The Knicks won last night, which of course doesn’t matter anymore, 107–85 over Washington. Nate Robinson essentially benched Chris Duhon, which would be important if either one of those guys were going to be around past April. The playoff odds are 1.6 percent. We must distract ourselves elsewhere. How about David Lee? Sure, he’ll work.
Lee was invited to play on the U.S. national team this August at the World Championships in Turkey. This is not the first time he has been asked; he had to turn down a tryout last year because he was a free agent. Of course, he’ll be a free agent this summer, too, but, then again, so will LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, his possible U.S. teammates.
If the current trend of NBA players embracing the national team rather than rejecting it continues, Lee’s unlikely to actually make the team. He’s a nice guy to have around, but not with Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony and those fellows hanging around. Lee’s post-oriented game isn’t necessarily ideal for the international game anyway. It’s just nice for a Knick to be noticed. It’s nice that everyone remembers they’re in the league.
By the way, there’s still a chance Lee will make the all-star team, now that Boston’s Paul Pierce might be hurt. Though we agree with the Daily News’ Frank Isola: If Pierce isn’t able to go, David Stern will pick Shaquille O’Neal. It’ll be fun to watch him try to run with everybody.