So...do the Blazers want David Lee?

by Seth on Jun 21, 2009 3:51 PM EDT in News Comment 9 comments

Depends who you ask. From the Post:

Portland will be Lee's strongest suitor. Detroit, with cap room, has interest, too. Lee declined to say whether he'll be in the Rose City July 1 for a recruiting trip.

"I haven't discussed it," Lee said.

Portland likely has to work out a sign-and-trade with the Knicks to get the 6-foot-9 power forward. Lee is expected to command between $7-10 million per year on an offer sheet, which the Knicks can match. If he gets an offer sheet at the spectrum's high end, Donnie Walsh is prepared to trade Lee or let him go with the idea of preserving 2010 cap space.

From TKB:

With impending free agency right around the corner, it appears that one suitor who was once hot and heavy for David Lee, no longer has interest.

A source close to the Blazers braintrust has informed TKB that the Blazers seem to have an off season plan in place and that they are desperately trying to move Martell Webster, Sergio Rodriguez and Travis Outlaw so they can make a play for Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu. As we’ve reported, Andre Miller is also a target with Jason Kidd’s name popping up as well should Miller remain in Philly.

So, who really knows? Portland seemed like a big player in the Lee sweepstakes, so their interest is worth tracking if you've got any stake in Lee's future as a Knick. Anyway, these intra-organizational differences of opinion happen all the time. For what it's worth, an anonymous source within the Portland front office has informed me that these were the two separate sources consulted for the opposing reports:

What do you expect?

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I doubt Lee

wants to come to Portland to be a backup PF and get 20min a night at best, and I doubt Portland wants to give up cap space or other assets to make that happen either.

Turkoglu will make Portland’s perimeter defense even worse and his 1-1 and post scoring would not be utilized all that much as Portland is at its best when the ball is in motion. Also, Portland uses the SF as a floor spacer and Hedo’s pedestrian numbers from 3pt range do not make him a great bargain. Also, if Portland just wants to clear cap space to grab Hedo then why did the extension on Outlaw and Blake get picked up. For so many reasons the Hedo to Portland rumors seem bogus.

Miller, Kidd, Conley, Hinrich, and Sessions are names that have been linked to Portland that make a lot more sense.

Life is exhausting when you are this stupid.

by jonestr on Jun 21, 2009 5:24 PM EDT reply actions

Lee is an overpriced back up big

Yeah, he gets stats, but he has been severely outplayed at the 4 position. At the 5, even though he can score, he is too small to stop monster big men. This article talks a little bit about it: http://blog.bandwagonknick.com/2009/02/25/nate-robinson-shining-david-lee-declining.aspxThere was a college coach i believe, on the disciples of clyde/FD podcast that said david lee was a selfish player in college and just was out to get his, so to speak, i wonder if a combo of Lee plus D’Antoni equals a similar result as Stoudamire plus D’Antoni. I’m not asserting I know that lee or stoudmire are any certain type of player, the result of guys like lee, stoudamire, aldridge, west, other bigs with a jumper getting points at 5 is probably just a result of playing small ball/ or spreading the floor, and the inverted roles that can lie therein.

"The problem with tweeners is that sometimes they’re exactly what you need to plug the hole and sometimes they are the hole."

-LaughingJon

by appel82 on Jun 21, 2009 6:23 PM EDT reply actions

i guess we now see what the outside opinion

of Lee is. i don’t necessarily agree that he’s a backup – i think he can be a starter regardless of whether D’Antoni is his coach or not. but, there are a lot of Knicks’ fans that want to keep Lee and pay him $8-10 million which some of us don’t want to happen.

Ewing with the step...YES! and the foul!

by Anthony Masons Haircut on Jun 21, 2009 7:46 PM EDT up reply actions