Jeffries Starts, Lee to Bench

[Shapecity]

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ared Jeffries kept his starting job because he defended his teammate.

Jeffries was back in the starting lineup last night after serving a four-game suspension for his role in the melee versus Denver - where he defended Mardy Collins against Carmelo Anthony.

Coach Isiah Thomas said it didn't feel right to bring Jeffries off the bench upon his return, so David Lee was benched despite double-doubles in his previous five games.

"David has played extremely well, the first unit has played extremely well. The chemistry's been good," Thomas said before the 151-145 triple-overtime victory against Detroit. "But I don't want a guy to be penalized, lose his starting position, for protecting a teammate in a fight.

"I think that would be the wrong signal to send to our team, particularly a young team at this time when everybody's trying to jell and come together."

Detroit's Tayshaun Prince scored 31 points on Dec. 1 when Jeffries was missing, but Thomas credited Jeffries for holding Prince to 13 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Jeffries scored four points and grabbed six rebounds in 42 minutes. Lee scored 11 points and hauled down 13 rebounds.</div>

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[durvasa]

I think that's moronic. Lee is far better than Jeffries. If Jeffries is such a great teammate, he'll understand that it's in the Knick's interest to play the better players more. Considering how bad the Knicks were before the brawl, how could he even think he's earned the right to retain his starting position?

 

[mike18946]

What a dumb move.

Lee is a rebounding machine. Jefferies is well......Jefferies.

 

[The_Arbiter]

isaiah thomas is an idiot, cant wait till he gets fired the sooner the better! lee's numbers dropped in his first game on the bench jefferies had nothing to offer. and the knicks lost! WTF is wrong with the ownership here whoever hired isaiah should be drug out to the street and shot! nice job ace~deuce

 

[Custodianrules2]

No doubt that Isiah is an idiot and in way over his head.

What position is Isiah trying to fill, though? Small forward? It makes more sense if they're putting Jeffries at SF and putting David Lee at PF. If power forward is being occupied by somebody else and center is out of the question, I can understand why David Lee would have to come off the bench. There's no doubt that David Lee is the better player going against Jeffries for such things like rebounding and instant energy. But it's not really who starts, but who finishes and gets all the minutes. Now David Lee can play SF, but is that the position fans or coaches really want him playing?

 

[bball4lifemf]

what a horrible coaching move, another reason why Isaiah is not nba coach calibur