David Lee: More Important On or Off the Court?

http://hardwoodhoudini.com/2015/09/06/david-lee-more-important-on-or-off-the-court/2/



David Lee: More Important On or Off the Court?
by Joshua Bateman 1d ago




One of the Boston Celtics‘ minor moves this offseason was one of the more brilliant ones. The Celtics managed to rid themselves of the most useless contract in the NBA in Gerald Wallace and in return they got an impactful player. The Golden State Warriors were interested in dumping David Lee‘s salary, which is around $5 million more than Wallace’s.

Lee was a crucial part of the Warriors’ rotation and one of the stronger power forwards in the league before injuries and the emergence of Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut left him with minimal minutes off the bench.


Even though the Celtics have plenty of power forwards, including the only other significant player they added this free agency in Amir Johnson, David Lee will be fighting for a starting position. Lee has a polished offensive game and can be more trusted than any other power forward on the roster.

Throw in the Celtics’ complete lack of a veteran presence and the reigning NBA champion will benefit the Celtics is more area than than one.David Lee’s on court impact will be very conditional. There are too many different potential scenarios to have any idea what kind of role he will have. The first issue for Lee is his health. If he cannot stay healthy then he will never have a true impact on the court.

The Celtics have so many power forwards that if Lee is too hurt to break out then at least one other power forward will begin to separate himself. Lee’s history may give him a bit of a head start over some of the younger players but if he falls behind there is a good chance he will never recover.

Another issue for Lee is whether or not he can return to his prime. Lee was much less effective in his limited minutes last season and if he continues to regress then the Celtics will have another massive and useless contract on their hands.

The bright side is that if Lee does manage to return to his prime all star form, then he is by far the best power forward on the team. The Celtics had nobody come close to a double double last year and Lee could have a shot at being the leading scorer.

Lee does not stretch the floor but neither did last year’s starting power forward in Brandon Bass and his ability in the mid range game will translate perfectly into Stevens’ system. Lee has the most trusted offensive game and he was never the kind of player to try and take over games with isolation basketball.

Lee can be the best system player on the team. He can elevate them on the offensive end and can give them a much needed rebounding boost.

The problem is that it is unlikely that Lee will return to that form. First of all, Lee may never be given the 35+ minutes per game he was used to in his prime with the Warriors. The Celtics had one player break 30 minutes per game and with the amount of power forwards the Celtics have, they will all struggle to get more than 25 minutes per game.

Even if Lee is not as productive as he was in his prime, if he can be just as effective then that will be enough. The Celtics need the reliability that Lee can provide, especially with all the uncertainty with Jared Sullinger.

Even if Lee remains as efficient as he was in his prime his impact on the court may still wind up being limited. Lee cannot stretch the floor like Jonas Jerebko or Sullinger, he cannot match Jordan Mickey’s rim protection and Amir Johnson is much closer to his prime. Lee may be more trusted than Johnson, but Johnson is at a much better point in his career to break out.

Lee is expected to be a main part of the Celtics’ rotation but its hard to imagine him getting much more than 20 minutes per game and with all kinds of backup behind him, it will take a lot of injuries or disappointments for Lee to become the impact player that he once was on the court.

David Lee’s on court impact will be very conditional. There are too many different potential scenarios to have any idea what kind of role he will have. The first issue for Lee is his health. If he cannot stay healthy then he will never have a true impact on the court.

The Celtics have so many power forwards that if Lee is too hurt to break out then at least one other power forward will begin to separate himself. Lee’s history may give him a bit of a head start over some of the younger players but if he falls behind there is a good chance he will never recover.

Another issue for Lee is whether or not he can return to his prime. Lee was much less effective in his limited minutes last season and if he continues to regress then the Celtics will have another massive and useless contract on their hands.

The bright side is that if Lee does manage to return to his prime all star form, then he is by far the best power forward on the team. The Celtics had nobody come close to a double double last year and Lee could have a shot at being the leading scorer.

Lee does not stretch the floor but neither did last year’s starting power forward in Brandon Bass and his ability in the mid range game will translate perfectly into Stevens’ system. Lee has the most trusted offensive game and he was never the kind of player to try and take over games with isolation basketball.

Lee can be the best system player on the team. He can elevate them on the offensive end and can give them a much needed rebounding boost.

The problem is that it is unlikely that Lee will return to that form. First of all, Lee may never be given the 35+ minutes per game he was used to in his prime with the Warriors. The Celtics had one player break 30 minutes per game and with the amount of power forwards the Celtics have, they will all struggle to get more than 25 minutes per game.

Even if Lee is not as productive as he was in his prime, if he can be just as effective then that will be enough. The Celtics need the reliability that Lee can provide, especially with all the uncertainty with Jared Sullinger.

Even if Lee remains as efficient as he was in his prime his impact on the court may still wind up being limited. Lee cannot stretch the floor like Jonas Jerebko or Sullinger, he cannot match Jordan Mickey’s rim protection and Amir Johnson is much closer to his prime. Lee may be more trusted than Johnson, but Johnson is at a much better point in his career to break out.

Lee is expected to be a main part of the Celtics’ rotation but its hard to imagine him getting much more than 20 minutes per game and with all kinds of backup behind him, it will take a lot of injuries or disappointments for Lee to become the impact player that he once was on the court.



bob
MY NOTE:  I disagree with the author's assessment.  Firstly, while his points/36 dropped from 19.8 to 15.6 last year, his rebounds/36 were almost exactly the same.  His assists/36 increased by almost 50%, as did his steals/36.  In fact, his assists/36 last year was about as good as his two all-star years but his turnovers/36 were lower.  His fg% dropped a small amount, from 52.3% in 2013-2014 to 51.1% in 2014-2015.  What might cause the drop in points/36 and increase in assists/36?  He's a team player and GSW is a guard-oriented system.  He fed Curry, Thompson and Green a lot.  He's not a ball hog, not a ME-baller.  That is the type of player Brad wants.  Watch, our guards will get a lot of catch-and-shoot opportunities this year with Lee on the court.  David Lee was "much less effective in his limited minutes last season"?  I don't, and didn't, see that.  

Obviously, we must be careful not to just look at a player's production and not adjust for minutes.  OF COURSE a scorer like Lee will score more points in 36 minutes than he will in 18.  That doesn't mean anything about his impact IF the player(s) getting those other 18 minutes are doing well also.  In an uptempo system like Brad's, fresh legs are very important.  If playing 35+ mpg is the criteria for being an impact player it might be a long time before the Celtics have "an impact player" under Brad Stevens.

David Lee is a better rebounder than Jerebko.  He doesn't shoot 3s like Sullinger but that's ok with me because I don't want Sullinger taking 3s either.  In fact, if you look at rebounds/minute, he's a better rebounder than Bass was (10.2 rebs/36 vs 7.2rebs/36 for Bass' Celtic career.  That's a BIG difference).

Here are the numbers for Lee and Bass, for comparison purposes. As you all know I have been a staunch supporter of Brandon Bass, so this is not a putdown of him. I'm just trying to show where David Lee is being underappreciated by this author. If someone told you we could replace Gerald Wallace with another Brandon Bass would you say "oh, how horrible! What will we do with front-court minutes now!?" or would you say "Wallace was a good soldier and I wish him well, but Brandon Bass is a more valuable player and so I'll take that trade in a heartbeat"? Well, that's what that trade was, it was Wallace for Lee and Lee is a better rebounder than Bass, as good a shooter (and similar) and a much better passer. He's not as good a defender, although he can defend at 5 as Bass did at times, but we want to move away from having 4s defending 5s anyway.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/leeda02.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bassbr01.html

One thing we may find to be true in 5 months or so is that David Lee has more trade value than Brandon Bass. If you remember Danny dangled Bass last year at the trade deadline and there were no nibbles.

This author says Lee may be the best system player on the team, but he might not be an impactful one. Isn't that hedging his bets at best and flat-out contradictory at worst?




.

How is the acquisition of David Lee considered a minor move? He is by far the best player on this Celtics roster.

worcester wrote:How is the acquisition of David Lee considered a minor move? He is by far the best player on this Celtics roster.

worcester,

And he was had for a player that never played.

btw, love your new avatar. Between the two of us we have it covered.


bob


.

Yep Bob, between the two of us we have it covered.