That's not true, and it's not fair to Lee. People made it sound like Lee was demoted because Green was better. That was not the case. Lee was the intended starter when Kerr took over the team. Unfortunately he was out due to surgery, Green was inserted into the lineup, and he took full advantage with the opportunity. We never know what would happen if Lee didn't get injured. As for Love, yes he put a lot numbers, but we all know how many games the Wolves won with him as their star.
That stats is misleading. I live in the Bay Area, watch all of their 82 regular season games, I know something about the Warriors games. Lee was coming back from a surgery, never got consistent minutes to work himself back in the team flow, or game shape. It's hard to contribute in this situation when you are accustom to ~30+ minute as a starter before. Lee will not get anything near 20/10 in Kerr's system, their system just don't give anyone that opportunity to dominate the ball. Most of their plays have Curry as the first option, Thompson as the 2nd option, rest of the guys just fill in. That's why you see Barns barely did anything other than taking corner 3s when Thompson was on the court. But when Klay was out, he got more shots, scored a lot more points. Same thing with Lee, he can give them something close to 15/8 when give minutes.
Fair point that Lee wasn't demoted in the classic sense. But he barely got any burn, and a guy named Draymond Green proved to be more useful to winning than him. But point noted. Love's numbers do seem empty, but so have Lee's been thus far, and Love's empty numbers are meaningfully better than Lee's.
regardless of his salary, lee used to be and still is a pretty good player. he can and should find an nba team to play and even be a starter. love is a notch above him, tho. totally different. and if for some reason gsw have no choice but have to keep lee, to them it's not the end of the world, either.
He's better than the backup PF they currently have in Big Baby. I thought it was funny that on one of Zach Lowe's podcasts he said several scouts have told him that in all seriousness they simply don't understand how he is able to play at that weight.
It's not really about Kerr's system. A third guy can't get 20 points when you have 2 other guys taking 18 shots.
If the Blazers lose LaMarcus Aldridge to free agency, I could see Neil Olshey going after David Lee as a temporary fix. The Clippers did a similar signing with Marcus Camby back in 2008 when Elton Brand spurned them to join the Sixers...
Is Lee any better or worse than Kanter? Kanter is younger of course, but other than that I don't see much difference. Both are offensive machines and defensive liabilities. That said, Kanter is starting for OKC, yet Lee can't find minutes on another West contender? Let's forget the difference in salary since Lee is an expiring next season.
I could see that, as well as the Blazers as somebody else mentioned. Definitely not the Mavs, since Lee is a terrible defender and wouldn't be able to play next to Dirk on defense. I watched him a lot when he was on the Knicks. He's better than Kanter but he really doesn't fit with what the Warriors do because he can neither stretch the floor nor can he make up for it with defense on the other end. Imagine Kevin Love minus the 3 point shot, and that's Lee.
The Nelson-Monta-Parsons-Dirk-Lee defense would be incredible. Games would probably end 120:145 on average. Would surely be entertaining though.
I could see him being a good fit on the Magic, at least until Aaron Gordon gets more seasoned. He and Vucevic would make a very productive front line, though they would be horrible defensively together. I also see him a good fit on the Bucks, but they just traded Ilyasova to save salary so I doubt they trade for Lee. My bet is he ends up back on the Knicks.
Sounds like Lee is most likely to be bought out. If I were a team like the Sixers, the only way I would trade for Lee is if it were for the Warriors 1st round pick in 2019 or later. At least there is a chance the team collapses by then and the pick becomes reasonably valuable.
