David Lee

[bobatundi]

If the Mavs aren't able to pull off a S&T for LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Johnson...what do folks think should be our Plan B?

I've become a huge fan of Lee watching him play this year in person. The guy has a good post game, can stretch the floor a bit, hustles his ass off, and is pretty young. The Knicks are almost certainly not going to re-sign him, as they dream of landing two of the huge names.

Lee's not the greatest defender, for sure--but I love the idea of a 3-man frontcourt rotation of Dirk, Haywood & Lee. Any two of the three can play together--Lee plays C for the Knicks, but could also play PF alongside Haywood and we'd still have a legit scorer on the court. Dirk & Lee together wouldn't be the greatest defensive combo of all time, but man they'd be able to light up the scoreboard.

The Knicks could be quite motivated to do a S&T with Lee for the DUST chip, if we were to take something back from them. Damp + Carroll for Lee + Curry would work well for both teams--NY gains $7MM in cap room for 2010, the Mavs get Lee at a starting salary up to $10.5MM, and Curry's $11.2MM salary is actually LESS than the $11.7MM remaining on Carroll's deal. Plus, the Mavs gain a trade chip with Curry as an expiring for 2011.