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Finestrg
Posts: 27296
Alba Posts: 1
Joined: 1/1/2006
Member: #1069
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I went through ever roster for every team in the NBA the other day trying to compare Lee and Robinson to similar players around the league to get a feel for their worth. Robinson should get a contract similar to the one Leandro Barbosa signed last season (right around $6 mil. per). Maybe he gets a little more. That's good value for Nate - he's worth that and worth keeping in my estimation. For Lee, like it or not, he's gonna command between $8-9 mil. per over at least 5 years minimum. He'll probably get more - it wouldn't shock me if Donnie waits on it and some team with cap room signs him to a $10 mil. per offer sheet. Then Donnie, provided he does elect to go that route, has to decide. Is a limited player who's a plus rebounder yeah, but not a great (not even good) offensive player (the jumper's nowhere near where it needs to be to take the next step, no post moves and he's regressed at the foul line this season so far) and doesn't guard anyone worth keeping at $10 million a pop? I'm not sure. Don't let the GS game fool you - he had a great game there and he always plays hard every night and is a tremendous character guy, but put a big asterisk next to that boxscore as far as I'm concerned. It was hard to really take away anything of any value from that game against the Warriors - the entire GS squad should be embarrassed by the effort they gave there, esp. Biedrins and Turiaf (those guys are supposedly known for their defense too). That GS team has major problems and just isn't clicking. Lee, along with the rest of the Knicks, took advantage as they should've. But make no mistake, GS made a lousy, shorthanded Knick squad look like world champs. Gotta take that game with a grain of salt... Now when you match up Lee against the better starting 4s and 5s in the league, even some good reserves at those positions, you can usually see the major disparity in talent and you can see that we're playing at a disadvantage with his matchup too often - tommorow night's game is a good barometer for Lee. I'm curious to see what kind of game he has against Oden, Aldridge and co. Let me see him put up 37/22 against that team... I'm also concerned that he's peaked already. Realistically, how much better will he wind up getting? Big things to consider. I'd like to keep him on board as a key reserve, but for $10 million a season??? Not sure that's the right move. Not when we can get quality pieces for him to help build and mold this team for the future.
We're a team that needs everything right now - upgrades at every position across the board except probably the 3 (Chandler's a solid young player that will get better, I think Gallo will eventually contribute when healthy and there's a good chance LeBron's on his way anyway). With all the positions we'll need to fill (and hopefully fill adequately) the next few years, flipping Lee for a real good player, several good players and/or draft picks makes perfect sense to me. Bayless and Frye is tremendous value for David Lee IMO. Like I said a few weeks ago, I'd even take Sergio Rodriguez and Frye or Sergio and Webster for Lee. Any two-piece combination from Portland would help us greatly for years to come. And as stacked as Portland is, their #1 weakness might very well be rebounding. Oden's slowly easying his way back, Aldridge is real solid overall but not an exceptional rebounder, Pryzbilla's backup material all the way and Frye doesn't give you much on the glass (although I agree that he could be a different player under D'Antoni with a bigger role esp. as an offensive player - Lee might be at his ceiling already, Frye has more talent and could still get better if he wants it). But I do think they'd like Lee there. He'd be a quality fit that would have a big impact for them. He could be the missing piece for them right now - they basically have everything else. I've thought that for some time now. I really like Portland as a trading partner for us.
[Edited by - finestrg on 12-02-2008 12:58 AM]
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12/1/2008 5:35 PM
