Expectations for David Lee this season

At some point, you’ll have to start feeling for David Lee.

He willingly joined the Golden State Warriors in 2010 (albeit at a hefty price), performed admirably on a mediocre team, and emerged as one of the locker room leaders. As the team began to grow and improve, he was selected as an All-Star in the 2012-13 season. Lee started to shed the unwanted tag of “padding stats on a losing team” as the Warriors started to gain relevancy in the league.

But as the team trends upwards, it’s starting to seem as though Lee is the most expendable part of the starting lineup. He was frequently mentioned in trade rumours during the offseason, and his once-appreciated contract is now a burden on a cap-strung team.

With 20 days left till the start of the season, it doesn’t look as though Lee is swapping jerseys anytime soon.

So, what should we expect from him? Or, more fittingly, what can he do to change the fanbase’s opinion about him?

On offense, Lee is “Mr. Reliable”. He averaged 18.2 points on 52 percent shooting last season, and played a key role for the oft-stagnant offense. He does most of his work in the midrange area, and is an effective scorer in the low post. At a 24.3 percent usage rate, he was the second-most used player on the team behind Stephen Curry (with a minimum of 1000 minutes played). His offensive rating was also top five for the team.

With those stats in mind, it’s not hard to claim that David Lee is (statistically) the second most important player on the Warriors’ offense. His 4.1 offensive win shares are only second to Curry’s 9.3.

The Warriors will need him to maintain his offensive presence. Theoretically, he should find it easier to score in a much more free-flowing offense, which will result in better shot opportunities. The Triangle offense also features a lot of post play, which is where Lee excels. An area of improvement would be for Lee to extend his range past the midrange and into the long-two region, but that runs the risk of him settling for inefficient jump shots.

Defensively, Lee has the unfortunate tag of being a liability. His defensive struggles have been well-documented, and were even the topic of a paper presented at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2013. Since then, people have been quick to point out his flaws on defense, despite it being blown out of proportion.

In actuality, Lee is a good defender under the Warriors’ defensive scheme, but a bad one in isolation. Lee’s shortcomings on defense is due to his lack of foot speed and size. He isn’t big enough to defend in the post against bigger power forwards, nor is he quick enough to match up against perimeter-based players. By calling on Lee to sink back on high pick-and-roll screens, it prevents the need for Lee to hedge on the screens.

Head coach Steve Kerr will need Lee to keep up the effort on the defensive end. There is little known on how the defense will look next season, but if Kerr is serious about keeping the Warriors’ defensive mentality, he will need Lee to pitch in. It’s hard to conceive a reality where Lee is a defensive stopper, but much like Curry, the Warriors just need them to be passable on defense.

Honestly, if you offered Warriors’ fans a straight swap of David Lee and Kevin Love, I’m sure the fans would pitch in to buy Lee a ticket out of the Bay Area. You could call it unappreciative, but that’s just the way the game works – you need the best to win.

Lee will have plenty of opportunities next season to show that despite not being the best, he’s what the Warriors need.