The Case for David Lee

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I have been suffering from basketball withdrawals since the draft, so keep in mind that this could all be just me looking for something to talk about, but either way .. what about David Lee?

First, lets talk about the economy. Its still bad .. you can see it all over the NBA, teams are trying to dump salary .. veteran stars are signing for the MLE or under .. Look at Artest and Sheed taking big time pay cuts, I guarentee even at the end of his career Rasheed Wallace could have made more money 3 years ago... AI cant even find a team that wants him! So im taking the approach that a player of David Lee's calibur will be a lot more expensive 2 or 3 years from now... especially if the NBA loses its salary cap and teams like the Lakers and Celtics can spend like the Yankees and Red Sox.

So the idea here is to sign David Lee for about 7-8 mil a year ( He is looking for 9 ) .. years dont really matter IMO .. I would take him for any amount of years up to 5 at that price .. and I could see him leaning towards a shorter deal so he could make more money in the future .. I will leave the years up to Lee.

Lee is 26 years old, and he averaged 16 and 11.4 on a D'antoni Knicks team. I would argue that D'antoni's system isnt even a good fit for Lee as he isnt a super athlete.. I think a slower style may actually benefit him.

My one concern with him is obviously his defense and fit on this kings team and I think both these issues go together. He isnt a good defender, and while I dont think he is horrible, he is probly on the same level as JT defensively ( maybe a tad bit better because of his experience ) .. Keep in mind though that what were all looking for for our third big is defense and rebounding. He fits one of those ( rebounding ) better than we could imagine .. he is hands down one of the best rebounders in the league .. it isnt exactly easy to average 16 and 11 in the NBA.

Offensively though he fits perfectly with Hawes and JT. In reality all three of these players can play Center and Forward. You have hawes as an inside outside guy, JT as an inside outside guy and Lee as a inside / garbage bucket guy .. that is a excellent offensive rotation for your bigs.

Dont forget how bad we were this year. While Hawes, JT, and Lee would be a pretty bad defensive rotation ( I wont call it horrible ) were at the point were we need to acquire young talent and then figure the rest of it out later. If we can grab Lee at 7-8 mil a year, he will be very movable if a better third big option comes around ( Hawes and/ or JT could also be moved for a different type of big man down the road ) .. I think getting Lee gives this team more talent and more options, especially when you take into account the deal we would be getting because of the economy .. just for reference, take a look at this list I found on ESPN.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4306502
According to ESPN Research, eight players have entered the free-agent market coming off a double-double average the previous season. Here is what they subsequently signed for:
• Emeka Okafor 2007-08: Six-year, $72 million contract with Charlotte as a restricted free agent.
• Carlos Boozer 2003-04: Six-year, $68 million deal with Jazz as a restricted free agent, with the Cavs not matching the offer and claiming Boozer reneged on a handshake agreement to stay in Cleveland.
• Erick Dampier 2003-04: Seven-year, $73 million contract with Dallas.
• Elton Brand 2002-03: Six-year, $82.2 million contract with the Clippers as a restricted free agent.
• Tim Duncan 2002-03: Seven-year, $122 million contract with San Antonio.
• Jermaine O'Neal 2002-03: Seven-year, $126.6 million contract with Indiana.
• Dikembe Mutombo 2000-01: Four-year, $65million contract with Philadelphia
• Chris Webber 2000-01: Seven-year, $122.7 million contract with Sacramento.


Lee would be making millions less than these guys...

So to cap off this longer than necessary post, heres a poll.

 

[Bricklayer]

I think we had a David Lee thread around here last week sometime. In any case, nothing has changed -- the answer is still no. Not remotely what we need at this time. Non defending pure PF highly dupicative of Thompson, except with a big price tag.

 

[gunks]

JT>>>Lee

Also, next year's draft is HUGE for bigs...Methinks we pick up our 3rd big there (maybe even franchise level if we land in the top 3, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

For this season? I dunno, if we can get a cheap guy to just throw in there I'm all for it. I actually think Brockman will make the team, maybe we just go cheap and pick up an unsigned guy and let them handle the remaining 28 minutes or so for the frontline bench.

 

[Heuge]

Hard to buy the JT>>>Lee until JT does something which would merit such a distinction. That said Lee is not the type of signing we need.

 

[gunks]

Potential, and its my opinion really, so you dont HAVE to buy it


I personally think JT would put up equal or better numbers to Lee if he was in D'Antoni's system...

..But then again I'm a huge Homer. If I wasnt I'd be a really depressed Kings fan.

 

[dbfish]

I have been suffering from basketball withdrawals since the draft, so keep in mind that this could all be just me looking for something to talk about, but either way .. what about David Lee?

First, lets talk about the economy. Its still bad .. you can see it all over the NBA, teams are trying to dump salary .. veteran stars are signing for the MLE or under .. Look at Artest and Sheed taking big time pay cuts, I guarentee even at the end of his career Rasheed Wallace could have made more money 3 years ago... AI cant even find a team that wants him! So im taking the approach that a player of David Lee's calibur will be a lot more expensive 2 or 3 years from now... especially if the NBA loses its salary cap and teams like the Lakers and Celtics can spend like the Yankees and Red Sox.

So the idea here is to sign David Lee for about 7-8 mil a year ( He is looking for 9 ) .. years dont really matter IMO .. I would take him for any amount of years up to 5 at that price .. and I could see him leaning towards a shorter deal so he could make more money in the future .. I will leave the years up to Lee.

Lee is 26 years old, and he averaged 16 and 11.4 on a D'antoni Knicks team. I would argue that D'antoni's system isnt even a good fit for Lee as he isnt a super athlete.. I think a slower style may actually benefit him.

My one concern with him is obviously his defense and fit on this kings team and I think both these issues go together. He isnt a good defender, and while I dont think he is horrible, he is probly on the same level as JT defensively ( maybe a tad bit better because of his experience ) .. Keep in mind though that what were all looking for for our third big is defense and rebounding. He fits one of those ( rebounding ) better than we could imagine .. he is hands down one of the best rebounders in the league .. it isnt exactly easy to average 16 and 11 in the NBA.

Offensively though he fits perfectly with Hawes and JT. In reality all three of these players can play Center and Forward. You have hawes as an inside outside guy, JT as an inside outside guy and Lee as a inside / garbage bucket guy .. that is a excellent offensive rotation for your bigs.

Dont forget how bad we were this year. While Hawes, JT, and Lee would be a pretty bad defensive rotation ( I wont call it horrible ) were at the point were we need to acquire young talent and then figure the rest of it out later. If we can grab Lee at 7-8 mil a year, he will be very movable if a better third big option comes around ( Hawes and/ or JT could also be moved for a different type of big man down the road ) .. I think getting Lee gives this team more talent and more options, especially when you take into account the deal we would be getting because of the economy .. just for reference, take a look at this list I found on ESPN.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4306502
According to ESPN Research, eight players have entered the free-agent market coming off a double-double average the previous season. Here is what they subsequently signed for:
• Emeka Okafor 2007-08: Six-year, $72 million contract with Charlotte as a restricted free agent.
• Carlos Boozer 2003-04: Six-year, $68 million deal with Jazz as a restricted free agent, with the Cavs not matching the offer and claiming Boozer reneged on a handshake agreement to stay in Cleveland.
• Erick Dampier 2003-04: Seven-year, $73 million contract with Dallas.
• Elton Brand 2002-03: Six-year, $82.2 million contract with the Clippers as a restricted free agent.
• Tim Duncan 2002-03: Seven-year, $122 million contract with San Antonio.
• Jermaine O'Neal 2002-03: Seven-year, $126.6 million contract with Indiana.
• Dikembe Mutombo 2000-01: Four-year, $65million contract with Philadelphia
• Chris Webber 2000-01: Seven-year, $122.7 million contract with Sacramento.


Lee would be making millions less than these guys...

So to cap off this longer than necessary post, heres a poll.

One thing caught my eye when you said Lee didn't fit D'Antoni's style and that a slower style would fit him better. Have you considered that Westphal is coaching the Kings now? Very up tempo. Where would Lee fit here then.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

One thing caught my eye when you said Lee didn't fit D'Antoni's style and that a slower style would fit him better. Have you considered that Westphal is coaching the Kings now? Very up tempo. Where would Lee fit here then.

Well it was mostly speculation that Lee would be a better fit for a slower team, It just makes sense because he isnt a special athlete like most other big men who have thrived in that type of run n gun offense ( Amare )... however Lee still put up great numbers playing like that so Its not like it would be a problem for him to play in that offense .. With that being said, even if Westphal runs a up tempo style offense like reports say he wants to run, I doubt ( and hope ) it wont be as fast as the one D'antoni runs in New York ... That type of offense limits what you can do on defense, so for the sake of our success I hope the tempo we play at isnt too crazy.

 

[TheRaven]

No to Lee. Wrong fit at the wrong price at the wrong time.

He is a good player, but just makes no sense for us. You can't lock yourself into 5 years of paying your first big off the bench (or a borderline starter) $8 mil or more when they give you no defense and no shotblocking.

It isn't just about overpaying, your also giving up future flexibility. We don't know how things will play out over the next few years. Having that cap room might allow us to do deals we might otherwise be unable to over the rest of this offseason, at the trade deadline, and even into the next offseason. Having that cap space might allow us to absorb salary from another team and get another young asset or offload one of our poor contracts in the process. We also have a likely lottery pick upcoming next year in a draft that will be heavy in young forwards. The roster is just in too much flux right now for me to support us overpaying with yet another long-term contract.

If we are going to pursue paying that much and lock ourselves into another long contract, at least go after a guy like Millsap who can also bring some defense, toughness, and has more untapped potential. Otherwise, I think the team should just let this season play out and remain ready to pounce with our cap space and expiring contracts if opportunities present themselves.

 

[LWP777]

I say yes to Lee! It seems like everyone in here doesn't want anybody to join the Kings outside of Lebron or Dwight. We won 17 games last year. We need better players plain and simple. Lee is a solid player. He is a rebounding machine and does a lot of dirty work. He could quickly shore up a huge hole that we have dealt with the past couple of years -- rebounding.

I think he would fit in nicely with JT and Spencer and that would give us a lot of size up front to go along with our big backcourt (Evans & Martin). I wouldn't completely open up the wallet but I think a 3-4 year deal at $7M would be fair.

Get it done GP!

 

[Lafayette]

I like the idea of Lee but how long does this guy want to be a 6th man. I don't think having him off the bench is worth it. I like the idea and if he wants to come, all for it. I still rather see GREENE as the backup PF.

 

[rainmaker]

I like Lee, but not more than Jt. I think JT clearly has more potential, so the first question would be is if Lee is willing to come off the bench. Also, I think Lee would be a great addition(opposed to other members on this forum) to this team as a 3rd big, but not for 7-9M. If Lee was willing to take 5-7M over 3-4 yrs, and had no problem coming off the bench, I would be all for it.

But I would not bring in Lee to replace JT as our starting 4, and I would not offer him a 5yr contract worth 7-9M per. So potentially yes, but his asking price would have to come down, and given the market I think there is a decent chance of it coming down a little.

 

[Bricklayer]

I say yes to Lee! It seems like everyone in here doesn't want anybody to join the Kings outside of Lebron or Dwight. We won 17 games last year. We need better players plain and simple. Lee is a solid player. He is a rebounding machine and does a lot of dirty work. He could quickly shore up a huge hole that we have dealt with the past couple of years -- rebounding.

I think he would fit in nicely with JT and Spencer and that would give us a lot of size up front to go along with our big backcourt (Evans & Martin). I wouldn't completely open up the wallet but I think a 3-4 year deal at $7M would be fair.

Get it done GP!

He's a bad fit. Its not a question of not wanting anybody to join, its a question of actually patching holes rathdr than making them worse. If we continue to stack up non-defending bigs, and this one on a huge contract to boot, we'll give up 130 a next year and get to watch the team play in Anaheim in a few years.

We need a defensive big. Its really that simple. We need somebody to clog the middle. And if we can't get him, then at the very least we need to not screw up our cap position so that we go get one in the future.


And David Lee BTW, a stubby non-defending pure PF who can't play any center outside of D'Antoni's junk ball system, needs to find himself a nice big defensively dominant center to slide in next to pronto. I don't know what Portland is going to do with him wiht Aldridge there, but the Oden/Pryzbilla tandem could be perfect for him to hide his weakness.

 

[Smills91]

Hard to buy the JT>>>Lee until JT does something which would merit such a distinction. That said Lee is not the type of signing we need.

Defense? Just off the top of my head. JT actually attempts to play some.