Is David Lee an option now?

by NickPDX on Jul 4, 2009 11:52 AM PDT

I was wondering if David Lee would now become the first option for the Blazers? Do you think that we could convince him to come here and be our banger off the bench? Last season he became a regular starter for the Knicks so I think that it would be hard for him to give that up. Maybe the thought of winning a ring would be enough?

I think that he would be a great addition to our roster and would offer some more rebounding and toughness down low. Any thoughts?

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Hopefully not

Brandon Bass and Paul Millsap are both MUCH better players.

by as11osu on Jul 4, 2009 11:53 AM PDT reply actions

and more importantly are much better fits

by as11osu on Jul 4, 2009 11:56 AM PDT up reply actions

also

Lee would be unhappy in a reserve role. he makes too much money to come in and play 15-20 mpg. while it would be sweet to have the depth he most certainly would not be down with being less than a starter.

UDOKA!
(formerly my boy, now just fun to say)

by CLRNCE. on Jul 4, 2009 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions

another reason Bass makes more sense

by as11osu on Jul 4, 2009 2:47 PM PDT up reply actions

Seriously? I can understand an argument for Millsap

but on what basis do you think Bass is better than Lee?

by howlingfantods on Jul 4, 2009 1:13 PM PDT up reply actions

Defense and shooting

by as11osu on Jul 4, 2009 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions

Bass is MUCH better than Lee?

Are you his agent? because that is definitely not true. Millsap isn’t better than Lee either.

"I been ridin' the midnight train, got ice water in my veins." -Bob Dylan
"Sasha? That's a sissy name." -Mike Rice

by koyote on Jul 4, 2009 1:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Bass can do everything Lee can do

PLUS he has an elite mid range game and is a much better defender. He’s also one of the best playoff performers in the NBA.

by as11osu on Jul 4, 2009 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions

when Bass leads the league in double doubles

then it can be said he can do everything that Lee can. I agree he is a better defender.

"I been ridin' the midnight train, got ice water in my veins." -Bob Dylan
"Sasha? That's a sissy name." -Mike Rice

by koyote on Jul 4, 2009 10:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Lee played 35 minutes in the fastest paced offense in the NBA

alongside a team of players that couldn’t board to save their lives.

You’d have to an atrocious big not to get double doubles for the NYK’s this year.

by as11osu on Jul 5, 2009 11:42 AM PDT up reply actions

Bass in inarguably the better defensive player

and I have yet to see a case stating Lee is a better offensive player, especially for the Blazers. If we were a fast paced team that got our points off transition I can see it a little bit, but in the half court, Bass is just leaps and bounds better.

by as11osu on Jul 5, 2009 11:44 AM PDT up reply actions

I like Bass

but you’re way overrating him and underrating Lee. I think you’re overrating Millsap a bit too; I’d put Lee and Millsap as pretty equivalent and Bass a tier behind. They’re pretty similar players – they all do it with energy and hustle. Bass doesn’t have the motor that Lee and Millsap do, though. Bass does have a slightly better midrange game, but “elite” is a huge overstatement.

Defensively, they all have their shortcomings (literally, in Bass and Millsap’s cases). They’re all pretty decent and use their hustle and strength well, but they’re none of them very long and capable of getting a lot of blocks. Lee’s looked maybe the worst partly because he’s had the toughest assignment of these guys – Lee is played out of position as the starting C for NYK while Bass and Millsap just play backup PF minutes. Bass and Millsap aren’t called on to defend the best post player giving up 2 or 3 inches every game the way Lee is, although they’re all natural PFs, partly because as very short Pfs, Bass and Millsap would be far more disastrous trying to cover big 5s than Lee has been.

Lee is by far the best finisher in the group. Both Bass and Millsap struggle around the bucket at times, both being short and not particularly explosive.

by howlingfantods on Jul 5, 2009 12:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Bass does have a slightly better midrange game, but "elite" is a huge overstatement.

I guess it’s only elite, if you put Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Kevin Garnett and Yao Ming in that category too.
http://www.82games.com/0809/FGSORT7.HTM

Bass isn’t as good inside as the others, but he’d be playing with either Oden or Przybilla, so that I’m not so much worried about. Lee also did a bunch of his inside scoring in transition (not much of that here) and on trash. He’s a trash player, much like Przybilla is offensively. Fortunately for him this year, there was quite a bit of trash in New York. You don’t go to either player as anything but a last resort, especially with how this team is designed. Lee’s defensive rebounding would be paired with Przybilla, which will make it pretty redundant on that second unit. Lee is also worse defensively, especially against both PF’s and C’s.

http://www.82games.com/0809/08NYK16.HTM#bypos
http://www.82games.com/0809/08DAL13.HTM#bypos

Lee is by far the best finisher in the group. Both Bass and Millsap struggle around the bucket at times, both being short and not particularly explosive.

Bass is shorter than Lee, but he’s also longer horizontally (wingspan) and vertically (standing reach). He also has a better no step vertical and max vertical reach. All of these things along with being stronger and weighing 20 pounds more.

by as11osu on Jul 5, 2009 12:57 PM PDT up reply actions

You can't compare Lee and Thrilla offensively.

Lee has terrific hands and good feet. Thrilla has hands of stone and awful footwork in the post.

shrug whatever. Lee’s one of the more underrated guys in the league and for whatever reason, you like one of the other popular underrated guys more than him. I wouldn’t spend anything more than midlevel on bass as an acquisition for the bench and I wouldn’t project him as a starter, but I’d gladly spend 40 over 5 on Lee and dangle LMA as trade bait. I suspect most basketball fanatics and data crunchers would tend to side with me over your position, but you’re entitled to your own.

by howlingfantods on Jul 5, 2009 3:53 PM PDT up reply actions

The regular season games David Lee played in New York this year in D'Antoni's system are one thing

the playoff games that Brandon Bass played this year and last year are something else entirely. We play half court basketball, especially in the playoffs. Brandon Bass is ideal.

Brandon Bass in the playoffs the last two seasons by Roland Ratings, a widely accepted number crunching site, had Bass as their 11th best (22.1 PER, 9.0 RR – most efficient) playoff performer in the 2008 playoffs, and the 12th best (22.9 PER, 8.8 RR – most efficient) playoff performer in the 2009 playoffs.
http://www.82games.com/0708/playoffs/playoffs.htm
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/statistics?sort=per&pos=all&seasonType=3
http://www.82games.com/0708/playoffs/0708DAL.HTM
http://www.82games.com/0809/playoffs/0809DAL.HTM

You’re right about David Lee’s hands and feet being better than Joel’s, but that doesn’t mean much when he needs to be in the key to get all of his points. That’s one of the only areas Joel has any use to us on that end, and if both those guys are in there, that makes like difficult for Roy, without any room to maneuver inside. The only thing David Lee brings in any sort of substantial measure is his ability to rebound. That also loses a lot of its luster when you consider he’d be playing with both Przy and GO. They’re ability to lock that down by themselves is a lot of what makes us an efficient team. Like Orlando with Rashard, we get to use our 4 as an offensive weapon to help increase our overall offensive efficiency, and its of little consequence on the boards. The thing is, Brandon Bass isn’t bad on the boards, he’s just not great. What he lacks in that skill he makes up for defensively, as he’s a much better overall defender than Lee. The reason Lee will get paid more is he’s played starters minutes on the fastest paced team in the NBA. His numbers don’t represent who he is as a player.

The fact is, we don’t need to pay the premium for a player that can play long minutes and is a really good defensive rebounder, those aren’t our priorities, or at least shouldn’t be our priorities when looking at potential backup power forwards. The fact you can get Bass for 5-15 million dollars less should be the icing on the cake when comparing them. That would leave us 2-3 million dollars to go out and get a solid 3rd string point guard should we not be able to address the position anymore by trade this season.

by as11osu on Jul 5, 2009 5:25 PM PDT up reply actions

Bass would also be our best FT shooter at 87%... 3% better than anyone we have on the team

by as11osu on Jul 5, 2009 5:37 PM PDT up reply actions

the "lee is a product of dantoni's system" is just a flawed argument.

He’s only been under dantoni one season. In his 4 years with the knicks, lee has been on teams that went 16th, 18th, 15th, and 2nd out of 30 in pace.

by howlingfantods on Jul 5, 2009 5:41 PM PDT up reply actions

None of those are even close to our pace though

That has little to do with my point though. The reason I was arguing about minutes played and pace for, have to do with his raw numbers. His raw numbers are why people are talking about him deserving all that money. 16 points and 12 rebounds are great. If he played here I wouldn’t bet he’d get more than 6 points and 4 boards for the season, given the amount of minutes he’d get, and the skilled rebounders he’d be playing next to. Lets face the facts in regards to the Knicks. If you’re a true big and you don’t get 10 rebounds while playing 35 minutes, something is drastically wrong. Zach Randolph averaged 12.4 rebounds per game, a career high, before being traded (he had a higher rebound rate than Lee).

Brandon Bass would fit this teams need at the position specifically to what we actually need, at a price probably 2-3 million dollars less per season, all while being 2 years younger the David Lee, with two impressive playoff runs already to his name. Not only that, we wouldn’t have to wait on New York’s decision on whether or not to match our offer, while at the end of that week, most of the quality free agents will have already signed. If Przybilla were to be traded I can see how some may like a Lee signing more, but that aside, as currently constituted, Brandon Bass makes more sense for this team.

by as11osu on Jul 5, 2009 6:54 PM PDT up reply actions

No

"Intent is prior to content, the question is, does this generation really want truth?"
"Cogito ergo sum" -Descartes

by Shribby on Jul 4, 2009 11:54 AM PDT reply actions

No

by ninjasocks on Jul 4, 2009 12:34 PM PDT reply actions

The only way Lee makes sense is....

if once he is signed we move LMA and a group of role players(outlaw etc.) for Devin Harris. I would hate to see LMA move on but i LOVE Harris. Not sure honestly if i could pull the trigger on something like that though if i were KP.

by blazerbeliever97504 on Jul 4, 2009 1:21 PM PDT reply actions

Only in the fevered dreams of his agent

All the Lee to Portland talk is his agent trying to get him paid.

It makes no sense for Lee to come here for table scrap minutes behind Aldridge, and his matador defense would make Nate’s head explode.

by baduk on Jul 4, 2009 1:39 PM PDT reply actions

So true

Why are people still trying to sign a $10 million per year player to sit behind LMA? (And why does it get me so peeved when people suggest it?)

by ninjasocks on Jul 4, 2009 3:54 PM PDT up reply actions

Lee or Milsap are just what the blazers need.

Also, I don’t see how anyone would say Bass or Milsap are much better than Lee. Certainly Lee has done more for his team than either of the others. I also don’t know why people seem to think we would only give a serious PF acquisition only 15-20 minutes. If you have a guy as good as these guys, you put them on the floor with Lamarcus, allowing him to play SF, since he mostly shoots over people anyway. The only concern would be Lamarcus defending SFs, but if you have a guy like Lee, Milsap or Bass in the paint with Joel or Greg, Lamarcus only needs to keep a hand in their face, because there will be no where to drive to. Also realize that Lamarcus’s minutes will come down if he has a legit back-up. He only missed one game all year, and played around 40min. That’s not likely to continue. There will be plenty of line-ups and minutes for a legit banger on this team. Do you think we would have only played a guy like that 15mins against the Rockets, if we had them? Not a chance. Rather than the bright idea of starting Rudy, which bounced us out of game 6, we would have been able to put Lee on Scola the whole series, and match toughness, while Lamarcus could have used his size advantage to force Artest or Battier to put the ball on the floor. If that line-up doesn’t work, we have a lot of options, but we know Lee and Milsap can score, so it’s not just a defensive stop gap either.

by wingzeta on Jul 4, 2009 1:40 PM PDT reply actions

Lee Headed to PTown?

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStories.asp?lc=NBA&c=1&TEAM_ID=&PLAYER_ID=&hd=20090704#STORY_20043

I want Millsap over Lee, but I wouldnt be upset to get either one. I dont know why people seem to think we couldnt get those guy minutes. Nates system is easy to figure out. He always subs a few minutes before the end of the 1st to rest his starters and warm up the 2nd unit. The 2nd unit then plays until they start to mess things up or half time comes. And so on. Usually he throws in a starter or 2 to change lineup depending on who we play. Anyways in this system the only ones that dont get minutes are 3rd stringers. My point is, a player like Lee will be utilized, hes to good not to be in the game alot. Same with millsap, only Millsap was already playing backup .

by cavejunctionblazer on Jul 4, 2009 3:34 PM PDT reply actions

I agree

Lee fits the attitude that the blazers are now built around and he fits the banger void that is needed. But if Lee is added for 10m playing time is a must which means tol must be moved to open up those min. So it’s back to tol and blake traded for a vet point with bless getting back up point min. With nik and web at the 3 it would leave room to go big with lee, la and greg (or priz). Lee would work and make us a better playoff team and he is 26 yrs old!

1977 = 2010

by 77again on Jul 4, 2009 3:40 PM PDT reply actions