Kosmovitelli of RGM wrote this on Lee. Kosmo for those that don't know is probably one of the most intelligent and level headed Knicks fans I've ever seen. Probably knows more about the game than the entire rest of that forum combined. Never has an agenda.
Give it a read...it's a good one. All of his posts are.
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I think you all noticed David Lee has been playing too many minutes (46 and 48 minutes the last two games) and attempting too many shots recently.
About the minutes, David Lee is averaging 36.9 minutes per game this season but he played an average of 40.4 minutes the last 21 games (I started the count on december 4 : big win against Atlanta, beginning of a four game winning streak and the start of our playoff push).
About the FG attempts, David Lee took 574 shots during the first 40 games of the season, it's approx 14.4 per game. The interesting stat is that if you add the games when Lee attempted 14 FGs or more, we lost 14 times (and won 8 times). For what it's worth, Lee averaged 11.7 shots per game last season.
If you compare with Chris Bosh, he's averaging 35.3 minutes per game and attempted 587 FGs (approx 14.3 per game). Stats with 14 shots attempted or more : 12 wins and 10 losses.
Both players average 11.2 rebounds per game. David Lee has a better FG% with 0.561 (0.522 for Bosh) but Lee's averaging 19.3 pts per game (23.8 for Bosh). Bosh shoots as much as Lee (14.3 per game), he has a worse FG% but he's still the most productive player because there's a pretty big difference in their stats and you probably already guessed what it is : Lee shot 166 FTs this season and Bosh 378. Bosh is going to the FT line twice as much as Lee (2.3 to be more precise, approx 9,2 FT attempts per game for Bosh and 4.3 for Lee). Bosh is going to the FT line almost as much as Dwight Howard (who's averaging 10 FTs per game). If you compare with Zach Randolph, he's averaging 36.8 minutes, 20.5 pts, 11.5 reb, 16.1 FG attempts (way more than Lee and Bosh) and just like Lee he's not going to the FT line that much : 196 times in 39 games so approx 4.9 per game. I also took a look at Curry's stats when he was force-fed by Isiah and had his most productive season in NY in 2006-2007 : Curry attempted 12.5 shots per game and was going to the FT line 8.1 times per game. Curry was shooting less than Lee right now and although he was a terrific scoring option and a post player capable of commanding a double team, he was going less to the FT line than Bosh (Bosh averaged 8.5 FT per game that same 2006-2007 season).
I also noticed Chris Bosh had 9 blocks this month (Zach Randolph 3 blocks), you want the number for Lee ? It's easy : 0 ! Gallinari had 6 blocks this month and he's playing less than Lee.
If you want another comparison : Gallo is averaging 11 shots per game and Al Harrington 15 (more than Lee ! LOL). The most ridiculous thing for Al Harrington is he's only playing 30.6 mins per game.
I'll end it here. I'm not trying to say Lee is a bad player. Obviously he's a good player but is he currently a better player than Zach Randolph ? Considering how he's playing right now, he seems to be going in the Randolph direction. And I don't like that. If Lee continues to shoot that much but can't expand his game, can't draw double teams, go to the FT line and put opposing players in foul trouble or defend and block shots, you have to wonder if he has a future on this team. We already knew he was bad defender but I see little effort on defense (and the incredibly weak number of block shots clearly shows that he's not trying that hard for a player with his size).
I already saw fans claiming we should have inked him to a long term contract last summer because Lee's worth $14 mil per season right now but it ain't true. I don't even think he's worth more than $10 mil per season at this point. He's a complementary player, not a first option like he's used now.
Mike d'Antoni has to stop the circus with Lee and Harrington playing too many minutes and shooting the ball too much. They're not versatile enough to log so many minutes. D'Antoni has to find some balance with the roster.