Walsh: "Maybe he's as good as the second guys."

Post #1 » by **duetta** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:33 am

February 25, 2009
Sports of The Times
Growing Up in Post-Marbury New York
By HARVEY ARATON

Common sense dictates that you don’t develop players and let them walk with the hope of luring others a year later. Lee and Robinson are far from perfect, but, as Walsh said, specifically of Lee, “As I’ve sat here this season, I’ve said: Wait a minute, I have to look at this guy’s strengths. They far outweigh his weaknesses.”

When D’Antoni was hired, it was often said Lee would not be around long because he wasn’t a classic D’Antoni player, a seven-seconds-or-less-style jump shooter. He has debunked that theory, in small part by improving his jumper but in large part by demonstrating that he is an excellent transition player, ambidextrous and dangerous.

“The first thing I realized about him that I didn’t know was that he’s got great talent with both hands around the basket,” Walsh said. “He goes in against shot-blockers, gets around them because they don’t know which hand he’s going to use. Plus his rebounding ability, his instincts — now, those are all talents I don’t think the guy gets credit for a lot.”

(snip)

First things first: protect the good (if not great) players you already have. Walsh reminds us that Lee is still playing out of position at center, continues to improve and by summer, “Maybe he’s as good as the second guys” — meaning rumored sidekicks for LeBron.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/sport ... ref=sports

Tony Montana · Post #2 » by **Tony Montana** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:44 am

I agree with that quote

truth serum · Post #3 » by **truth serum** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:53 am

That was an excellent article. Man, I am so proud of Nate and Lee right now and so proud to be a Knicks fan. Things are looking up. Thanks Donnie. You are the man of my dreams.

Esq-4 · Post #4 » by **Esq-4** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:54 am

yeah, this brings it back to poll question had, which was a great question. Do you want Nate and Lee for a combined value of a max contract that would be going to the second max fa or Bosh, Amare, etc.

To me there are only a handful of truly max players: LBJ, Kobe, Wade, Howard, Paul, and Duncan. That is not to say more won't emerge (such as a Durant for example). But as of today, if the second FA is not in that list then I would rather have Lee AND Nate.

p.s. doesn't make you sick that JJeff and EC have the combined value of max (or more depending on the cap)

HarthorneWingo · Post #5 » by **HarthorneWingo** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:36 am

At The Mecca wrote:That was an excellent article. Man, I am so proud of Nate and Lee right now and so proud to be a Knicks fan. Things are looking up. Thanks Donnie. You are the man of my dreams.

Well said. I'm also looking forward to seeing this team rebuild around Lee, Nate, Wilson, and hopefully Gallinari.

TheBluest · Post #6 » by **TheBluest** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:39 am

Second guys make $10mil+/yr. So he'll be paying him like a second guy.

NYC2BGI · Post #7 » by **NYC2BGI** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:45 am

I think that most of us would like to see the Knicks keep Lee and Nate as long as we sign a "1st guy" too. The 2 of them are pieces of the puzzle but not the superstar that we need.

R-DAWG · Post #8 » by **R-DAWG** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:48 am

I agree with that, but if you can not get the 1st guy, 2nd guys have no value. So if you have to choose between bringing back Lee or having a shot at LeBron or Wade, you need to take the shot at getting the #1 guy. Your talking about a chance at landing one of the 4 best players in the game today (Wade, James, Kobe, Dwight). When was the last time the Knicks had a shot of getting a top 5 player in the league. You can not risk losing the chance to land one of those guys over David Lee or Nate Robinson.

Esq-4 · Post #9 » by **Esq-4** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:59 am

most likely the knicks can keep Lee and Nate AND still go after one make, or at least be real close, close enough that some creativity can get around it.

omerome · Post #10 » by **omerome** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:08 am

R-DAWG wrote:I agree with that, but if you can not get the 1st guy, 2nd guys have no value. So if you have to choose between bringing back Lee or having a shot at LeBron or Wade, you need to take the shot at getting the #1 guy. Your talking about a chance at landing one of the 4 best players in the game today (Wade, James, Kobe, Dwight). When was the last time the Knicks had a shot of getting a top 5 player in the league. You can not risk losing the chance to land one of those guys over David Lee or Nate Robinson.

That true and all but you can't put all your assets on a possibility that we do get an elite (#1) guy.

I mean if at the expense of losing Lee and/or Nate to try and sign LeBron and maybe another elite player, there is a chance they resign with their old teams or maybe another team can provide a better package than us.

Now what does that leaves us? We would be back to square one with bigger problems to deal with but at least we got cap space...!

GuyverADL · Post #11 » by **GuyverADL** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:15 am

I guess I can only hope they only sign 3 yr deals.

Lets pray Walsh doesnt Jerry West us before he leaves. Great.

passthedutchman · Post #12 » by **passthedutchman** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:16 am

yeah I think it is possible to sign both and get a max free agent- but I think the problem is that our chances of getting that one premier superstar is better if we can sign two.

Scalabrine · Post #13 » by **Scalabrine** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:24 am

Esq-4 wrote:yeah, this brings it back to poll question had, which was a great question. Do you want Nate and Lee for a combined value of a max contract that would be going to the second max fa or Bosh, Amare, etc.

To me there are only a handful of truly max players: LBJ, Kobe, Wade, Howard, Paul, and Duncan. That is not to say more won't emerge (such as a Durant for example). But as of today, if the second FA is not in that list then I would rather have Lee AND Nate.

p.s. doesn't make you sick that JJeff and EC have the combined value of max (or more depending on the cap)

The thing is, Lee and Nate combined will be less then a max deal. I doubt any other team, that Lee would want to play for, will be able to offer Lee more than 9 million per season. Nate is more risky because teams will be able to offer the MLE, but at the current state of the economy teams that have the MLE would be giving Nate 6 million dollars then have to match his contract dollar for dollar, which is something most teams wont be willing to do (12 million for Nate) and something the Knicks can do.

TKF · Post #14 » by **TKF** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:44 am

I think nate's career high was 45 vs portland last year, not the 41 he just scored.... good article BTW..

AyAsiB KNICKS · Post #15 » by **AyAsiB KNICKS** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:01 am

passthedutchman wrote:yeah I think it is possible to sign both and get a max free agent- but I think the problem is that our chances of getting that one premier superstar is better if we can sign two.

NICE SIG BRO...now all of them are out...congrats...lol :lol:

Post #16 » by **mjhp911** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:21 am

Common sense dictates that you don’t develop players and let them walk with the hope of luring others a year later...

First things first: protect the good (if not great) players you already have. Walsh reminds us that Lee is still playing out of position at center, continues to improve and by summer, “Maybe he’s as good as the second guys” — meaning rumored sidekicks for LeBron.

Nice. He's not that senile yet. But I'm sure he's not going to like the price tags they're going to command, when all is said and done. Whatever. Both guys, on a combined max salary, plus a FA in '10, works for me.

R-DAWG · Post #17 » by **R-DAWG** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:02 am

omerome wrote:
R-DAWG wrote:I agree with that, but if you can not get the 1st guy, 2nd guys have no value. So if you have to choose between bringing back Lee or having a shot at LeBron or Wade, you need to take the shot at getting the #1 guy. Your talking about a chance at landing one of the 4 best players in the game today (Wade, James, Kobe, Dwight). When was the last time the Knicks had a shot of getting a top 5 player in the league. You can not risk losing the chance to land one of those guys over David Lee or Nate Robinson.

That true and all but you can't put all your assets on a possibility that we do get an elite (#1) guy.

I mean if at the expense of losing Lee and/or Nate to try and sign LeBron and maybe another elite player, there is a chance they resign with their old teams or maybe another team can provide a better package than us.

Now what does that leaves us? We would be back to square one with bigger problems to deal with but at least we got cap space...!

It would only be a wasted effort if the Knicks spent money just to spend. If you dont get LeBron or Wade, you sign some fill ins and try to get lucky in the draft, or at worst start adding some pieces that way and put yourself in position for either Howard or Rose in 2012. I know its tough, but the reality is that we will never compete for a ring without a franchise player. We need Ewing v2. And that will either come through getting lucky in the draft or having enough space to sign a max free agent. And cap space is always valuable. We have been bad and medicore for long enough. if i have go through a few more though years in order to get me a guy who can win a championship, so be it. I can tell you one thing, your not winning a champioship with Lee and Nate as your 2 best players. And the way our cap situation looks, we can not sign a max guy and resign these 2.

Post #18 » by **Boss_** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:46 am

I dont know man, Im not so sure Lee and Nate are the type of STARTERS you'd want to build a championship caliber playoff team. Nate moreso than lee. Hell make bad decisions with the ball in the playoffs that will HURT you unlike the regular season when you can just blow it off. Lee is just a horrible defender. These guys are great 6th men, but they are definately gonna command semi-allstar money for free agency. I think lee is gonna stick, Dantoni doesnt care about defense anyway.

Post #19 » by **Flaming Mo** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:55 am

TKF wrote:I think nate's career high was 45 vs portland last year, not the 41 he just scored.... good article BTW..

You said it a couple of weeks ago how valuable Lee's strength with either hand can be around the basket. I agree, good read and 45 is Nate's career high, I was at that game...

ohboy109 · Post #20 » by **ohboy109** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:05 pm

lol..why are you's talking all good about Lee and nate, you guys forget were 8 games under 500..it's ridiculous it's the dam system that makes them look good..I don't know I don't get it we still suck and play no defense, we will suck until we get a superstar in the lottery is our only hope and maybe if we get lebron in 2010 other wise we have no future other than a 500 team that will get bumped in the first round every year..I want a ring I am tired of this!