David Lee
Early Life
David Lee was born April 29, 1983 in St. Louis, Missouri. Lee graduated from Chaminade College Preparatory School outside of St. Louis in 2001 before enrolling in Florida University. Current Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal followed Lee’s route from Chaminade to Florida a decade later.
Lee was only 6’1 as a freshman before growing 4 inches as a sophomore and then 3 more as a junior. Lee used to wear the headband of former Warriors player and Knicks teammate Larry Hughes at times in high school (Lee played for the same AAU team as Hughes.) Lee was First Team All-State as a junior before leading his team to a 22-4 record (best in school history) as a senior while averaging 25 pp, 12 rpg, 4 apg, and 4 bpg during his senior year.
After being named a participant in the McDonald’s All-American game, Lee won the dunk contest during the festivities leading up to the game defeating then undefeated James “Flight” White (runner-up in the 2013 NBA Dunk Contest.) Lee also finished the All-American game with 21 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Lee committed to the Florida Gators on September 1, 2000, choosing the university over Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois.
Collegiate Career
Lee showed his abilities as an offensive rebounder during his freshman year at Florida as he grabbed 66 of his total 145 rebounds that year on the offensive end. Lee was also named to the All-SEC Freshman Team.
It wasn’t until Lee’s junior season that his impact was really felt as a member of the Gators. During the season he led the Gators in FG% for the third straight year at 58.8 percent and rebounding for the second straight (6.8). In a game against Northeaster Lee matched his career-high in points with 24 while shooting 12-12. The 12-12 mark was the most consecutive makes without a miss in UF history and also tied an SEC record. Lee became the 7th player in Gators history to reach the 1,000 point mark while being named Second Team All-SEC by the coaches and Third Team All-SEC by the AP.
Lee could have left Florida after either his sophomore or junior season and had been a 1st-round pick, but decided to stay on for his senior season. During Lee’s senior year he helped lead the Gators to the SEC Title after defeating Kentucky 70-53 in the Finals. Lee finished his season with career-high’s in ppg (13.6) and rpg (9.0)
Professional Career
David Lee was selected by the New York Knicks with the last pick in the 1st Round (30th overall on June 28, 2005. The pick was 10 spots higher than where the Warriors selected former G Monta Ellis (40th overall) and 20 spots behind were the Milwaukee Bucks selected current Warriors C Andrew Bogut.
Lee saw minimal playing time during his rookie season averaging only 5.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 16.9 minutes of action. During one stretch in the middle of the season Lee started 14 games and in a win over the Phoenix Suns on January 2, 2006 Lee scored 23 points (10-11) and grabbed 15 rebounds in 50 minutes of playing times which showed promise of the player Lee could be.
Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas took over as the Head Coach of the Knicks in 2006 and over the next two seasons Lee prospered averaging 10.7 ppg and 10.4 rpg in the 06-07 season and 10.8 ppg and 8.9 rpg in the 07-08 season. Despite Lee’s strong performance he only managed to start 41 of the 139 games he played over that span while averaging just under 30 minutes (29.8 and 29.1 respectively.)
All Star
After Mike D’Antoni took over as Head Coach prior to the 2008-2009 season Lee found a more prominent role as a Center in D’Antoni’s up-tempo offense. Lee recorded a league leading 65 double-doubles that season including an impressive 37 points and 21 rebounds in a game against the Warriors on November 29th of that year. The feat was the first time a Knick recorded a 30/20 game since Patrick Ewing did so in 1997. He was named Player of the Week on February 1st, receiving the honor for the first time. Lee finished the year averaging 16 ppg and 11.7 rpg while finally cracking more than 30 minutes per/game averaging 34.9 solidifying himself as an NBA starter.
The next season Lee took an extra leap, making the 2010 All-Star team. He was selected as a replacement for Allen Iverson, but finishing the season with averages of 20.2 ppg, 11.7 rpg, and 3.6 assists showed he was more than worthy of the recognition. Also during the season Lee put up another impressive performance against the Warriors, compiling a triple-double with 37 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists becoming the first player with a 35/20/10 game since Kareem Abdul Jabbar did so in 1976.
Warriors Franchise Cornerstone
After the season while the Knicks were gearing up to make a splash in Free Agency and go after LeBron James, Lee became expendable. Around the same time Joe Lacob, Peter Guber, and co. purchased the Warriors from prior owner Chris Cohan and we’re looking to make a splash of their own. To make the deal work financially the Knicks and Warriors agree to a sign-and-trade in which Lee and his newly agreed upon 5-year $60 million deal was sent to the Warriors for Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, and a future second round pick.
With the move to the Warriors Lee was able to slide back down to his natural role at PF which meant he would be more effective also his production would drop from not being the lone big on the floor most of the time. Lee started all 73 games he appeared in during his first season with the Warriors and compiled 37 double-doubles along the way. Games missed were due to an infection Lee suffered during his return to Madison Squared Garden when Wilson Chandler’s tooth became stuck in Lee’s shoulder. Several key performances that season were a 23 point 19 rebound performance against in a 100-94 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 13th, a 24 point 15 rebound performance in a 115-114 OT loss to the Thunder on March 29th, and a 29 point 20 rebound game in a 108-87 win against the Portland Trailblazers on April 5th. Lee finished his first season on the Warriors averaging 16.8 points and 9.1 rebounds in 36 minutes.
Fully recovered from the elbow infection and subsequent surgeries which affected his play in 2011, Lee had a bounce back year during the 2011-2012 season as he averaged over 20 points for the second time in his career with 20.1 and 9.6 rebounds. Lee also recorded the second triple-double of his career with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 119-116 loss to the Thunder on February 7th. Lee came an assist shy of his 3rd triple-double on March 24th finishing the 111-108 win against the Sacramento Kings with 22 points, 14 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Winner
The 2012-2013 was a season filled with personal highs and lows of various aspects for Lee. He again was a double-double machine, leading the league in the category with 56 in 79 games. He also earned Player of the Week honor’s 3 times on 12/10, 12/17, and 2/1 making it 4 times for his career. Lee was named an All-Star for the second time this time being selected by the coaches and not as a replacement. In doing so he became the first Warriors player named to an All-Star team since Latrell Sprewell did so six years prior. A few weeks later on February 26th Lee and several teammates were involved in an on-court scuffle with the Indiana Pacers which earned the Warriors newly honored All-Star a 1-game suspension. The suspension unfortunately caused Lee to miss the Warriors February 27th nationally televised contest against the New York Knicks (the game now known as “The Steph Curry Game.) Lee’s return to the Garden would have been the first since his incident with Wilson Chandler in 2010 since he missed the Warriors game at the Garden in 2011 due to recovery from elbow surgery.
Lee was selected to his first All-NBA team being awarded 3rd Team honors. Misfortunate continued what was supposed to be the most celebrated season of Lee’s career to date. While the Warriors clinched the 6th seed in the Western Conference and making their first Playoff trip since 2007, Lee was also celebrating his first postseason of his 9 year career. This solidified Lee’s mark as he had been bashed by critics for putting up meaningless numbers while failing to help his team win.
Irony was to be the fate of Lee’s postseason arrival as his postseason honeymoon was cut short just shy of 29 minutes of action after Lee tore his right hip flexor thus ending his postseason debut, or so we thought. After a valiant effort Lee returned 13 days later in the Warriors Game 6 clinching victory against the Denver Nuggets. The return was brief, but it helped ignite the team and the crowd and pushed the Warriors to the next round. In the Western Conference Semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs Lee somehow managed to play 34 minutes in 4 games before the Warriors playoff dreams were crushed and Lee was able to get the surgery and rehab necessary for such an injury.
Lee promised to be 100% after offseason surgery and is returning to a team which can now possibly utilize Lee at his old Center position at times with the addition of Andre Iguodala allowing Harrison Barnes to see minutes as a stretch 4. Lee’s names surfaced in trade rumors during the Summer along the likes of Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge and talks are bound to continue as the Warriors now have $41 million tied into their 4 highest paid players with Lee being the high man due to make $13.8, $15, and $15.49 million the next 3 seasons respectively. Once the biggest name the Warriors could attract could become cut loose as the Warriors become more focused on their defensive presence solidified by Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala. Also not discrediting what Lee did in helping the Warriors reach the playoffs the team was certainly most dangerous with a healthy Andrew Bogut and 4 shooters stretching the floor so it could be an interesting year in which Lee’s name is tossed around often. For now Lee is still a reigning All-Star and All-NBA caliber player who was once given the nickname “the white Chris Webber” by Shaquille O’Neal for his ability to score and rebound the ball.
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