When former Golden State Warriors general manager Larry Riley acquired forward David Lee from The New York Knicks in 2010, some skeptics questioned Riley for giving Lee a six-year, $80 million deal. At that point of his career Lee had never been on a winning team, but Riley saw the potential that Lee had based off of his athleticism, hustle, and overall love for the game of basketball. In his last two seasons with The Knicks, Lee averaged a double-double. Lee has the ability to be an effective player without having the ball in his hands due to his innate ability to rebound and make things happen on the court. Not having plays consistently called for Lee was very important when he first joined The Warriors as the team featured the high-scoring backcourt of Steph Curry and Monta Ellis. Playing with Curry and Ellis didn’t effect Lee as he averaged 18 points and 9.7 rebounds in his first two seasons with Golden State. Ellis was traded to The Milwaukee Bucks last season to open up the flow of the team. Now The Warriors are a more balanced team and Lee is a big part of it.
Current Warriors head coach Mark Jackson is a former point guard in The National Basketball Association and he has brought an old-school approach to this team that compliments Lee’s workman like attitude. Lee is currently averaging 19.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game as his rebounding average this season is a personal best since joining Golden State. Lee is doing what some people didn’t expect him to do when he joined The Warriors which is putting up big numbers in The Western Conference.
The Western Conference is flooded with All-Star caliber big men which includes Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph of The Memphis Grizzlies, Tim Duncan of The San Antonio Spurs, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan of The Los Angeles Clippers, and LaMarcus Aldrige of The Portland Trailblazers. This month Lee dropped 24 points and 10 rebounds on Aldrige and The Blazers in a 103-97 victory for Golden State. In the contest Aldrige was held to 7 points and 6 rebounds. In The Warriors 115-94 victory over The Clippers on January 2, Lee was 3 assists shy of his third career triple-double. The Warriors have defeated The Clippers twice this month and in those contests Lee combined for 36 points and 24 rebounds.
Lee’s production hasn’t gone unnoticed as he was selected to his second NBA All-Star team and his first since joining The Warriors. Lee is bringing excitement to The Bay Area as fans of The Warriors are not only thinking about the playoffs, but the team’s first Pacific Division Title since 1976. Just like when he was with The Knicks, Lee has become a fan favorite because fans know that Lee will give a full effort every time that he steps on the court in the same mold of former Major League Baseball player Pete Rose. Rose was dubbed “Charlie Hustle” because he never took a play off which included him running to first base after drawing a walk. If The NBA had an all-effort team Lee would be a member of it.
The main reason why The Knicks gave up on Lee was that the front office had become enamored with luring big-time free-agents such as Amare Stoudemire. Stoudemire has been an injury prone player throughout his career as The Knicks are now finding out. Stoudemire’s production has decreased every season with The Knicks while Lee’s numbers have increased with Golden State. Instead of giving Lee $80 million for a player that they knew, The Knicks gave Stoudemire a five-year, $100 million deal.
Lee’s game is transportable as he is on The West Coast pop-locking and looking forward to his first playoff trip with The Warriors. Lee is a testament to hard work paying off in The NBA.
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