MS wrote:Bull what? The market was 8 million, even 9 million an offer should have been extended at those prices to see what lee and his agent would have done.

Amare 20.3pts 8.5rbs 1.0ass 3.0tos 55.9%
Lee 18.8pts 10.8rb 3.1ass 2.5tos 58.2%
Bosh 23.5pts 11.2rbs 1.8ass 2.0tos 51.6%
(take 3 more shots than Lee and Amare)

You give lee the edge over amare because he is the better rebounder and passer and turns it over less. Bosh is outperforming lee, I was wrong there.

But Lee at 9 million or Bosh at 17 million. Which is what we could have locked him up for last season. There is someteam out there that will give Lee 12-13 now.

lee is not going anywhere - his first preference is to sign with us. and as well as he has been playing, i don't think there is any team that will offer him more than 6yrs $60M in this economy. and that contract will have a first year salary of somewhere between $8M and $9M.

newyorknewyork wrote:

MS wrote:Walsh made a big mistake and that's a fact. This has nothing to do with contracy motivation. This is who David Lee is. A guy that cares signs autographs long after teammates leave, always says the right things and is underappreciated. Fans have been all over this guy especially people on this board always talking about his limitations. Bosh and Amare play no defense and everyone thinks they are max players. Lee is not putting up numbers because he is on a bad team. He has always shot a high percentage. Look at his stat lines. I don't care if Duhon looks for him. He is going to be a 20pt 10rb guy and we could have locked it in for 9 million. Now we have to blow another 4 million which we could have spent on a Foye, Lorwy type player to add depth.

The plan to clear cap was a good one, but you need to build a team. Drafting a PF that can't crack this rotation may have cost us Lebron and most certaintly will cost us Lee.

It doesn't matter if Lee is going to make 10-12mil rather then 8-9mil. The Knicks don't mind paying as long as the player produces. So if this is who Lee is and he is going to keep improving after he signs a healthy contract then it doesn't matter. He produced 10-10 and 16-10 the last 2 yrs on a cheap rookie contract. He outperformed his contract the last 2 yrs and now going on 3yrs in a row. So the extra 3-4mil he will get per yrs only makes up for outperforming his contracts in the past.

That being said, I believe Lee is 100% motivated by the money more then anything. He had minimal offers in the off-season by teams around the league. He put hrs in the gym to prove that he can be worth the long term contract he wanted. If he got his long term contract its possible he would have still worked hard to prove that he was worth it. But you can never match the motivation and hunger for that first long term contract.

I agree. Lee is a hardworker, but he is motivated by the money and once he gets it, I think his no-defensive ways will return.

djsunyc wrote:i've been pretty adamant about bosh being a better player - and i still think he is...but damn if that gap is not narrowing down...although i would like to see what bosh does under d'antoni...he could get into the 25-30ppg game range possibly...

if lee is consistent on the jumper, then he has to be considered a top flight PF...and one that can easily demand the same contract as a guy like amare will and boozer did.

we're not talking $10 mil a year anymore, we're talking $13-15 a year now.

he's one of the best big man finishers around the rim.

you can find good talent late in the 1st round but isiah found nate, chandler and lee...one gm found all those guys...gotta give him his props...

I also seem to recall that Lee's girlfriend is a lot prettier than Bosh's, and I assume that many of you will take that into consideration when comparing Bosh with Lee.

Paladin55 wrote:

MS wrote:The real shame in this situation is our GM was asleep at the wheel all offseason.

His scouts blew the draft and he didn't lock Lee up at 8/9 million.

His jumper is becoming automatic and he is putting up better numbers than Bosh and Amare. Two players that are asking for 17 million.

So we could have had a point guard of the future and Walsh takes a power forward. We could have had an allstar PF for a bargin and he waits. Nate doesn't fit the system but he is resigned. Bender playing over a lottery pick. Playing guys to the wire with a back to back approaching.

The nets or thunder will steal this kid and its a shame. The only thing in our favor are endorsments.

Not saying that we should not have taken Jennings after what we have seen up to this point, but I am not going to label Hill a draft bust until he gets some real time on the court.

As for locking up Lee at $8/9- do any of us know how much he/his agent wanted? Do you have some insider info that I am unaware of?

the only thing that MS has is a crystal ball. he seems to know for a fact that lebron isn't coming and lee isn't resigning.

JamaicanJetFan wrote:I haven't been able to watch the last 6 games. Has he become Some D Lee?

the jazz hands are still in full effect, but he's been consistently putting up #'s on the offensive end.