My thing is that I agree, the best bet would if we were to acquire someone like Lee is to trade him again since he would be a valuable asset around the league and would in all likelyhood enable us to get what we really need for our team. However if we did do a trade that got us Lee, I would be confident in knowing that our frontline would easily be the best in the game unlike this year where we had a glaring hole. Btw, I should say that i think the odds of us trading for Lee ar about 10-20%. Its at least fun to speculate since there are so many rumors out there now.
The rule is that you can re-trade a player you acquired in trade immediately as long as no other salary is sent along with him. If you want to package him with other players, you have to wait 2 months. The '48 hours' is associated with a sign-and-trade deal only. Once a sign-and-trade contract has been signed, the trade must be completed within 48 hours or the contract is null and void.
Lee can play a little bit of flex forward -- depending on matchups -- so it's not inconceivable that you could have Aldridge and Lee on the court at the same time and their games are different enough that you wouldn't be replicating skill sets the way that Frye and LMA overlapped. It also doesn't hurt that Lee has become a slightly more credible threat with his mid range jumper as opposed to being just a put back and garbage points guy. I dunno ... I keep vacillating back on forth on Lee, I guess it all comes down to just how versatile of a player he can be.
No thanks to Lee. Especially at $10 mil per. It still doesn't resolve our issue at point guard, and then creates a log jam up front. You can get a useful backup to LaMarcus and Greg at a MUCH cheaper price.
If Lee is headed this way, Joel is either gone and Aldridge moves over to the 5, or Aldridge is going to play the 3 more. You know, Pritch does things in a particular way. I could see his line of thinking that Przybilla's stock is as high as it could get. Maybe now would be the time to pull the trigger on the deal.
Like I said though, Lee would be a huge asset that would almost assure us of obtaining what we really need a top flight PG. I think you can even facilitate him in another trade and just take back a huge TE. Thats why we have guys like Tom Penn to figure this stuff out. Bottomline is if we cant get our guy one way, you have to be creative and keep your options open. Thats why I'm glad we have KP and Penn running the show.
I don't agree. There were plenty of minutes to go around for bigs last year, but a few guys ended up playing the majority of them due to certain players stinking it up. I really don't think they wanted to play Travis at PF last year when they had to. I don't believe they wanted to put Frye on the floor in many of those games. But I do believe Nate would like to have a big he could bring in with confidence. David Lee fits that bill. David Lee also brings hustle. It might be worth every bit of an 8 million dollar contract to get it here.
I agree. Przybilla's stock may well be as high as it will ever be. Of course, trading him would be an enormous risk, considering Oden has yet to prove that he can stay on the court for long periods of time. I suppose Aldridge could move over to center when Oden is on the bench, but I'm not sure that's optimal. It would be an interesting idea, though. If Przybilla could bring back a nice return, playing front court units of Oden (C) and Aldridge (PF) / Aldridge (C) and Lee (PF) / Oden (C) and Lee (PF) would essentially allow Lee to back up both center and power forward despite never playing center himself.
Lee to Portland would be awesome, but I don't think it will happen either. It is a lot to pay a back up 4/5. Maybe Joel has quietly gone to management and suggested he might be happier in a situation where he was the starter?
If Joel gets dealt as part of a package to get a big name player... Lee can play much more than 12 mins to backup LMA and Oden in a 3 man rotation at the 4/5
I wouldn't pay Frye 10 million a year to backup Aldridge either. We need to play Oden as much as possible (30 minutes+) and Joel is certainly deserving of the other center minutes. LMA is a borderline all-star, and shouldn't play less than the 37 minutes a game he played last year. The financially prudent thing to do would be to find a decent backup PF for those 10-12 minutes a game and use our money to address our more pressing needs, instead of dropping a ton of money on a slightly better PF banking on injuries. Moving LMA out of his PF position to make room for a player of lesser talent who would subsequently be our highest paid player (by a long shot) doesn't make much sense to me.
For those wanting to get Lee under the guise that we flip him to another team, he will be BYC as soon as he signs his deal. He could easily be traded to MEM/OKC, but it would have to be a big deal to send him to a team that does not have cap space.
considering our situation at the PG/SF positions, I'd be rather deflated if we spent $10M on a backup PF....
I think it would be cheaper to bring in Troy Murphy then it is to get Lee. Here is a comparison of the two players. They are pretty close, except that Murphy can also spread the floor. Murphy is not going to demand a salary far greater then he deserves, unlike Lee. Further, I believe the D'Antoni system inflates player stats. Lee's numbers may very well be fools gold. I am not sure if O'Brian's system has the same effect. Just throwing this out there. Unfortunately, I have the price tag wrong. Murphy already makes 10 million a season. My bad. He is still a decent option, though.
