Throughout this year’s off-season the future of Nate Robinson and David Lee has been extensively discussed by experts and fans around the league. Being the only stars of the struggling New York Knicks, both became free agents in July and had a surprisingly hard time securing a new contract. Most importantly, GM Donnie Walsh repeatedly stated that the Knicks’ primary goal is to clear as much cap space as possible for 2010 in order to become a major player in next year’s anticipated free agency bonanza.

Therefore, the major point of dispute was New York unwillingness to commit to new multi-year contracts which could eat into the Knicks’ 2010 cap space. Robinson and Lee on the other hand felt that their career stat lines in 2008-09 should earn them a lucrative contract this summer. After two months of negotiations, both players finally inked a new deal with the Knicks as they agreed to sign a one-year deal. According to the Knicks’ front office Lee will receive $8 million for his services in 2009-10 while Robinson’s salary details were not made public.

In 2008-09, Nate Robinson averaged 17.2 points, 4.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 74 appearances off the bench. Moreover, the 5’9” guard managed to win the NBA Slam Dunk contest, beating All-Star seven-footer Dwight Howard in the finals. Similarly, power forward David Lee had a career year putting up 16.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Likewise, Lee led all NBA players with a league high of 65 double-doubles. However, one should also take into consideration that Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo system frequently produces inflated numbers, thus it appears to be a justified assumption that neither player would put up similar numbers in a half-court system.

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