Z-Man,

Overall I would like Lee to take a few more Js (say 35-40% of his shots instead of 26%, while improving his J enough to maintain his 40% eFG% on Js or improve it), I just disagree about how much of a problem his jump shooting is.

“I have seen him be very tentative anytime he has a wide-open 12-18 footer”

One out of every four shots he took this past season was a jumper and he hit a respectable, if unspectacular 40.5% of them, so I think “anytime” might be a bit of an exaggeration . You also have to consider that his role on the Knicks has not been to take mid-range Js: he’s played next to jump shooters in Frye and Randolph and a low-post scorer in Curry and excelled in his role. It’s hard to say what he’d do if D’Antoni changes his role and the offensive system as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, Lee would be a better player (an All-Star) if he could shoot the ball like Dirk, I just still think he’s a pretty good one.

“often making an unnecessary pass to someone who has to take a lower percentage contested shot.”

First, let me say that mid-range shots are the least efficient shots possible, and as a team you really only want your good shooters to take relatively open ones. So, depending on the situation passing is not “unnecessary.”

When Lee passes up those shots early enough in the shot clock, no one is forced into taking a bad shot. If the Knicks had a structured offense (plus enough intelligence to run that offense) and a decent PG Lee could pass up a long 2 and the team could end up with a better look. If he’s passing up open looks as the clock runs down, that’s obviously a problem. If Lee wants to fit into D’Antoni’s system (assuming minimal changes from his Phoenix days), I don’t think he’ll be passing up that many open looks either way.

Not too many 4s and 5s can hit outside shots at a high enough % to justify taking them often (especially considering the opportunity cost of having your bigmen inside). There are some bigs with good outside shots, but there are probably just as many Zach Randolphs and Antoine Walkers who cost their team by settling for jumpers.
While I admit that Lee is not All-NBA and has his weaknesses, if you have guards/wings who can hit from outside, slash, and create/pass, a bigman who can move without the ball and get himself open in a good position is extremely valuable (especially if he rebounds like Lee).
As Caleb points out, Lee is the least of the Knicks problems. Also as Caleb points out, there are two full seasons until the summer of 2010: getting desperate now and moving your best player just to move a contract is pretty impatient.

As I pointed out with David West, jump shooting by young PFs certainly can improve. Another example could be Carlos Boozer: he’s always been more of a jump shooter than Lee (usually taking around 50% +/- of his shots as jumpers), but had fluctuated between .378 and .411 eFG% on those jumpers until he exploded for .447 eFG% on jumpers this past season. Udonis Haslem is another guys known for knocking down open mid-range Js, only in a more complementary role than Boozer (around 11-12 pts/36 throughout his career). After his first two seasons his jump shooting hasn’t improved with age, but he only hits about 40% of his jumpers (.414 in Miami’s title run). So, again, Lee could be a decent jump shooter with more confidence and enough improvement (from both him and the offense) to maintain his efficiency while taking more Js.

Man defense is also something that an athletic player like Lee should be able to improve with increased strength and experience/coaching. He’ll never be Ben Wallace in his prime but he could be solid.

The smart course of action would be to stick with what they have, hope Thaddeus Young stays on track to stardom, listen to offers for Miller, etc.

But who says GMs always do the right thing?

This is just pissing in the wind, when the offense is demonstrably better (scoring more and more efficiently) when he is in the game.

More interesting is this…

“I could pay less attention to this if Lee were a better defender, or if we had more pieces in place.”

For whatever reason, when the Cavs lose, people blame LeBron; when the Lakers lose, they blame Kobe. When a team loses, the best player always gets the blame, even when (e.g. Cleveland) LeBron’s worst game is generally better than any of his teammates’ best game.

Is it fair? Probably not, but that doesn’ matter — it comes with the territory. But if you’re building a team, you need to understand where your strengths and weaknesses are.

I’m not remotely suggesting that our boy DL is in the LeBron/Garnett class… but why do so many people here seem to think our biggest problem is that David Lee isn’t better than he is? I mean, for better or worse he’s the best player on the team, and only the 13th-highest paid. Suppose he gets an extension for $9 million a year — he’ll still have just the 5th-highest salary, 4th once Marbs is gone. In other words, we have much bigger problems; you don’t solve those by trading or not re-signing the best player.

Now, if someone offers a big-time prospect, or it’s February 2010 and we face a clear choice between keeping DL and having $15 million of cap room and we know 2 or 3 big-time free agents will be shopping their services, then you can re-assess.

Are we going to be able to unload Z-Bo? It’s hard to tell based on what the media says. When he was in Portland, it seemed like there was some interest in him around the league.

If we can’t get rid of him, Jeffries, or Curry I personally think (at 10 million a year) we should unload Crawford this or next year to clear some room for LeBron

I never said that Lee is a better jump shooter than PJ Brown. On the contrary, people keep saying that Lee hits 40% of his jump shots, implying that he is a better shooter than Brown and others. I have seen him be very tentative anytime he has a wide-open 12-18 footer (forget about anything beyond 18 feet), often making an unnecessary pass to someone who has to take a lower percentage contested shot. I also see his defender dropping off of him, daring him to shoot while being in position to defend against post moves and penetration. This puts offensive pressure on everyone else that is again not measured in the stats.

Again, I could pay less attention to this if Lee were a better defender, or if we had more pieces in place.

Not to put words in your mouth, but it seems like a lot of the people who aren’t so high on Lee see his efficiency as resulting mostly from putbacks and waiting for the perfect shot. I see it as, yes, putbacks, but also moving without the ball and shot selection (a more positive version of waiting for the right shot). While you might see Lee as a liability on a good offensive team, I agree with Mike K.’s posts that a good offensive team doesn’t mean having 5 guys who can create their own shot and feel that a guy who can move without the ball, get himself open in spots he can hit from, and generally be low usage/high efficiency can be extrememly productive in and important to a good/great offense. Not only does moving without the ball help your spacing, it should be more valuable on a team with better spacing.

I see your point that Wallace and Rodman were great defenders to go with their rebounding prowess, but I don’t think Lee is one dimensional: his ok jumper, ability to move without the ball and convert shot efficiently make him a far better offensive player than Rodman or Wallace. His defense will never be at those guys levels, but I think he can be an average/above average man defender in time and on a solid defensive team.