Alan Hahn of Newsday checks in today with news of the signings, and a reminder that Lee and Robinson are actually “veterans” for the Knicks, these days.
David Lee and Nate Robinson are Leaders Now
From Newsday:
But today Lee and Robinson are no longer the young players who feel obligated to defer to — or simply avoid — the veterans in the locker room and on the court. After all of Walsh’s wheeling and dealing over the past calendar year, Lee and Robinson, who were drafted in June 2005, are the most tenured Knicks.
“It’s funny you should say that because me and D-Lee were talking about that the other day,” Robinson said. “He was like, ‘Man, it’s crazy.’ We’re still here and now we’re vets.”
Sure, Larry Hughes and Al Harrington are technically the elders of the locker room, but Lee and Robinson are both home-grown talents who should start taking it upon themselves to set the example for the new crop — Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas — and take greater responsibility in the culture change that still needs to take place in the Knick locker room. It is up to them to set the standard, to raise the level of play and to enforce accountability.
It sounds strange, but Hahn makes a good point: these two players are now the face of the New York Knicks. They have been for the past year or two, even. Sure, Donnie Walsh’s reluctance to ink them to any longterm deals shows that he’s not so sure it’s a good thing that these two players personify his franchise, but at least for 2009, that’s the way it is.
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