Yet, somehow he is still being outplayed by Blatche. This kid reminds me of a young Jermaine O’Neal coming out of Portland.

But yea, that’s a typo…

I think it bears mentioning that in the last ten games, basically since those debacles in Miami and Phoenix, Lee has posted a ts% of 61% while averaging 14 rebounds per 48. Not terrible.

dunno what his numbers are, but Tony Parker has to be mentioned in this category, he’s 6 feet tall without special hops, yet he’s always in the league leaders in points in the paint.

I’ve always liked Brendan Haywood, ever since college, nice to see him finally starting to put it together.

“This year He is averaging 17.64 points per 48″

does capitalizing “He” mean you’re actually worshipping him now? :)

Getting your shot blocked is in there with the ability to hit a jumpshot in the category of things that produce a visceral reaction in basketball fans but matter less than they think. If Lee were shooting 47.3 ts% and getting his shot blocked that much I would be more worried.

Re the Haywood and Thomas comparison, not sure where you are going with that. First of all, has Etan Thomas played this year? I don’t seem him on the stat page.

But really, what’s wrong with Haywood and Thomas? Sure they are not immortal players, but when healthy they are very good low usage big men. I would much rather the two of them on the Knicks then Eddy Curry. We would actually have two defenders who can block shots and rebound.

PER has a lot of problems with low usage big men, and a lot of problems in general. The fact Rodman is rated as below average for his career should be enough to tell you that. But FWIW, Lee’s Per was over 20 last year, which Haywood and Thomas can’t touch. That’s a mark better than Curry has ever posted, and better than every year by Randolph other than last year.

Lee has been getting his shot blocked like crazy this year. I’m not surprised at all at the numbers. Last year his blocked shot %s was 14%/10% nearly half the rate, and very close to the “monster of the post” Zach Randolph. It could be Lee’s injury lingering, or the cold bench sapping his strength for 24 minutes a game. Seriously though I’ll be a tiny bit concerned if Lee’s doesn’t improve on those numbers. That’s Malik Rose territory.

As for your comparable, I love Brendan Haywood. WizKev scouted out the team’s defense for a few years, and Haywood seemed to come out as one of the team’s better defenders.

Boozer – 14% close, 12% inside
Artest – 3.4% close, 4.9% inside
Kaman – 8% close, 7% inside

And the REAL best finishers in my opinion:

LeBron – 9% close, 12% inside
Kobe – 5%, 6%
Stoudemire – 3.5%, 6.5%
David Lee – 29%, 19%

Name Usage RebRate PER R/40 TS%
David Lee 15.2 18 17.6 12.6 56.7
B.Haywood 15.4 16.6 17.6 11.6 56
Etan Thomas 13.1 17.4 15.6 12.1 58.5

Would there be a lot of clamoring for Haywood and Thomas to get on the court more if they were on the Knicks?

Don’t know what’s wrong with Lee this year but he is definitely NOT the same player as we thought he was last year. Have we hit a ceiling with him?

From 82games — David Lee takes 45% of his shots from “close” and an astounding 29% of them are blocked. Overall on his “inside” shots which account for 74% of his total shots, 19% of them are blocked. For someone who makes his living on dumpoff dunks and putbacks, that is outrageously bad. In comparison, only 12% of Z-Bo’s “close” shots are blocked, and only 13% of all “inside” shots are blocked.

Now I looked around to some other teams and it seems like more shots get blocked in general than I would have thought… even so, for someone who was once characterized by John Hollinger as one of the top 5 finishers in the NBA, there is a serious problem here.

Curry has helped just a bit of offense (1.7) but has been absolutely atrocious on defense, (8.4).

And Lee, still hanging out, waiting to make a positive impact…