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Lee will contribute..

Jul 23, 2002
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The opportunity for Lee to play more this season should be there. I feel he will contribute as the first big guy off the bench. I know he won't put up a lot of points, that's not his game but I feel he can be a spark on defense when he is on the court.
 
I agree. Depending on how Poythress recovers from the ACL, Lee may be the starting PF for the start of the season. If Poythress is healthy, I look for Lee to get about 20-25 minutes per game as the reserve C/PF.
 
I'm a doubter of his. Don't think he has the awareness + IQ to parlay his athletic gifts into a good defender. His offensive lacking points are already glaring as it is.
 
I don't see Lee getting more than 10 minutes a game and he will max out on any given game at 15 minutes unless he turns his offensive game around. Also he needs to raise his basketball IQ seems a little lost out there at some moments. Look for POY to play A LOT of minutes.
 
The opportunity for Lee to play more this season should be there. I feel he will contribute as the first big guy off the bench. I know he won't put up a lot of points, that's not his game but I feel he can be a spark on defense when he is on the court.


Every six months you come and start like 10 threads in one day...is Tarheels Illustrated a little dead this weekend?
 
I'm really pumped about Marcus Lee. I think he's really going to break out. He's gonna be more experienced and more confident this season. He'll be great off the bench. He'll play good defense, be a great shot blocker, good rebounder, and score his points off offensive rebounds and lobs. I think he'll put up something like 6pts, 6rbs, 2blks.
 
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Every six months you come and start like 10 threads in one day...is Tarheels Illustrated a little dead this weekend?

A year ago, he was telling the folks at THR that they had the best team in the nation and they would win the title. Now, he comes here acting like he loves him some UK Wildcats. I ain't buying it.
 
He has great basketball IQ...terrible comment


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I think Lee will double or more his minutes from last season this coming season. He's going to get somewhere around 25 minutes per game.

He will rebound and play defense. His points will come off of putbacks and alley oops.

I'm saying around 6ppg and 5rpg in about 23mpg.
 
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He has great basketball IQ...terrible comment


Other than shooting, everyone knows Lee must improve on his bball acumen. He has gotten lost on both ends of the floor the last two years.

His effort and hustle makes up for some of his mistakes. I hope the kid has a fantastic year.
 
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I mean, everyone can put in SHIT ton of work during summer and contribute.

We'll see if LEE is really capable of giving everything for basketball.

It's easier said than done.
 
really is simple when you dumb it down. That'll be his role the rest of his life. He's an above the rim energy buy that rebounds, scores on put backs, is a good help side defender, and can run the floor really well. He's never gonna be a fundamentally dominant or go-to guy in the post.

And he fits perfectly with the other players we have on this squad.

We need that exact type of player to sub in at the 4 and 5 spots.
 
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He has great basketball IQ...terrible comment

I wouldn't say great IQ because he does get lost on defense sometimes. Especially on picks, he has to learn to get back onto his man quickly. He can't let a 6'3 guard be on a 6'9 forward under the basket. I just hope he improves on his ft shooting.
 
One of my favorite talents Lee has that he more than likely developed from volleyball is his quick touch passes, especially in the post. If ulis comes down the lane to dump the ball to lee, he can have the ball hit his hands and instantly direct it to someone like skal behind a defender for an easy dunk or a guy like mulder behind him for an open jumper. He has some of the quickest smoothest passes I've ever seen from a big guy and it's gotten us many easy points because defenders can't keep up.


Again he won't be a big scorer. Not his thing. Sure he'll have games where it's dunk and put backs city but if he can be a very good rebounder and defender and not get so many goal tends I'll be extatic. I'm hoping for a 5 point 7 rebound 2 blocks type of average roughly based off 25mpg
 
If the game begins to slow down for Lee he'll be a solid player. If he doesn't learn to shoot free throws, however, he becomes an offensive road block. A real "hack a Shak".

I believe he will accomplish both.
 
"Contribute?"

He's a 5-star with back to back years of Final Four experience. He better "contribute."

Not bashing him, but this is like saying..."Ulis will contribute."
 
"Contribute?"

He's a 5-star with back to back years of Final Four experience. He better "contribute."

Not bashing him, but this is like saying..."Ulis will contribute."


Agreed. Im on record saying I think Lee will play himself into a first round draft pick this season. I think he is already projected somewhere around 29.
 
He cant contribute sitting on that bench...last i checked he doesnt make lineup out or put in subs...not his call
 
He cant contribute sitting on that bench...last i checked he doesnt make lineup out or put in subs...not his call


He had a chance to win more minutes last season when Dakari hit rock bottom, and he couldn't capitalize. He continued to get lost on the court and was a offensive zero.
 
He had a chance to win more minutes last season when Dakari hit rock bottom, and he couldn't capitalize. He continued to get lost on the court and was a offensive zero.

Really didn't help that we had 3 lottery picks for him to play behind in the post. I think he's a guy who's going to need a lot more game minutes to "get it." And I think he does that this year, because we need his minutes.
 
Obviously minutes will help, but Marcus Lee's biggest problem is he has no identity. At times, he can play the role that WCS played last year, and similar to what Alex Poythress played in 2013. He can do both. Will he do it consistently, and know exactly what's expected and how it fits into the dynamic of the team? If so, he'll get 25 MPG. If not, there will be games and situations where other guys are played over him.
 
He just needs to play and play and play...he needs minutes...3 minutes and a yank wont get it done...just leave him out there like Willie was against Wisconsin when he did nothing...just let Lee play 20 plus a game...he will get 10 boards a game on accident
 
I think he has the chance to be a poor mans WCS this year. He's athletic enough to switch on everything, his basketball IQ and court awareness need to improve significantly, but WCS sure was able to improve in this area. And offensively all we need is for him to run the court, finish some lobs, and perhaps be able to occasionally hit a short hook shot when the matchup is right.

And improve his free throw shooting, that also will be paramount for playing time.
 
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I am a huge fan of Lee. I think he just needs minutes. He won't ever be a big time scorer...mostly scoring on lobs and offensive rebounds. But he is a glue guy. He hustles on both ends, rebounds well, plays decent Defense, blocks shots, runs the floor good, and can finish at the rim on the break.

Big, big fan of Lee.

#TeamLee
 
Cal doesn't redshirt, but Lee should have last season, IMHO.

Then Cal would not have felt compelled to "platoon". He could have rotated his 8 draft guys(then 7 once Poy was injured or insert Ulis as number 8). Would have tightened up the rotation and we wouldn't have played guys out of position as much. It would have given the top 8(then 7) more minutes.

Doesn't really matter now, but I think it would have helped last season.

Just thinking out loud.
 
He just needs to play and play and play...he needs minutes...3 minutes and a yank wont get it done...just leave him out there like Willie was against Wisconsin when he did nothing...just let Lee play 20 plus a game...he will get 10 boards a game on accident


Agreed. Dakari would come in and get stuffed (sometimes by the rim), or walk in the post and Cal would just let him play through it over and over again. Lee comes in and gets back-screened one time and Cal yanked him for the rest of the game. Never understood why Lee was on such a short leash. Kid needs and deserves minutes.
 
Agreed. Dakari would come in and get stuffed (sometimes by the rim), or walk in the post and Cal would just let him play through it over and over again. Lee comes in and gets back-screened one time and Cal yanked him for the rest of the game. Never understood why Lee was on such a short leash. Kid needs and deserves minutes.


Could be because having your shot blocked or traveling is not nearly the travesty as not knowing where to go on offense or defense and not recovering on switches?

Plus Cal probably sees them everyday in practice and might have an idea who is the better player...?

It is very easy for us fans to say a certain player deserves minutes from watching games only.

And, I am not sure one can just play through "not understanding what to do or where to go".

Lee's improvement will be critical this year, I hope he performs great.
 
Could be because having your shot blocked or traveling is not nearly the travesty as not knowing where to go on offense or defense and not recovering on switches?

Plus Cal probably sees them everyday in practice and might have an idea who is the better player...?

It is very easy for us fans to say a certain player deserves minutes from watching games only.

And, I am not sure one can just play through "not understanding what to do or where to go".

Lee's improvement will be critical this year, I hope he performs great.


I agree actually. Not knowing where to be on offense or defense is a mistake of the highest offense for coaches. However, a turnover is a turnover, and those walks and blocked shots from Dakari still resulted in a lost possession.

But I think its more than that with Lee. This may open up a can of worms but Im going to say it anyway; part of me wonders if Lee's playing time compared to Dakari's wasn't directly correlated with Lee's aspirations for the NBA. Dakari was a kid that considered being a one and done. He had high aspirations of being in the NBA. Lee was a volleyball player, a free spirit, marching to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes I feel like Cal gave Dakari a longer leash because of his dream to be in the NBA, even if at times he wasn't as good as Lee.
 
I agree actually. Not knowing where to be on offense or defense is a mistake of the highest offense for coaches. However, a turnover is a turnover, and those walks and blocked shots from Dakari still resulted in a lost possession.

But I think its more than that with Lee. This may open up a can of worms but Im going to say it anyway; part of me wonders if Lee's playing time compared to Dakari's wasn't directly correlated with Lee's aspirations for the NBA. Dakari was a kid that considered being a one and done. He had high aspirations of being in the NBA. Lee was a volleyball player, a free spirit, marching to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes I feel like Cal gave Dakari a longer leash because of his dream to be in the NBA, even if at times he wasn't as good as Lee.


That is a pretty big accusation.

So you think Cal played the number one ranked center in his class (even over Embiid 2 years in a row) over a volleyball player, so that Dakari could get drafted, whether it caused harm to the team or not?

I'm not sure how one can take a fair look at Cal's successful career and the passion he displays every game and thinks he plays the game this way.
 
That is a pretty big accusation.

So you think Cal played the number one ranked center in his class (even over Embiid 2 years in a row) over a volleyball player, so that Dakari could get drafted, whether it caused harm to the team or not?

I'm not sure how one can take a fair look at Cal's successful career and the passion he displays every game and thinks he plays the game this way.


I don't know if it is a big accusation. You're talking about a man that has been VERY open about wanting his players to achieve more success than the program. He just came out and said, "For all the program's success, I want my players to benefit more". In his most recent "manifesto" he's talked about having 25 guys get drafted, etc. This is clearly something that is constantly on his mind is helping kids with NBA aspirations.

Do I think he would intentionally sabotage a game or a season over this philosophy? No, not intentionally. But you have to admit, Lee had a VERY short leash in comparison to Dakari. I can remember talking about it with some friends "Why is Lee's leash so short"? Anyone can come on here and say "well he is messing up in practice", but NO ONE really knows if thats true. Seemed to me that Dakari was a liability many times but never got yanked like Lee.

Go back to a couple of seasons ago; James Young was ALWAYS lost on defense. He never knew where to be. He made horrible passes (his post-entry passes were some of the worst Ive ever seen). He even admitted in the Wichita St game that he forgot the play that Cal called so he just jacked up a three and it went in. His help side defense was horrid. In the title game I could have killed him for helping off of the white guy that drilled those threes against us. I guarantee the scouting report (if there was one since Cal admits he doesn't always watch film on opposing teams) said to not sag off that guy.

My point with the above is that James Young never saw his minutes dwindle and he was the most obvious in terms of mental mistakes. Why didn't he pay for that? Because he came to UK because Cal promised him he would get him in the lottery. Cal can't promise a kid this only to not play him.

Cal said it himself "I can't hide you here". What do you think he means by that? A lot of our fans and blue-koolaid drinkers want to think that this has to do with the prestige of UK basketball…….it doesn't. I think Cal means, "Look, you want to go to the league you come to UK. Ill play you a ton of minutes (unless i have 9 AA's) and get you all the exposure you need to go pro. But if you don't play well, you'll still play and might get exposed, which is why I can't hide you."
 
Lee's leash was short because he had made continuous mental errors AND a there was a bevy of depth better than him at his position.

Who was better than Young? Young could also outplay his mistakes with his skills, none of which are comparable to Lee.

Comparing the two doesn't hold water.
 
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