My Favorite Surprise Players Part Two

Part Two — Courtney Lee

This season, I’ll be running through some of the most intriguing players making an unexpected impact this season. Whether it’s due to a new team, expanded role, or flat-out skill improvement, these guys are making waves around the league. Today we’ll discuss a guy in his 10th year putting up the best numbers of his career — Courtney Lee of the New York Knicks

Courtney Lee is a guy who’s been around the NBA block, to say the least. He is currently in his second year playing in the Big Apple, and is experiencing a career renaissance. Having already made pitstops in Orlando, New Jersey, Houston, Boston, Memphis, and Charlotte, Lee has certainly witnessed the difficulties of the NBA business first-hand, but has finally found a home as a veteran presence on a team with a young core (Porzingis is 22, Tim Hardaway is 25, Frank Ntilikina is 19). As a rookie, he was a part of the Magic team led by Dwight Howard at the peak of his powers that went to the Finals, but hasn’t since been on a team at that level.

He signed a contract for 4 years and $48 million dollars that seemed like an overpay last year, but is living up to it this season, as with career highs across the board in points (13.4 per game), assists (2.8 per game), rebounds (3.6 per game), steals (1.4 per game), 3-pointers (1.6 per game), effective field goal percentage (55.6%) and free throw percentage (94.4%) — all stats as of December 18th.

Last year, the contract was beginning to look like an albatross, but without having to try to figure out the triangle offense, and without Carmelo Anthony soaking up so much of the offensive opportunity, Lee has proven to be an excellent glue guy. Add in the fact that Tim Hardaway Jr. has been out with a stress injury to his left leg, which has only extended minutes at the wing position for him as a result.

He has come up big for them at times, showing a willingness to shoot the ball with time running down on the shot clock, and hit timely 3-pointers to swing momentum for the team. He’s quick to leak out in transition, scoring a career high 3.1 points off turnovers, which has allowed him to also score a career high 4.6 points on the paint. Those are easy opportunities which result in high percentage shots, and these hustle points add up. He is 9th in the league on catch-and-shoot 3 point percentage among qualified players who shoot 3 or more a game — draining them at a 45.8%, just a smidge below the league leader and catch-and-shoot god Klay Thompson, who hits on 47.5% of them. When teams leave him wide open to focus on other actions taking place, such as doubling Kristaps Porzingis, he hits 3’s at a 50.8% clip — proving that you can’t sag off of him. His 119 Offensive rating shows his value for the team in overall, as he bends the defense, creating opportunities for others as well.