Just for the sake of my enlightenment, what actually makes Amare that much of a better player than Lee? When I hear Lee's best backer say-
Amare is a much better player than Lee so lets not talk about that, I figure that the case is closed- Amare has to be the better player.
But what makes him that much better than Lee? Especially if both are playing at PF, their natural position?
I am all for Amare coming here if it means that LeBron sees it as an enticement and follows, but this is probably the only reason I would want Amare here. None of us really know how Amare will be as a player without Nash, and when I look at what each of them, Lee and Amare, can do, I honestly don't see why we consider him to be that much better than Lee.
I saw a lot of hunger and desire by Amare in the playoffs, but he has a lot of holes in his game:
- very underachieving as a rebounder
- Improved jumper from when he came into the league, but not as good as Lee's at this point
- spotty defender- stronger in the post than Lee (who isn't)but nothing special as a help defender or playing the passing lanes
- very poor passer compared to Lee
- very weak going to his left- looked like me (5'10" with a 5 inch vertical) going to his left a few times against the Lakers' big men.
I have been very frustrated with Lee on defense, and the fact that he has refused to build himself up physically in order the be tougher in the middle continues to amaze me, we all know that he has been playing out of position. How much better might he be as a PF with a traditional shot blocking center next to him?
All this is academic if Amare as a Knicks lures LeBron here, but I don't think that the Amare/Lee comparison is as clear cut for Amare as some of you seem to think.
I also don't know if Lee's max contract is as large as Amare's because don't you also consider years of service when computing it? Lee has 5 years in-Amare 8.We can also offer Lee a 6th year, and this could further reduce the per year amount and still give him more over the life of the contract.
This is something that should have been brought up with LeBron, by the way (maybe it was) -why not just ask him which players he would want on the court with with him, and whether he had a preference between Lee and Amare. I do know that he wanted him on the Cavs last year at the trade deadline- don't remember him saying anything about wanting Lee.
I have fights with Briggs all the time, but I think this is a legitimate topic of discussion, and to be honest, I was thinking of beginning a similar thread myself.
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities- C.N. Bovee
