re: Nate, the reason his comps are all bigger players is a) he is basically a shooting guard, and b) he is a terrific rebounder. That said, your position is defined by who you can defend and he’ll never be able to defend SGs. I’d definitely see if we can use Nate to move Jeffries’ or even Curry’s contract, but otherwise, like Lee, I’d like to see us lock him up for 4-5 years at a decent rate, say $4-5 million. If we let him hit the market next year we probably lose him for nothing, or overpay.

Besides geography, playing time’s also got to be part of it. With Z, Shaq, and Varejao, youngsters Hickson and Jackson, and possibly an aging ring-seeker a la Joe Smith last season there are few minutes available in Cleveland’s frontcourt. With only a 2 million dollar commitment to him I don’t think Frye would be given a minute he didn’t earn, and he might not even see all those that he did.
Outside of Amare, Phoenix does not have one legitimate NBA bigman. Not sure if Big Ben’s playing, but he’s a shell of his former self. Robin Lopez had a poor rookie season. Earl Clark’s a rookie SF/PF with questionable work habits/ attitude. Louis Amundson… Basically, Frye’s got a chance to earn big minutes for the Suns if he’s on his game and no one else takes a huge step forward.

“Could it be used as leverage to convince him that he would be far more marketable as a small PG than a woefully undersized SG?”

It’s possible, and with a slightly different mindset he could probably sell himself as a PG. But his strength is not running the point, so if you’re the Knicks I don’t know if you want a mediocre little PG or a blur of an efficient SG. Whether he’s a 1 or a 2 he’s got to buy into the team concept on both sides of the ball more and stop whining to the refs. If he can really change his mindset and work on his PG skills, then I’d be all for it. All I’m saying is that one thing I thought D’Antoni did well last season was to let Nate be Nate: for the most part, great coaches and teams put players in a position to play to their strengths.

“He is seeking a deal that averages $12 million a year, which is at least $4 million more than the Knicks are comfortable spending on Lee.”

If that’s his stance, I think Lee’s either got to take the QO or find a team willing to offer him a one-year MLE deal that the Knicks will match… maybe a division rival or someone who would just like to see the Knicks spend an extra $6 mill next season ($3 mill + luxury tax)… then go out next offseason and see what he can get.
At some point I think I would just take the 4 yrs 32 mill or 5 yrs 40 mill, especially if I could get the final 2 yrs as player options. But if he really thinks he’s worth 12 mill per, then I guess have a great year and at least try to get 10 or so per next offseason.

North of 300 big? Hey Hahn, a little more info please. Would he fit in a Smart Car?

Stat of the day from summer league: Marcus Williams is playing for the Griz – 17 assists / 1 turnover.

“Eddy Curry is on the court. OK he’s not going to be mistaken for Jared Jeffries, but he is moving well. Just drills now.”

“Running real well…dunking with ease which was not something he did at all last year. Knee issues seem behind him. But he still looks big.”

Also:

“@Berman_NYP is calling in tweets here from the gym! Tweet cheating!! Get a TwitterBerry Starberman!!! That’s poor twittaquite.”

The Knicks got the third best big man prospect in this draft in Hill (unless I’m missing someone). So, I guess it was worth it with the eighth pick. NYK’s most glaring weakness has been interior defense. This has been detailed on this site many times. So, the pick might be a good one in that regard.

His stats at Arizona were good, obviously. The team split or did better against most pac 10 competition. 1-1 against UCLA, USC, Stanford. They lost twice to Arizona State and Cal. So, the team did not dominate but Hill did well in a bad loss to UCLA going 10-15 from the floor. So, maybe he didn’t have much support.

I can’t imagine that D’Antoni would want a guy with no shooting touch so maybe he’ll surprise there. 65% free throws isn’t so bad and he seemed to fluctuate between efficient games and way less so. So, on a given night he might go 8-10.

I think the reason Duhon was so bad in the second half of last season was that he was worn down. We need someone like a Stephon Marbury to spell him for 20 minutes a night. I hear he’s available. Kidding, but a veteran point guard off the bench along with a good post defender is something we can do now that might be worth a few games in the standings before the summer of 2010. So, I’m for Andre Miller.

Along the same lines, Lee and Robinson are our best players so hopefully that gets done (in an economical way). I’d like to see the team be more competitive right now and these moves would address our present on court issues. I’m pleased to see others leaning this way in their posts as well.

When I saw it was 4 years/$20 million, well, then that explained that nicely. ;)