Papabear Says

Yes. Not only is Lee a good player, he is a ticket draw and entertaining to watch. It is a pleasure to watch this kid come here and grow up within our system. As crazy as N8 is, he is a keeper also. He has personality and has talent.

I think Walsh will resign him. I just hope he doesn't overpay him like Dolan/Layden did to Allan Houston after the 1999 season. Keep cap space till 2010.

I can only take an educated guess. Knowing Lee, he wants to stay' in NY, so there's a plus and he knows that he cannot be one of the players who tries to break the bank, not unless he wants a shot at a championship in NY. He knows what he's capable of and he knows what he's worth. I cannot see Lee getting greedy and so far he has stood as a very good example of a player since he's been with us. I do think he should get a good deal though. I think Lee will be fair about the whole thing and I think the brass at least likes him enough to keep him in NY.

So more than likely, he will return to us.

[Edited by - 4949 on 01-25-2009 5:10 PM]

If he get traded you will get fleeced by someone

Posted by fishmike:

Walsh's history is overpaying for his own guys, then trading them. He gave big deals to Jalen Rose, Antonio and Dale Davis and Croshere only to later trade them.

So he actually inflated some other teams payroll...
Nice job for Donney to undrmine competitors.

I got a good idea, let's trade the closest thing to an all-star we have so that MAYBE we might get a player in 2 years. Let's trade the guy with the most hustle, with leadership abilities, and putting up crazy numbers right now. Yeah great idea.

This all depends on the contract. Something tells me Lee might not score big with an offer sheet and we can retain him with an acceptable contract. Not a given but I think there's a chance.

If Lee ends up with a 14M starting year offer then well... we lose him for nothing. If the Knicks think that's a probability then he will get traded.

Incidentally we can sign him to an extension this year still. There's a window in June prior to the draft when you can do this. So maybe we take advantage of that.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by toodarkmark:

I got a good idea, let's trade the closest thing to an all-star we have so that MAYBE we might get a player in 2 years. Let's trade the guy with the most hustle, with leadership abilities, and putting up crazy numbers right now. Yeah great idea.

or the alternative, let's sign up D Lee to a longterm deal & hamper any chance we have of signing a max FA in 2 years. Let's give up any chance of having 2 superstar players to build around so that we can keep a guy who isn't one. Not such a great idea.

Whats wrong with 1 superstar and 2 above average stars? That's probably much more realistic than the 2-max-superstar dream.

Lee - 10M
LeBron - MAX
? - 10-15M

We can accomplish that. Even if it takes the 2011 offseason to fill in the "?" player.

It's a concept I've toyed with in my warped little mind: 2 Max FAs and a mediocre supporting cast. OR, 1 max player, 2 above average stars, and a mediocre supporting cast? The latter might actually be better...and if not at least more realistic.

Again, If Lee wants 14M then that's going to hurt us. What if we can start him at 9M though? We're still in business to get 1MAX and 1STAR players in here.

Posted by TMS:

2011 has absolutely no bearing on what we should be looking to do in 2010... we have plenty of cap space to work w/in 2011 regardless if we sign up 2 max players or not the year prior.

Sure it does.

In 2009 you extend Lee. In 2010 you land LeBron or Bosh - at least 1 player. If you can't get two? You have tons of cap space in 2011 to add to your core.

You don't panic in 2010 and do a Chicago Bulls and throw all your remaining cap space at Jalen Rose (LMFAO AT THAT... not funny we wound up with the ass end of that same contract though. whoops.)

A point I try to make, even in a round about way recently, is that 2010 is not the end all. We cleared space - and dropped two terrible players in the process - so we could at least make a run at 2010. If it does not pan out it's not the worst thing in the world! We DONT have to score 2 max FA superstars in 2010. We dont HAVE to dump David Lee to try to score big in 2010.

We can sign Lee if it's an appropriate contract, we can land a superstar or solid 2nd tier star in 2010, and we can round out the roster in 2011.

The 2010-2011 season isn't a CHAMPIONSHIP OR BUST season. In fact, regardless of the path this process takes, the 2011-2012 season is the first season anyone should place BIG expectations on. Not before.

So, no, it's no big deal to lock up Lee, land 1 player in 2010, and land the second big player in 2011 if 2010 isn't a grand slam.

Again, it does not have to be 2-max-superstars. The makeup of the team could be 4 very solid upper 2nd tier stars and still succeed. Or 1 max and 2 middle 2nd tier, etc.