grillco wrote:I know he's gone and isn't coming back and I'm not saying Lee staying instead of signing Amare would have made the team better (but the two of them together would not have been bad), but there has been a strange paradox regarding Lee and Stoudemire. Supposedly Amare's not going to be as good because he's being fed by Nash. Lee was said to have no more upside and one of the bloggers posted on the homepage says we won't miss Lee once we seen Randolph. So Lee was the only consistent and improving bright spot on the Knicks for the last five seasons, a team that never had a great point guard. Marbury's assists and point totals dwindled each year and the team was crap. So why wouldn't Lee have been even better with a really good point guard, and not a mediocre to crappy PG or a wanna be SG?

Basically if Amare needs a great feeder just to get/maintain his numbers, why wouldn't Lee's numbers have also improved with a great assist man? I wish Lee well, but it's a bummer that he's in GS. And Randolph can't really be a part of this conversation yet. He has to do more than impress with potential and athleticism, he has to put up the numbers and help the team be competitive. That said, I welcome Amare and Randolph and hope they both do everything we want them to do. Add Melo and/or Paul and the Knicks are back. Only time will tell, but I'm looking forward to where the team is going.

Thanks for reading...if anyone does.

amar'e actually had better numbers last year when nash DIDNT play. of course nash helps anybody he plays with but amar'e doesn't need nash to be successful.

knicks1248 wrote:The way "BIG C" discribes randolph, you would think we just traded for KG...

http://www.fromthebaseline.com/home-mainmenu-1/blogs/2494-anthony-randolph-the-best-kept-secret-

Would that it were true. Danilo is going to be as good as Dirk and Randolph is Garnett. That means the Knicks will have two hall of famers AND get Melo and Paul. That should be good for 10 straight titles! Woo hoo!

knicks1248 wrote:The way "BIG C" discribes randolph, you would think we just traded for KG...

http://www.fromthebaseline.com/home-mainmenu-1/blogs/2494-anthony-randolph-the-best-kept-secret-

he does have that kind of upside. ARs skills and athleticism are very reminiscent of the same skills that KG came into the league with, the only difference is that KG was a bit bigger. the biggest key in KGs development was his ability to put the weight and muscle on. can AR do it? i hope so, because if he does, watch out.

nyk4ever wrote:

grillco wrote:I know he's gone and isn't coming back and I'm not saying Lee staying instead of signing Amare would have made the team better (but the two of them together would not have been bad), but there has been a strange paradox regarding Lee and Stoudemire. Supposedly Amare's not going to be as good because he's being fed by Nash. Lee was said to have no more upside and one of the bloggers posted on the homepage says we won't miss Lee once we seen Randolph. So Lee was the only consistent and improving bright spot on the Knicks for the last five seasons, a team that never had a great point guard. Marbury's assists and point totals dwindled each year and the team was crap. So why wouldn't Lee have been even better with a really good point guard, and not a mediocre to crappy PG or a wanna be SG?

Basically if Amare needs a great feeder just to get/maintain his numbers, why wouldn't Lee's numbers have also improved with a great assist man? I wish Lee well, but it's a bummer that he's in GS. And Randolph can't really be a part of this conversation yet. He has to do more than impress with potential and athleticism, he has to put up the numbers and help the team be competitive. That said, I welcome Amare and Randolph and hope they both do everything we want them to do. Add Melo and/or Paul and the Knicks are back. Only time will tell, but I'm looking forward to where the team is going.

Thanks for reading...if anyone does.

amar'e actually had better numbers last year when nash DIDNT play. of course nash helps anybody he plays with but amar'e doesn't need nash to be successful.

Exactly. Nash is a double edged sword. He makes things so easy for guys that it makes them seem dependent on him. As said, Amare had better stats without Nash last season and Dirk improved in a couple of area's once he no longer had Nash to depend on.

CrushAlot wrote:Someone on this forum brilliantly said that David Lee is our Herschel Walker.

i liked it too. very appropriate

fishmike wrote:Lee is a really good player and I like his game, but he's simply not even close to Amare's level. Amare was a beast before Nash got there. Amare's performance over the last 40+ games last year was MVP caliber stuff. SImply awesome. Neither players are good help defenders but Amare is an excellent m2m defender plays his man very tough (the #s prove this).

Losing Lee hurts because he was a homegrown guy who got better every year and really embraced the city and all things Knicks. He was classy and unselfish and that was something to speak of in this era of crap.

That being said Amare is an elite frontcourt player who can impose his will on games and change outcomes. Lee just isnt in that caliber of player and he's not a center, so once the upgrade to Amare took place Lee was out.

No argument there. I was more talking about Lee still having an upside if also paired with a better point guard. The said, lee created a lot of his own shots with offensive boards/put backs. I also feel that Amare could have been a center Lee the PF. The things I like about what we got for Lee is that he got a great deal for time served while the team and management almost drove it into the ground and the Knicks got back some nice you talent that they aren't committed to for any substantial length of time. Bring in Melo or Paul or both and the Knicks are stacked. Right now they may or may not be better, but D'Antoni is allowed to play the best players to win. Last years he wasn't playing Harrington because they were obviously featuring Lee and Danilo. One for trade and the other to try and show the "King" that they had some good talent for him to play with. Unfortunately neither plan worked, but again the new Heat were hatched in 2006, reaffirmed in 2008, and a reality in 2010. Niether the Knicks nor any other team had a chance without clearing for three players. What a coincidence that the Heat knew to do that...I think not.

Sangfroid wrote:

arkrud wrote:One community pick gone and another joined...
Seriously this topick if far from over.
The next season performance of both Lee and Stat will make it more clear... may be...

Seriously, next years' numbers will tell who benefitted most from the trade.

It won't really be about their individual numbers. It's really all about the way they help get wins. In that area I think both players will help their teams. I just think Amare commands greater respect from other teams and thus his impact is somewhat of an intangible. They'll play us differently with him in there as opposed to Lee. Lee could score, but he didn't strike the same fear that Amar'e does lurking near the paint. You simply can't overstate that difference. He will impose his will on games which is something Lee never really did. He was a stat collector but really wasn't a force out there. Late in games you'll feel that too, which also isn't really Lee's forte.