Lee sets high goals for himself and Knicks

 By
 
 
Keith Schlosser


 8:22AM

With Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah garnering the most attention and respective headlines, Courtney Lee has flown relatively under the radar as a promising new acquisition for the New York Knicks.

But with all this talk surrounding an overall elevated effort on the defensive end (spearheaded by Noah), Lee is still key. He provides that depth, and certainly stands tall as someone who has never shied away from guarding an opposing team's best player. The acquisition of Rose (and his larger expiring contract) channeled plenty of money into the point guard position. This shifted the team's roster needs rather quickly heading into the offseason. Instead of a dynamic scorer like Arron Afflalo, Lee is a much better fit for the new-look Knicks as a more versatile 3-and-D guy,.

Carmelo Anthony had some high praise for New York's new shooting guard.

"A guy who nobody is really speaking about is Courtney Lee. I think he's going to be a great addition to this team," he said during Monday's media day availability. "He's a guy who can come in and do all of the little things, do multiple things out there on the basketball court that a lot of people don't talk about."

As far as Lee is concerned, he already has some lofty goals for himself and the team. He knows the expectations should be high, but doesn't appear intimidated to embrace them.

"I think that can be a goal we can set for ourselves," he said of the Knicks standing as a top 10-15 defensive team in the league. "I think we have the potential to be a good defensive team.

"I just think with the talent on our team, we rank amongst the best in the NBA," he added. "It's on us to build that chemistry."

The guard appears to have a good handle on what his role will be.

"Just going out there and competing on both ends of the floor, especially defense," he said. "If you go out there and get a stop and a steal, that leads to a fast break and excitement on the other end."

Lee has worked more on his long-range shooting this offseason. Now a part of the Knicks' fast-pace offense, he believes his touches and respective utilization on the offensive end will increase. And he's ready for such a challenge.

"One thing Coach (Jeff) Hornacek told me during the offseason was that we're going to run. I've been trying to get my wind up to the next level," Lee said.

The Knicks have been known to shy away from outlining specific expectations during Phil Jackson's tenure. Lee, however, has been brought here to fill a void and do a respective job. As he aims to ensure his contributions are felt, he appears to know what the most important end goal is as well.

"Hopefully," he said, "the outcome is making the playoffs, and then we'll go from there."

I really love the Lee signing. After dealing with Afflalo last year, I think Lee is a much better fit for this team. He has a very solid all around game. It's not easy for some to see the very real differences in how Lee and Afflalo play if you look at the stats which look similar, but there is a huge difference in how they play.

Lee is a better transition player and still a better defender. I think he will fit very well with other more high usage players. He's very comfortable with catch and shoot touches rather than looking to post up similar to Afflalo. Lee is a better finisher at this point as well. I'm very excited about what Lee can bring to the team this year.

Malcolm wrote:Hornacek is an improvement over Fisher.
Lee is an improvement over Afflalo.
Rose is an improvement over Calderon.
Noah is an improvement over Lopez.
Porzingis(2) is an improvement over Porzingis(1).
Jennings is an improvement over Grant.

How does this not amount to at least 9 more wins . . .
to go at least 41-41 (?)

The Knicks had the talent to be 41-41 last year.

Only major off-season screw-up was not re-signing Williams . . .

I like the skill level of this roster and a vet like Lee is good cuz he's got experience and he's smart. I think we have a higher skill level on this roster now, along with more experience. I can't wait to see what Hornacek will do with this roster. Lee in particular can be used in a lot of different ways in a more spread Triangle. Lee talked about increasing the number of 3's he takes this year.

Malcolm wrote:Hornacek is an improvement over Fisher.
Lee is an improvement over Afflalo.
Rose is an improvement over Calderon.
Noah is an improvement over Lopez.
Porzingis(2) is an improvement over Porzingis(1).
Jennings is an improvement over Grant.

How does this not amount to at least 9 more wins . . .
to go at least 41-41 (?)

The Knicks had the talent to be 41-41 last year.

Only major off-season screw-up was not re-signing Williams . . .

The talent level was the least of our problems last season, no one knew their role(outside of melo and lopez), the rotation was absolutely ridiculous, the pace we played was stupid, and played out, countless blown 4th quarter leads, because you couldn't figure who to play or when to play them, lack of Free Throws because we took a million jump shots.

when you tweak your system to fit your roster, like woodson did after MDA quit, you saw the difference, 12 extra wins with same roster

nixluva wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:Agree about Afflalo, Lee should be a more stabilizing influence. AA played out of control too many times, was in his own world. Glad Phil passed on him amd brought in Lee.

Also didn't like AA's reaction to not getting the ball at times. He visibly pouted and one time he didn't even react positively when his teammate made the shot. It was very strange to me. He just seems to have an overinflated view of himself. I think Lee is more humble while still having solid ability.

I didn't have a problem with AA, I had a problem with the way they use him, what exactly was his role suppose to be....that's the question that was never answered, or even told to him. It's one thing to bench him and then you start winning, it's another thing to bench him and then you start losing more, of course you would be a little upset about the change that didn't benefit anyone but sasha

nixluva wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

nixluva wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:Agree about Afflalo, Lee should be a more stabilizing influence. AA played out of control too many times, was in his own world. Glad Phil passed on him amd brought in Lee.

Also didn't like AA's reaction to not getting the ball at times. He visibly pouted and one time he didn't even react positively when his teammate made the shot. It was very strange to me. He just seems to have an overinflated view of himself. I think Lee is more humble while still having solid ability.

I didn't have a problem with AA, I had a problem with the way they use him, what exactly was his role suppose to be....that's the question that was never answered, or even told to him. It's one thing to bench him and then you start winning, it's another thing to bench him and then you start losing more, of course you would be a little upset about the change that didn't benefit anyone but sasha

Well 1st of all he's a F'n SG!!! That was his role. He got open looks from 3 and he got some post ups, but he almost NEVER PASSED THE BALL. Aside from his style of play I think his lack of defense was another major issue.

That was all on AA. He was a huge black hole and one thing nobody can deny about the triangle is that it promotes passing. His bball IQ overall was questionable.

Lee is a solid player. No comp at all.

yellowboy90 wrote:IF they can get him to take 5-7 3PAS a game it would help him to have more of an offensive impact. There is no reason why he should not be used like a Wesley Matthews or J.R. Smith. Hornacek needs to put his talents to use on offense. I was happy to see Lee mentioned that he and the coach talked about increasing his shots.

I am very confident that Hornacek knows what to do. He's shown he can run a very potent offense and involve his guards. Gerald Green had done nothing most of his career and really thrived under Hornacek.

nixluva wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:IF they can get him to take 5-7 3PAS a game it would help him to have more of an offensive impact. There is no reason why he should not be used like a Wesley Matthews or J.R. Smith. Hornacek needs to put his talents to use on offense. I was happy to see Lee mentioned that he and the coach talked about increasing his shots.

I am very confident that Hornacek knows what to do. He's shown he can run a very potent offense and involve his guards. Gerald Green had done nothing most of his career and really thrived under Hornacek.

Green had one good year then he went back to normal. His 3PAs did increase with Jeff though so that is a good sign but Green was shooting threes at a higher rate than Lee even before he went to PHX.

nixluva wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:

nixluva wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:IF they can get him to take 5-7 3PAS a game it would help him to have more of an offensive impact. There is no reason why he should not be used like a Wesley Matthews or J.R. Smith. Hornacek needs to put his talents to use on offense. I was happy to see Lee mentioned that he and the coach talked about increasing his shots.

I am very confident that Hornacek knows what to do. He's shown he can run a very potent offense and involve his guards. Gerald Green had done nothing most of his career and really thrived under Hornacek.

Green had one good year then he went back to normal. His 3PAs did increase with Jeff though so that is a good sign but Green was shooting threes at a higher rate than Lee even before he went to PHX.

I think you're missing the point. The WAY that he had Green playing was the right way and it helped lead to a good season for Green and yes he dipped the next season but the style of play was still the same and I think if Hornacek puts Lee in that similar situation he can thrive. Green had more starts in his 1st season maybe that helped. What is the point of trying to dismiss the success even if it was mostly in one season? No one is suggesting he turned him into an All Star and fixed him permanently. If we can have that kind of success with Lee then GREAT. Maybe this time it can last for more than one season being applied to a more stable NBA performer.

It's called being balance. No one dismissed Green one season but yet there should not be anything wrong with telling the whole story. Lee is signed for 4 years so I would hope if Hornacek can get him shooting more it would last more than one season and not just shooting more but having Lee keep or increase his efficiency.

like I said early I am glad it is something Jeff brought up to Lee. I hope he will be willing and comfortable taking more shots.