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Knicks' Lee doesn't pick up an offer sheet

BY ALAN HAHN | alan.hahn@newsday.com

10:11 PM EDT, July 8, 2009

The Raptors are trying to keep a potential free agent in 2010, so they're on a spending spree this summer to convince Chris Bosh to stay in Toronto. One of the pieces to a roster they hope will entice Bosh to re-sign is center Andrea Bargnani, who yesterday signed a five-year, $50-million contract extension. Bargnani wasn't even due for a new deal until after next season.

The Knicks are in a different position, as they are trying to maintain as much salary-cap space as possible to entice potential free agents such as Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, to come to New York next summer. And that means a player who is seemingly an important piece for building a team that attracts high-end free agents, double-double machine David Lee, has to be put on the back-burner.

Lee is a restricted free agent and, as the NBA transaction moratorium lifted yesterday with the announcements of signings such as Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon (Pistons), Ron Artest (Lakers), Rasheed Wallace (Celtics), Antonio McDyess (Spurs) and Chris Andersen (Nuggets), Lee had not a single offer sheet tendered by any of the few teams with cap space. And, so far, the Knicks have unrestricted free agent Grant Hill at the top of the priority list as they await the 36-year-old's decision, which is expected soon.

If no teams approach Lee with an offer sheet, the Knicks, who by no uncertain terms want to keep Lee (thus eliminating the prospects of a reasonable sign-and-trade scenario), would eventually be left negotiating against themselves for their own player. So with cap space in 2010 at a premium -- especially with reports that suggest the cap could drop as low as $50 million in 2010-11 -- the Knicks might force Lee to take his one-year qualifying offer of $2.7 million for this season. Obviously not something Lee, who last season made equal to the league minimum at $1.4 million, wishes to do.

By rule, however, taking his qualifying offer would then make Lee an unrestricted free agent next summer, which means he could sign with any team. The Knicks own his Bird Rights and, therefore, can sign him to a bigger contract than any other team (and go over the cap while doing it). That's believed to be their selling point to Lee.

Herein lies the risk: Lee, who has seen fellow 2005 draft classmates such as Andrew Bogut, Andrew Bynum and Danny Granger sign lucrative extensions, might not feel any loyalty to the Knicks. And in 2010, about half of the league will have significant cap space.

The Knicks might also do the same with their other restricted free agent, Nate Robinson, who has a $2.9 million qualifier and, so far, has received very little interest on the open market. It is believed the Knicks are more open to explore sign-and-trade scenarios for the mercurial 5-9 combo guard. Once a player is signed to the qualifier, a team must wait 90 days to trade and the player must be amenable to the destination.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh has kept contact with Lee's agent, Mark Bartelstein, but has maintained a wait-and-see approach to Lee's market value. The New York Times cited a rival GM saying that Bartelstein's asking price for Lee was in the $12 million per annum range. That's up $2 million per year from the price Bartelstein approached Walsh with before the past season.

It's not surprising that two of the small market teams with cap space, Memphis and Oklahoma City, immediately dropped interest, and two others, Portland and Toronto, were scared off.

The Knicks, who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday, could afford that kind of salary for Lee, one of the team's most popular players. But in today's economy -- and with the 2010 plan very much a priority -- the Knicks may take a more calculated approach.