Baller Shots

Scout on David Lee: ‘The story… from the Knicks is that his teammates used to call him FEMA, because he’s never there when you need him.’

The truth is, there’s been about half as much progress as there should have been. He’s bought into the idea that improving his offense is something extra he can do if he has time, going beyond the call of duty — something he can work around his extracurricular activities. The amount of his improvement (call me ungrateful, Nets fans, but you’re going to be saying the same thing in five years) has been, to me, about exactly as little as could be possible for someone who plays basketball most every day. Athleticism is one thing, but leadership and skill are two others. It’s the fact that Dwight has indeed shown flashes of these other dimensions for which we wait and wait that has made the wait so frustrating. He faces up and hits a jumper every now and then. He pulls a spin move to good effect occasionally, but it usually ends with him getting fouled, and we know where that leads. The real problem is crunch time. If he gets fouled he’s screwed, and it’s tough to be a leader when your game is rendered useless at crunch time. He still exhibits a general lack of decisiveness in the post that was cute when he was a kid but has gotten old. The main point is that a true superstar, the type that wins titles, is driven crazy by the weak points in his game. A true superstar turns his weaknesses into strengths or dies trying. And the fact that Dwight has physical skills beyond those of even most superstars makes his slow development all the more maddening. Ask yourself, can it be said of Kobe or Jordan or Bird or Magic that they weren’t quite as good as they should’ve been?