Malcolm Lee looked way better than I expected in his four minutes of burn in Saturday’s preseason opener. He’s gonna be pretty good.
“SAMPLE SIZE!”, you scream.
The thing is, Minnesota has no viable option right now at the two, so Lee’s gonna get burn. How much, we still don’t know. But it’s clear he already has the handles Johnson lacks, the length Ellington lacks, the defensive chops Barea lacks, (presumably) the ability not to get hurt Webster lacks, and the UCLA/Ben Howland pedigree everyone lacks. NICHE!
Lee’s 29.5% 3PFG last year isn’t good, but Rick Adelman won’t be giving him those fringe rotation minutes to chuck threes. So keep an eye on Lee this season and see if you can’t help smiling a little, not just because of Lee’s showy ball-hawking but also because as the dust clears from Kahn’s draft night trading spree, it looks like he actually walked away with some value.
Punch-Drunk Wolves 