Catching up with David Lee
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- July
- 24
It’s pretty obvious why David Lee is so darn popular in these parts.
He shows up.
Lee finished up a workout this afternoon, then spent time at Pace University where the Knicks were conducting a summer camp for 140 kids. It’s part of his routine. He’s normally just a phone call away when the organization needs somebody to lend credibility to an event.
The guy even goes to Liberty games, and hows up with great enthusiasm.
Over the last three years, Lee has mastered the art of conversation. It helps reinforce an image that was built on the court where a full-tilt style of play quickly attracted what’s become a loyal following.
Still, he was a fixture in pre-draft trade rumors.
Despite the lunacy expereinced in a Knicks uniform over the last three seasons, Lee doesn’t want to be anywhere else.
“I’ve seen a lot of drama in three years on and off the court,” he said. “For me, I’ve put in a lot of time and hard work here, and kind of built a little bit of a niche. … I would love to be here when it does turn around, and be part of that resurgence because it’s going to happen soon.”
Lee had lunch with Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni recently, and sat down with Knicks president Donnie Walsh at the MSG Training Center two days ago to get a sense about where he stands.
“I wanted to get a feel from those guys if they liked me here as a player and they wanted me here,” he said.
And?
“They said, ‘Let’s not mince words. We want to have you here in New York and we love your game and how it’s going to fit in coach’s system,” Lee said.
But …
“We areed on the fact that if your main goal is to win basketball games and improve this franchise, then you’ve got to listen to all offers that come through for every player at this point,” Lee said.
Lee seems confident he will be here when training camp opens. He’s working on becoming more explosive, and is again putting up countless mid-range jumpers to gain a measure of consistency. But he’s no longer hunting for a new apartment in the city. Just in case.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 3:24 pm by Mike Dougherty.
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Not that I would ever buy a hoops jersey, but it is funny that we’re a few months from the start of the season and if you wanted to go out and buy a Knicks jersey, you’d have a tough time picking one out because anyone of the guys on the roster could be gone by opening night. Just crazy.
Mike, if you’re building any type of organization, sports team or corporation, you need to establish a “core”. Lee, Chandler and Gallinari, should make a strong core going forward. Lee’s offense should fit extremely well in an uptempo game.Although only a snap shot he scored 30 in the frosh/soph game a few years back. The K’s still need to add an inside defender or they’ll continue to suffer.With the present squad, a starting 5 of Duhon,Chandler@2,Gallinari, Lee and Zach might work,with Z and DL alternately covering the 5.Combining Craw + ED with N8 and Balk on the 2nd team might also work.
strange how the one guy who fans want to keep the most is also the one guy we probably can’t end up keeping if we are going to get better via trades. such is life I suppose.
I saw him yesterday at the knick ticket sales open house. I was thinking the same thing about him being at almost every team event. He seemed like a nice guy. I told him not to party it up with duhon too much this season, to which he replied ” hah nah I stay away from that stuff, but i can’t speak for duhon”
Doesn’t sound good for David. Everyone wants him and we have cap issues thanks to the past few regimes. He is the perfect piece to trade to get rid of the crap we need to get rid of.
I would love to have him here. He is the type of player you want on your team, a team first guy who works and doesn’t crave the spotlight.
I hope he stays, but the contract thing works against him