David Lee on his Boston benchings: ‘By no means am I accepting’
David Lee was always going to be gravy for his Boston Celtics. Just as it was, sadly, in his last year with the Golden State Warriors.
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The talented forward and former All-Star has been taken out of his team’s rotation for the second straight season, as the Celtics (currently ranked eighth in the East) have demoted him.
Lee, working in the last year of his six-year, $80 million contract, has not factored much into many of the team’s 19 wins.
After a year and a half of playing nice, Lee is playing honest. From the Boston Globe:
“Coach came to me and said we’re going to try and go small at the four,” Lee said, “Which means Kelly [Olynyk] and Jonas [Jerebko]. That’s why Sully has been out of the starting lineup. That was his theory on some changes he wanted to make after us losing a couple of games, so I told him while I disagree with it, I also told him he’s the coach and can choose to do that.”
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“Even last year I didn’t accept that, and last year was way different,” Lee explained. “It was more of an injury-based thing where I got injured to start the year and came back. This situation is a bit more frustrating, and by no means am I accepting of the situation, and that’s the first thing that I told Brad. He’s the coach, the one making the decisions. I also trust my teammates and want what’s best for the team. So we’re going to have to see how this plays out. The most important thing is making sure the Celtics get a W in the win column. We’ve been up and down as a team, so coach is trying to find some consistency.”
“Coach” in this instance is 39-year old Brad Stevens, a scant seven years older than Lee and on just his third year of a six-year, $22 million deal. That sort of contract – be it for a rookie NBA head coach (as Stevens was upon signing) or celebrated veteran – is just about unprecedented, and it’s clear that he’s been given the go-ahead (as in, “go ahead until 2019”) to do as he sees fit with the roster general manager Danny Ainge has given to him.
Stevens has that roster working ahead of rebuilding schedule, in the playoffs last season and in the mix this year, and it isn’t as if Ainge gave up a whole heck of a lot to acquire Lee: Gerald Wallace and Chris Babb, since traded and waived, to the Golden State Warriors.
Lee made cameo appearances after falling out of favor with those Warriors last season, even contributing to the team’s Finals win in mid-June, but it was clear by December that his mid-range game was somewhat anachronistic as the Warriors developed under rookie coach Steve Kerr. Lee was the good soldier, however, while watching replacement Draymond Green win the league’s Most Improved Player award, come in second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and watching from afar as an evolving Draymond took the lead in Western team All-Star voting this year.
The Florida big man averages 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds in just under 16 points per game with the C’s, career lows excluding a rookie year that saw him dragged in and out of the lineup by the mercurial coaching whims of an off-the-rails Larry Brown. Stevens is less dramatic, and Lee has started four games with Boston, but he hasn’t played more than half a contest since Nov. 24, and he hasn’t played at all in the Celtics’ last two games.
Would the C’s be amenable to trading Lee and his $14.9 million contract? The forward isn’t going to be that forward, just yet:
“We’ll see moving forward how permanent this is,” Lee said. “Obviously, I’m very confident I can help a team win. I hope that’s the Boston Celtics. So, no, I haven’t spoken about that. I haven’t really thought about that yet. Right now it’s about continuing to be ready, and if that was talked about it would be between my agent, the Celtics and other teams.”
This is a cold thing to point out, but at this point Lee’s contract is more valuable to the Celtics than Lee the player. Ainge has been in asset-hoarding mode since breaking up his veteran Boston team during the summer of 2013, and Lee’s expiring deal is exactly the sort of weighty cap figure that the team needs to secure (when added to a package involving draft considerations) the sort of franchise star that the team currently lacks in a trade.
Lee didn’t come to Boston with any illusions of being that franchise star – he’ll leave those delusions up to Evan Turner – but as the team’s lone All-Star and highest-paid player he probably didn’t expect to be benched for entire games in January. Losing out on playing time on a championship team due to injuries and the emergence of Draymond Green is one thing. Being shelved on a 19-16 team that plays in the East is a whole other scenario.
What hurts is failing to find a scenario in which David Lee fits. He can shoot, he can score off of a pick and roll around the basket, he sets a good screen and can rebound. His defensive shortcomings and lack of a three-point jumper – something that would have been sloughed off 20 years ago – tend to limit his contributions down to nil, once it’s all factored in. If that.
The forward isn’t hurting for money and he shouldn’t be nervous about securing another contract this summer, as he’ll get one. What he’s likely looking for is a consistent role, and home. He doesn’t want to be a one-year wonder, jumping from team to team throughout his mid-30s, sitting some nights and surprising in others with a second quarter scoring burst.
That’s understandable. Lee is likely aware that the pro game, through no fault of his own, may have passed him by. Every single statistic that goes beyond what you see in a box score rates him poorly. Brad Stevens is doing a wondrous job in Boston, and yet he’s the second brilliant coach in a row that has failed to make David Lee work.
It’s frustrating for all involved. And we suspect the saga, however under the radar, is far from over.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
