Will the Kings get involved this week? More importantly, should they?

I have been a Lee fan for quite a while. He's an incredible rebounder, one of the best in the league. He scores efficiently, basically because he rarely shoots except when it's wide open near the rim. (He did add a short jumper to his arsenal last season, to good effect.) He's not known as a good defender — he blocks no shots, grabs no steals and is said to be bad on the pick-and-roll. Basically, his entire defensive contribution comes on defensive rebounds. His entire offensive contribution comes on putbacks and finishes. He does those things very, very well. Sacramento thirsts for those attributes — especially defensive rebounding. The only real question you'd ask when approaching a Lee partnership is how a Lee-Hawes-Thompson frontcourt would be organized.

And there's the real problem with N8 The Gr8: we already have Garcia under contract. For five more years. At $5 million plus per season. Garcia doesn't shoot nearly as frequently as Robinson, but he does so more efficiently and is seen as a boon to the locker room. While Francisco's 2008-09 numbers in total don't look fantastic, the post-ASW figures are very very strong. Remember that Garcia's injury left him both rusty and out-of-sorts for December and January, and take a look: after the All-Star break, Garcia ran up 14.7 points in 36 minutes, on .464/.481 shooting and with 39 steals and 34 blocks in only 28 games.

I wouldn't want Robinson to push Garcia out of position, frankly because Garcia is better for this team (and perhaps for any time). The Kings, in other words, don't need what Nate is selling. It's a different situation than with Lee, where while the Kings do need what Lee is selling, Lee is likely to cost too much given his potential role. Robinson is just extraneous, extra onions on a Chicago dog smothered in onions and onion sauce on a onion roll.