David Lee is a former All-Star power forward that was a 20 and 10 guy a night when he was on the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks, but with the emergence of Draymond Green, he was pushed out of the starting role to only play 18 MPG last season.
This year, Lee is with the Boston Celtics. He was looking to be a solid contributor to the team off of the bench, but he has only seen a career-low 15 MPG, and he hasn’t scored more than 14 points in a single game. In the Celtics last 5 games, Lee has only played in 2 of them for a total of 25 minutes, and after not playing at all tonight, Brad Stevens has informed David that he is not in the main rotation anymore according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
Brad Stevens has officially told David Lee he’s out of main rotation. Lee obviously doesn’t agree w decision but respects it #Celtics
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) January 7, 2016
Lee is a liability on defense because he only stands 6-9, and he isn’t a well renowned shot-blocker (he averages 0.4 BPG over his career), and he is also shooting a career-low 47% from the field. Lee has recorded a net-rating (difference in a players offensive and defensive rating) of -2.6 on the season, which is not very good. He hasn’t been the best player for the Celtics, so Coach Stevens has decided to not play him.
Lee obviously isn’t happy about Stevens’s decision, but he won’t get a chance to show it on the court in games now. David Lee’s best chance at getting back into the game is to not be a jerk about being benched, and to work hard in practice to earn his playing time for the rest of the season. If he works hard in practice and shows his coach what he can do, he will be rewarded with minutes. For now, he just needs to support his team and get better.
