished I have ever seen, he gets a lot of assists, he fights for boards, he hustles off the ball (except on D). If he had some help down low I could see him bringing his defensive game up a notch or two. Right now, he lacks the motivation to do it because the team is in flux. I would like to bring him back and watch him develop further.

Yeah, confusing choice of words. I actually meant so horrible that it's offensive. On defense only.

I agree that with a Camby or Dalembert type his defects could be compensated for. I agree and have posted before that offensively Lee is excellent and super efficient. But he is not, IMO, a core guy. If he's our second best guy on the team next year, I think that is a disappointment that we didn't sign better players.

The lack of defensive aptitude and motivation is killing the Knicks and needs to be fixed urgently.

King1 wrote:If Lee is the worst defensive player in the league and he is so soft, the knicks may be able to get him for a mle or less this summer. Rebounding is a part of defense and Lee wrestles with a guy bigger every night and still gets 11 a game. If rebounding is so easy then why cant anyone else on the team do it? The posters always say lee rolls out a red carpet for someone to come down the lane. How are these players getting to the lane? It is because our guards are so bad they get a running start to the red carpet. Championship teams have great perimeter defenders also.

Rebounding is no doubt important, but it happens after the shot goes up. Not giving a **** until that moment (after the shot is up) is unacceptable. Defense is preventing and altering shots and making it more difficult for the other team to score, thwarting what they want to do, hurting their rhythm. Lee gets his boards but does not prevent shots or make it at all uncomfortable for the other team to get their shots. He is a horrible defender, even factoring in his rebounds.

They guy can't defend the position. He knows it, his coaches know it, Walsh knows as do the Leagues GM's.

ITs the sum of the pieces that matter.

Give me a few euros who can pop from the out side and defend the position. That works actually!

s3231 wrote:Not to mention, offensively Lee and Amare would be so tough to stop together that we could probably get opposing bigs in foul trouble much more frequently. That is our defense!

In all seriousness though, if you feature Amare + Lee on offense and surround them with shooters along with a very good playmaker, you would have a hell of an offense.

Sorry- I heard this same line of reasoning - foul trouble for opposing front court- when we added Zach to Curry.

Not saying it will turn out the same way, but on paper some things look better than they do in practice.

King1 wrote:If Lee is the worst defensive player in the league and he is so soft, the knicks may be able to get him for a mle or less this summer. Rebounding is a part of defense and Lee wrestles with a guy bigger every night and still gets 11 a game. If rebounding is so easy then why cant anyone else on the team do it? The posters always say lee rolls out a red carpet for someone to come down the lane. How are these players getting to the lane? It is because our guards are so bad they get a running start to the red carpet. Championship teams have great perimeter defenders also.

Lee is not the worst defender in the league, but he is at a strength disadvantage at the "out of position" position he is playing on this team, and for a guy who has shown amazing improvement over most aspects of his game in the last 4 years, his inability to strengthen himself as a player is a glaring weakness in his development. He is an interior defender on this team, whether he is playing PF or C, and at those positions you have to have some strength. I don't care if he has an issue with weight training- it is a fact of life today, and if you don't do it you get left behind in certain areas of the game.

If Gallo ever becomes a PF, he will also have to get stronger, or he is going to face the same issues as Lee does, but right now he is more likely to be defending a jump shot than someone working for a shot in the paint.

There were times last night when we looked small and we looked weak. The Knicks as they now stand, are not a very imposing team in terms of physical strength, and it is one issue that has to be addressed prior to next season.

Paladin55 wrote:

King1 wrote:If Lee is the worst defensive player in the league and he is so soft, the knicks may be able to get him for a mle or less this summer. Rebounding is a part of defense and Lee wrestles with a guy bigger every night and still gets 11 a game. If rebounding is so easy then why cant anyone else on the team do it? The posters always say lee rolls out a red carpet for someone to come down the lane. How are these players getting to the lane? It is because our guards are so bad they get a running start to the red carpet. Championship teams have great perimeter defenders also.

Do you actually have you posts pre-typed so you can just cut and paste when you decide to post in a thread? Just wondering because I always seem to think that I have read what you post before.

Lee is not the worst defender in the league, but he is at a strength disadvantage at the "out of position" position he is playing on this team, and for a guy who has shown amazing improvement over most aspects of his game in the last 4 years, his inability to strengthen himself as a player is a glaring weakness in his development. He is an interior defender on this team, whether he is playing PF or C, and at those positions you have to have some strength. I don't care if he has an issue with weight training- it is a fact of life today, and if you don't do it you get left behind in certain areas of the game.

If Gallo ever becomes a PF, he will also have to get stronger, or he is going to face the same issues as Lee does, but right now he is more likely to be defending a jump shot than someone working for a shot in the paint.

There were times last night when we looked small and we looked weak. The Knicks as they now stand, are not a very imposing team in terms of physical strength, and it is one issue that has to be addressed prior to next season.

Well I begged Isiah Thomas for 4 months to take Andrew Bynum but did not pan out. I would say 1/8th of my posts still go back to that time. I tried

TMS wrote:i would much rather sign 2 guys like Scola & Manu for the money it would take to sign Amare... u can get more production out of those 2 guys & build a team with more depth & balance... plus Amare isn't exactly the most durable player out there... scary to invest a 5 year max deal on someone w/his injury history

Id like to get a C but who is available-when it comes down to pure basketball--I mean a baller--Amare is a baller Amare at his best is better than Bosh. I think it could be possible to get Amare for 4 years max with a team option on year 5. I was reading where Amare has lost 25 pounds this year and if you look at his production the last two months--hes been a 25-10 machine.

If you put Stoudemire at C with David Lee at point power forward--you have two all stars in your frontline--think about the differential for one moment--we dont play with two bigs--thats two guys who shoot 55% and grab 10 rebounds.