David Lee (photo. New York Post)

One person most people didn’t expected to be donning a Knicks uniform this season is David Lee. The 6-10 rebounding specialist was supposed to be a hot commodity in this summer’s free agent market. But due to the recession, he was not able to secure the long-term, big money deal he was seeking. Right on the eve of training camp, Lee re-upped with the Knicks and is ready to prove he can help make a team a winner. We caught up with David at the EA Sports NBA Live 10 release party at the NBA Store in Manhattan.

Dime: I hear you’re a little bit of a gamer?
DL: Yeah. You know what, I don’t play as many sports games as I should. I’ve been trying out NBA Live and have enjoyed it. I’m going to take it home and start playing it but we play so much basketball throughout the year, I try to get away when I’m not in the gym. But as far as other games go, Nate (Robinsion) got me into Call of Duty 4. So I get into that a little bit.

Dime: So are you going to start the Call of Duty salute during games like Nate?
DL: Nate’s really into it. I like playing it, but Nate is a whole different person when it comes to that. He plays it every second he’s not in the gym.

Dime: Were you the kind of person where you would play NBA Live as a kid and create yourself into the game?
DL: I would do that a little bit. I would also try to find ways to rig the game so you’d win. I would always try to win by 50. You remember the old one where you could take off the fouls and you could just go across half court and nail the point guard? (laughs) I used to be Penny Hardaway and Shaq when they were in Orlando and I’d do that all game.

Dime: You’ve been in training camp for a couple of weeks now and you already have a preseason game under your belt. How do you feel the team is gelling so far?
DL: We’re going to be a lot better. A lot of it’s just because we’re familiar with each other and we played on the same team and system for a year now. In an uptempo system like that, it’s important we have familiarity because you don’t have time to think and make too many decisions, it just has to flow. You got to know your job on the fly and at a high pace.

Dime: You didn’t get the long-term deal you were seeking in the offseason. How do you block that out and just focus on basketball now?
DL: Well I think the Knicks helped us with that because although we didn’t get a long-term deal that we originally set out to do, I’m back here in New York where I wanted to be. And we came to a good compromise on a one-year deal. I’m not upset at the Knicks at all, I’m happy how things came out and I’m looking forward to having a great season. We have eight guys on one-year deals this year. So a lot of us are not only playing for our team to make the playoffs, which is our ultimate goal this year but also to continue to raise our own values by playing hard and playing as a team in coach’s system it makes everyone look good.

Dime: Do you feel you have something to prove to the league that you were worth a long-term deal?
DL: Yeah, I think what I have to do is have another great year and help us win ball games. The proof is not only in my stats but also in my team’s wins. You add those two together and I can go into free agency confident.

Dime: Who has stood out in training camp so far?
DL: Well, I mean Danilo (Gallinari) is a guy who didn’t play much for us last year because of injury. He came in looking great. Al Harrington’s been looking great. Everybody came to camp in great shape so I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s all going to come together.

Dime: Is the emphasis on defense a little higher this time around?
DL: It is. We’re still an offensive minded team and that’s the way coach thinks. But there are things we can change. Our communication needs to get better on defense and we need to do a better job on the weak side. I don’t our on-the-ball defense or one-one-one defense was all that bad, I think we did a poor job of helping each other out and I think that stems from poor communication. If we could fix that on a couple of possessions a game, we’ll be good.

Dime: During your tenure here, you’ve gone through a lot of losing and you’re team has received a lot of negative media coverage. How do you deal with the pressure of playing in New York?
DL: Well I mean, winning is the way to silence all that. I think (the media) will still find ways to poke at everything because it’s New York and there’s a competition to sell newspapers. We need to keep making improvements and compete every night. We’re playing a better style of ball – I think you saw that last year. The whole attitude changed last year. Now it’s a matter of taking that new style and taking it a step further and winning some of those close games. I think we lost 18 games by five points or less, so you win half of those and we’re having a completely different conversation now. I think a lot of that is going to come with building chemistry. We’re close and my whole theory is, with the exception of teams like Boston and the Lakers, who have more talent than everyone else, the rest of the teams, especially in the East are all clunked together. I think with good character and chemistry you can overcome it and make the playoffs strictly off of working hard.

Dime: You were talking about letting a lot of close games get away from you. Who is going to be the team’s go-to guy and the guy who closes games?
DL: I think I need to take a bigger role in that this year. Chris Duhon and I will go in the pick-and-roll a lot down the stretch this year. And I’d say our best one-on-one player down the stretch is probably Al Harrington. So the combination of the three of us can do great things. But really, the beauty of coach’s system is multiple guys are capable of doing that and when everybody is unselfish - his system works best when everybody is a threat on the court. We don’t have a LeBron, whose averaging 30 points per game and will take every shot down the stretch. That’s a bad thing in some respects, but it’s a good thing also because coming down the stretch, everybody’s dangerous. I’m looking forward to taking a bigger step and being that guy this year, along with Al and Chris.

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