"Knicks brass will do the right thing tomorrow night and show lots of love for David Lee with an expected video tribute upon his Garden homecoming with the Warriors.

The question is, did Knicks president Donnie Walsh do the right thing by not showing him any love in July when their most popular player became a free agent?

Once Walsh lavished Amar'e Stoudemire with a $100 million contract, Lee was off the board, even after LeBron James spurned them.

After "The Decision," Walsh immediately put in motion a sign-and-trade with Golden State and picked up Ronny Turiaf, Anthony Randolph and still-rehabbing Kelenna Azubuike. Lee, who is averaging 12.3 points and 11.4 boards and shooting 42.5 percent after Golden State's 109-102 victory over Toronto last night, signed for six years, $80 million.

Asked if Lee and Stoudemire could have played in the same frontcourt, Walsh said yesterday: "He probably could [have], but he wanted what he got. We couldn't have done the same thing if he [signed for] that, and fill out the whole team. We needed more than just one player. It would've restricted what we could've done."

Had the Knicks signed Lee for his starting salary of $10.8 million, they still may have had just enough to land Raymond Felton, but not Timofey Mozgov, Roger Mason Jr. and the Golden State trio.

Privately, Lee and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, were stunned the Knicks went gaga over Stoudemire, who has had some down moments across the first six games, adjusting to the double coverage, averaging 4.7 turnovers.

But the Knicks, who face the Bucks tonight in Milwaukee, are 3-3, at .500 -- a place Lee almost never was in five losing seasons as a Knick.

D'Antoni was overly complimentary of Lee yesterday after being steamed that his quote in The Post about the team's improved shot-blocking and interior defense was construed as a possible dig at Lee's defense."