I would take Lee. I don't know where his reputation for defense comes from. I watched a ton of basketball this year, other than the Bulls and the playoffs(NBA League Pass FTW!) and David Lee is a monster! I can see where people are saying he CAN'T play defense, if Lee is playing center. He's 6'9, and his division actually has solid big men, and he still scored on all of them consistently, he still did a great job on the boards against them.
Hear me out on why I think Lee is perfectly acceptable, and BETTER than bringing in Boozer or Amar'e. If you are already decided on the matter, just ignore the rest of this post.
First off, David Lee is in a Mike D'Antoni system in NY. What big man under D'Antoni has actually earned a reputation for their defense? Nobody, because that is NOT how his playbook works.
I'm going to break down each of his division match-ups.
Against New Jersey, he was on Brook Lopez, and from what i saw, he actually held him down a bit. Lopez is a legit 5, legit 7 footer, legit post offense and post defense. I know the Nets weren't anything special this year, but Lee was on par with Lopez in each meeting.
Against Philadelphia, he was on Dalembert, who is solid, but no all-star. Besides the T-Mac heat-check game, Lee did great on both ends. He didn't out-rebound Dalembert, but he got him into foul trouble real quick, in each game, and did the same to Brand in a few games too.
Against Toronto, this is where you can say he can't play defense. Against Bargnani and Bosh, he had one hell of a time stopping those guys. But for 2 of the 4 meetings, he did shut down Bargnani. I think he had one game with 2 points scored against him, and Bargnani is a guy who stretches the floor. But I don't expect Lee to stop Bosh, even though Lee has gotten better against guys like Bosh.
Against the champs, Lee was at the free-throw line a ton. He gets foul calls. Perkins damn near fouled out of every meeting, and KG wasn't far behind off the switch.
Against all of those guys, he shot 53.6%. Tell me, we don't need a guy who can do that?
Yes, you're going to have players like Dwight who will give him hell. You're going to have guys like Bosh and Amar'e who can drop 25 points on him. Hell, those guys are good, they're going to do that to most anyone.
So as far as his defensive ability, I don't have any issues. David Lee isn't going to be a top DPOY candidate. But he'll get the job done.
Offensively, he is solid. He's going to be a high percentage player, and he's going to get the other team in foul trouble.
If he came to the Bulls, Lee wouldn't be playing Center, he would be a PF, that has to make things easier for him on both ends, and easier on our depth chart if we need to spot-start Taj, and rotate Lee to the 5. It's that flexibility that makes him a good asset.
Also, Lee and Noah both played together in college. The reunion of these 2 players is a tiny head start on each others relationship and progression.
Recap:
D'Antoni system shouldn't be held against him.
Undersized Center, should be PF.
Foul Magnet.
High Percentage shot taker.
Smart rebounder.
....and add to this, he's 27 years old, working on shooting, and played for the boo-bird knicks, but still gave it his best each night.
I think Lee can be signed for less than Amar'e, Boozer and definitely Bosh!
David Lee isn't the second coming. But he would fit this team MUCH better than most people realize.
Holy crap, sorry for the long post, and I don't have a man-crush on David Lee!
