Sign and Trade Offers start July 9th
Kudos to Hahn for adding clarity to the Lee and Nate situations:
“…The Knicks can entertain sign-and-trade discussions involving both Lee and Robinson on July 9, after the seven-day moratorium. There is expected to be a strong market for Lee, who led the NBA with 62 double-doubles, and there are teams with cap space that have an interest. The Pistons could attempt to sign him to an offer sheet if they do not go after Carlos Boozer and the Trail Blazers are also said to be in hot pursuit, but more likely in a sign-and-trade scenario.
For the Knicks to keep him, Lee and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, would likely have to agree to a back-loaded deal to protect the cap space in 2010. Walsh would also have to first find a way to move either Eddy Curry ($11.2 million against the cap in 2010-11) or Jared Jeffries ($6.8 million) off the roster to offset Lee’s contract, which could command up to $8 million per year or more. Consider the range of these comparables: Troy Murphy ($11 million), Andris Biedrins ($9 million) and Udonis Haslem ($7.1 million)…”
Andrew and I have come to the agreement that you’re looking at a 60% chance Lee is traded and a 40% chance they manage a sign and trade. There is no chance, we believe, that Lee signs an offer that Walsh won’t match meaning no team will push the Knicks into a situation where they have to pay him too much and risk getting nothing in return.
On another note, I’ve had enough of the Jordan Hill is Channing Frye, Chris Wilcox or Mikki Moore nonsense that’s been going around. I’ve had Hill on top of the board for a reason. Let’s pretend, shall we, that Hill shaved his dreads and went to Wake Forest. College careers, in terms of team success, have nothing to do with a player’s ceiling. Did Tim Duncan ever make a Final Four?
Hill’s upside is off the charts, but more importantly, he has the organization’s trust that he’ll be able to come in and have and impact. Frye had to compete with Lee, and if memory serves, it was Isiah who thought he was too soft. So Isiah stuck with the scrappy Lee more because the fans loved him, (and Zeke needed all the cheers he could get) and Lee rewarded Zeke with solid play. And all the draft experts had no clue who Lee was coming out of Florida. But that’s what archives are for.
In all honesty, Hill started playing as a junior in high school and he ran into a tough situation at Arizona in terms of there being a ton of distractions. The best piece of advice I received once came from the editor of a major sports magazine who told me “talent is great but potential is reached when it’s recognized and allowed to flourish by someone in management who believes in you.” I believe that Hill can flourish in D’Antoni’s system and he will be allowed to flourish.
Besides Blake Griffin, what big over the past few years has had the package of size, speed and athleticism that Hill possesses? Sure, the odds are that bigs chosen early become less productive than guards, just look at the history of the draft, but it’s tough to imagine that Hill won’t be a big part of the rotation next year.
Also, as always, thanks to all the callers and listeners who have quickly made TKB Radio one of the top 10 most popular sports shows on BTR. As you guys know, blogtalkradio has established itself as one of the driving forces in Internet radio.
