Koufos

[dude12]

Courtney Lee would be a huge improvement over what we have been running out at SG.

 

[206Fan]

Courtney Lee would be a huge improvement over what we have been running out at SG.

How so? Him and McLemore are both solid shooters. Him and McLemore both are below average ball handlers. Him and McLemore both can't get to the rim. Him and McLemore are both extremely inconsistent on offense. Lee is a slightly better defender who's benefited from playing alongside arguably the best defensive PG in the game. McLemore hasn't benefited playing alongside Rondo nor being developed under Karls' defensive philosophies.

I don't see it as a huge upgrade. Lee is a fringe starter in the NBA. He's 3&D, but if he's not hitting his shots, his D wouldn't be enough to help his overall play, as compared to someone like Danny Green.

 

[Amit149]

How so? Him and McLemore are both solid shooters. Him and McLemore both are below average ball handlers. Him and McLemore both can't get to the rim. Him and McLemore are both extremely inconsistent on offense. Lee is a slightly better defender who's benefited from playing alongside arguably the best defensive PG in the game. McLemore hasn't benefited playing alongside Rondo nor being developed under Karls' defensive philosophies.

I don't see it as a huge upgrade. Lee is a fringe starter in the NBA. He's 3&D, but if he's not hitting his shots, his D wouldn't be enough to help his overall play, as compared to someone like Danny Green.

Lee is nothing special, he is a fringe starter and his defense is nothing close to Danny Green (I would call him a capable defender, not a good one) and he can be inconsistent on offense.
On the other hand he is a fringe starter in the NBA and that's something I can't say about anyone we currently hold at SG and he doesn't have any glaring holes in his game.

Would Courtney Lee be my first choice? no.
But he is good enough on a SG market that doesn't have a lot to offer after Batum and Bazemore (you can add Crabbe to that list).

 

[dude12]

How so? Him and McLemore are both solid shooters. Him and McLemore both are below average ball handlers. Him and McLemore both can't get to the rim. Him and McLemore are both extremely inconsistent on offense. Lee is a slightly better defender who's benefited from playing alongside arguably the best defensive PG in the game. McLemore hasn't benefited playing alongside Rondo nor being developed under Karls' defensive philosophies.

I don't see it as a huge upgrade. Lee is a fringe starter in the NBA. He's 3&D, but if he's not hitting his shots, his D wouldn't be enough to help his overall play, as compared to someone like Danny Green.

Can't agree with you on your assessment of Lee. He's been a guy getting 24-30 minutes per game on playoff caliber teams. He was lauded for his perimeter defense when he went to Charlotte this past season. He's in there for his defense and is just enough of a threat from 3 that you can't ignore him. Charlotte's offensive numbers did not suffer when he came over. Not sure what the comparison to Danny Green proves. Lee is a UFA and obtainable. We haven't had that type of defense from the SG position since...... Doug Christie? Maybe I'm forgetting someone but he's been damn good. Nobody can say that about Ben's defense.

 

[ESP47]

huh?

Lee has been one of the consistent "3andD"guys this league has had for the past 5 years. I think he gets overrated as a defender as he doesn't make the impact that someone like Danny Green and a few other name value 3 and D guys, but he would be a quality upgrade for us, especially considering how little USG we have to go around.

He's an effective low USG guy who knows Joerger and is more importantly consistent with his play. We're going to get 37%-40% 3pt shooting, 8-10 PPG, 2 RPG, 1.5-2APG and good defense. Considering our SG position has actively cost us wins the past couple seasons, bringing in the consistency of Lee would be a welcome sight

It's obvious that he's an upgrade but there's a question we have to think about. Is he a big enough upgrade over McLemore to justify spending 2.5x more on to sign as a FA?

If I had to come up with some sort of grading scale out of 10 for how McLemore and Lee are as starters, I'd give McLemore a 3/10 and Lee a 5/10. McLemore is below average but not Jared Cunningham bad and Lee is basically right at average. You know you're going to get steady defense, inconsistent shooting game to game but consistent year end numbers.

Under Mike Malone, McLemore was pretty solid. I believe he was shooting upper 40% from the field, 40% from three and was playing pretty decent defense to boot. I think of Joerger and Malone as fairly similar coaches so can Joerger get that kind of production out of McLemore or is this kid toast? I've been wanting to get rid of him for a couple years now but I'm just not sold on Lee. If we could trade Ben for Lee, I'd do it in a second but that's not the case. Ben is set to make 4mil this year and Courtney is going to sign for what, about 10mil? So that's spending 2.5x as much on a player who is a slight upgrade from what we already have. I just think the money could be better spent to upgrade somewhere else or with a different player who at least does something far and away better than Ben.

 

[Section 101]

Why are you talking about Ben/Lee in a KK thread?

 

[Gilles]

I've been getting the feeling Rudy may not be here.

But yes on the overall question. I think we see Skal as a potential PF, but Papa is clearly a C, as is Kosta, and Cuz is our starting C, so I don't see how Papa can get minutes unless Kosta is gone. Which might hurt him BTW as he was excited partially in having a couple of Greek speakers to ease his transition (Kosta and Peja).

Vlade is certainly not attached to Rudy and Ben, but he still values them somewhat better than general perception. And that might ultimately keep both in Sacramento. Interestingly, the report of Pacers' interest before they traded for Thad Young was that Vlade asked for multiple future picks and not players.
Willie can definitely step in as a spot starting C, but only deep lottery team can afford to put Papas on the floor for more than 6-8 minutes per game despite his potential, so there's a decent chance Kosta stays.

He's better. Not in huge statistical ways or in terms of a massive skill difference but mainly in consistency and how he thinks the game. Lee doesn't have the same kind of lapses on defense or such wild fluctuations in his shot, handles the ball better and routinely makes the right play. He's not a great SG but he's solid, has a familiarity with Joerger and would provide more stability than McLemore at that spot.

You might wanna check Lee this past season. His monthly splits from 3: .231, .459, .474, .333, .489, .238. His agent expects to get $12-14 million, and he's likely to find that on the market, but if money is not there, I would think, it would stretch his free agency as he would look, if someone gets desperate late in the process. So unless Kings are ready to throw $50-55M over 4 years, they must be ready to wait till August. Last couple of years of his contract might be a problem.