San Antonio Spurs: Grading The David Lee Signing

The San Antonio Spurs announced that they have signed big man David Lee. Let’s see how he fits.

With Tim Duncan now retired from the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs now have a hole to fill at the power forward position. Left on the roster as the only listed power forward is LaMarcus Aldridge.

San Antonio recently added Pau Gasol in free agency but he is likely to play more center than power forward. Even if Gasol and Aldridge switch positions, the Spurs need some backup help.

Dewayne Dedmon seems like the only big man who will get some playing time out of all the bench players and he can’t help out with playing power forward. With that in mind, the Spurs went out in free agency and picked up a veteran power forward in David Lee.

The Spurs announced it this week that they had signed Lee and that the terms of the contract were not announced.

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Lee, who had spent his previous season with the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors, played with the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics last year. He started this year in Beantown before being waived in February and got picked up by Dallas.

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Behind

, he averaged 8.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per game. Shooting 63.6 percent from the field last year, if Lee can replicate the same production for the Spurs that he did last year it would make him a solid rotation player.

Although he is a former NBA champion and a longtime veteran in this league, Lee won’t get a starting spot with the Spurs. He isn’t exactly the same player he used to be, although he still is a very productive player now.

The signs he wasn’t the same were in the 2015 NBA Finals when Steve Kerr benched him for Andre Iguodala to spark the famous “Death Lineup,” ultimately leading to the Warriors beating the Cavs in six games.

With Aldridge and Gasol starting, Lee would be expected to come off the bench and give instant production. Patrick Mills and Manu Ginobili will be the main factors on offense when the backups come in, but Lee will give them rebounding and can stretch the floor.

Lee has a career average of 42.4 percent on shots of 10-16 feet from the basket. Hopefully, for the Spurs, he should be able to maintain that percentage and help maintain the offensive style San Antonio usually runs.

He will give you offense and someone who can control the boards, but there are downsides to Lee’s game as well.

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One main reason why Lee was sacrificed to the bench while he was at Golden State Warriors was that he was too slow on defense.

Against teams that wanted to go and play small, Lee will get burned and he has trouble staying in front of guys like Draymond Green, who can put the ball on the floor and score in the paint as well as shoot.

Last year in Dallas, Lee was in spot-up situations 20.3 percent of the time while he was on defense and he gave up 1.03 points per possession (PPP), leading to him being in the 37th percentile among NBA players.

Lee has gotten better on post-up defense and has shown that he can hold his own in the post. Against smaller power forwards, however,  he will struggle. Gregg Popovich will need to come up with a way of hiding Lee if that situation arises.

Overall, the Lee signing makes sense. Yes, he does have trouble on the defensive end but he can still spread the floor with his shooting and can get you some rebounds. It’s not like Lee is going to play starters minutes due to the presence of Pau and Aldridge.

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But in a limited minutes role, Lee could be a very good pickup for the San Antonio Spurs. But the problem will be defensively and with no other help in the frontcourt, relying on Lee to be your go-to big man off the bench is risky

Grade : B-