Stock of Knicks' Lee continues to rise

This kid is a class act, the Knicks definitely need to resign him.

Wow, did I just mention class act and the Knicks in the same sentence?

a lot of bad teams with no chance of winning have direction. I'd rather see a competitve team EVERY year and tinker until you get the pieces together. It's harder, but teams do it.
Trading away your best assets and hope players find you attractive in 2 years is not a plan. Teams that make the playoffs the next two years, even if they are 6-8 seeds, will be better off than this team already playing for lottery position ini January. Right now, there is no reason to pay attention to this team.

Why bother to get excited if most of the players will be gone in 2 years and guys like Lee are just increasing their trade value like Zach and Crawford did?

Drew Brown Bundini wrote:

a lot of bad teams with no chance of winning have direction. I'd rather see a competitve team EVERY year and tinker until you get the pieces together. It's harder, but teams do it.
Trading away your best assets and hope players find you attractive in 2 years is not a plan. Teams that make the playoffs the next two years, even if they are 6-8 seeds, will be better off than this team already playing for lottery position ini January. Right now, there is no reason to pay attention to this team.
Why bother to get excited if most of the players will be gone in 2 years and guys like Lee are just increasing their trade value like Zach and Crawford did?

You also need to get very lucky in the lottery. No team over the last 20+ years in the NBA has been as lucky as the San Antonio Spurs...

In 1987, they win the lottery and draft David Robinson. Once he joins the Spurs, they become legitimate title contenders. The same David Robinson is injured in 1996 misses most of the 96-97 season. Against most reasonable odds, the Spurs get the 1st pick and draft Tim Duncan. The Spurs win 4 NBA titles in 12 years...

does anyone really care??

They must keep him.

I wasn't quite conviced about D-Lee when this season started. Great hustle guy, hard worker, and diligent rebounder. But a nucleus guy for the next five years?

Now I'm sold. I was at the Garden last night and saw him singlehandedly outwork the Wizards on 5 straight posessions during crunch time. He's been finding ways to score all season. He rubs off on the other Knicks on the floor and makes them conscious of rebounding. The numbers are not mindboggling but they sure are consistent. Just as importantly, he's the kind of guy you want on this roster when Bosh, D-Wade, Lebron, Yao, Ginobili, etc. become available in the summer of '10.

It's important for Walsh to dump dead wood, but just as crucial that he find a way to keep D-Lee and Wilson Chandler here. Those two guys are the nucleus, and Duhon may make sense to keep around longterm as well.

He's like Pennington, not the best but tries hard. Sorry. What makes everyone in the world think that everyone wants to be here in the magic year of 2010. What if LeBron, Wade, Paul, etc. don't want to be Knicks.

"the Knicks - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday"

..are writers contracted to say this in almost every article??? Jeebus! WE KNOW!!

David's line of 30 points, 10 boards and 6 assists is one more indication of his emergence as a terrific player! If he can keep improving on defense, which I believe he will, Lee will be an all star.

The only ones on the team were keeping to build on are Lee, Duhon, Chandler. If you could sign Harrington after you sign 2 of the big name guys, that would be awesome. Work out a deal to reward Lee after the other contracts are signed. I think you're allowed to go over the cap to sign your own players. Either way, it looks like Walsh and D'Antoni have the Knicks finally going in the right direction.

david wrote:

The only ones on the team were keeping to build on are Lee, Duhon, Chandler. If you could sign Harrington after you sign 2 of the big name guys, that would be awesome. Work out a deal to reward Lee after the other contracts are signed. I think you're allowed to go over the cap to sign your own players. Either way, it looks like Walsh and D'Antoni have the Knicks finally going in the right direction.

Interesting ideas. The one question I have is this: if you have the chance to trade Eddy Curry and David Lee to get $30 million under the cap for 2010 to sign 2 premium FA's, is it worth it?...

The reason I ask is there's a fairly solid rumor that Miami wants to trade Shawn Marion (FA after this season) and is willing to take Eddy Curry as long as David Lee is part of the trade....

NYStateofMind:

If it gets rid of Curry, it may be worth it because if in the long run it nets you either Bosh or Stoudemaire, there wouldn't be any room for Lee anyway. Plus I wouldn't mind if this season is lost and the Knicks get a lottery pick with a chance to get Stephen Curry. Either way, Eddie Curry's gotta go!!

At this point in time, I'd stick with Lee over Marion. Lee is 5 years younger, for one thing. Ask yourself why Miamis would do this if Lee isn't an upgrade. For Curry? HA! Getting rid of Eddy is huge, however!(In more ways than one)

david wrote:

NYStateofMind:

If it gets rid of Curry, it may be worth it because if in the long run it nets you either Bosh or Stoudemaire, there wouldn't be any room for Lee anyway. Plus I wouldn't mind if this season is lost and the Knicks get a lottery pick with a chance to get Stephen Curry. Either way, Eddie Curry's gotta go!!

I really like Bosh. I'm not an admirer of Amar'e Stoudemire. That said, if the Knicks can make the trade, they'll be better for it in the future...

I don't agree that the season is lost. The Eastern Conference outside of Boston, Cleveland, and maybe Atlanta is wide open where anything can happen...

Sorry, but not high on Stephen Curry. Not quick on defense laterally and can be one-dimensional. I like Jodie Meeks from Kentucky. Has strength and solid defensive principles (yes, I've seen Meeks play before this week...lol)...

pverne wrote:

At this point in time, I'd stick with Lee over Marion. Lee is 5 years younger, for one thing. Ask yourself why Miamis would do this if Lee isn't an upgrade. For Curry? HA! Getting rid of Eddy is huge, however!(In more ways than one)

I would stick with Lee as well. In order to make the trade work where the salaries match within 15%(NBA salary cap rules), Lee has to be included in the proposed trade...

leave the gun,... take the canoli

david lee is staying wit us,my dude aint going no where you feel me,hes one of the best players on that team.i love his game,hes brings toughness to the table

NYStateOfMind wrote:

<quoted text>
You also need to get very lucky in the lottery. No team over the last 20+ years in the NBA has been as lucky as the San Antonio Spurs...
In 1987, they win the lottery and draft David Robinson. Once he joins the Spurs, they become legitimate title contenders. The same David Robinson is injured in 1996 misses most of the 96-97 season. Against most reasonable odds, the Spurs get the 1st pick and draft Tim Duncan. The Spurs win 4 NBA titles in 12 years...

good point. the lottery was started in the first place to stop non-playoff teams from tanking games late in the season in order to better their draft position. Look at the KNicks they take Frederic Weis and Frye with their lottery picks or they alswasy seem to get the 6th pick in a draft with 5 stars in it.. dumping players to rebuildvia the draft is n ot a strategy... neither is hoping that one or two top FA's will accept the KNicks money in two years to come play for a team that has not seen the playoffs in years. this is a self inflicted mess and will not get better any time soon

david cnat go cuz,he and chris are the dynamic duo for the knicks,they click well together,and when theyre playing like a team,which they always do,they win games,and david and chris are a big part of the knicks offensive and defensive game

Drew Brown Bundini wrote:

<quoted text>good point. the lottery was started in the first place to stop non-playoff teams from tanking games late in the season in order to better their draft position. Look at the Knicks they take Frederic Weis and Frye with their lottery picks or they alswasy seem to get the 6th pick in a draft with 5 stars in it.. dumping players to rebuildvia the draft is n ot a strategy... neither is hoping that one or two top FA's will accept the Knicks money in two years to come play for a team that has not seen the playoffs in years. this is a self inflicted mess and will not get better any time soon

It's the Knicks strategy to get under the cap in 2010. If not 2 top FA's, 1 top FA + 2 solid players or solid trade(s) where a foundation can be built...

Every time I see Frederic Weis' name, I'll always remember what Ed Tapscott, the active GM of the Knicks at the time (Ernie Grunfeld was fired during that season) said why he picked Weis over Ron Artest. He said that Jerry West told me "Tap, if there's a choice between height and talent, always take the height because you can't teach height". Guess that shows Jerry West isn't always right about basketball players...

I had no problem with Channing Frye being drafted by the Knicks. I don't believe he was utilized correctly by Isiah Thomas...