While Lee considered himself to be a rebounder first and foremost, he added a drive to the basket and mid-range jump shot to his game in the next season and quickly blossomed into one of the elite big men in the country.

After Lee went off for 41 points against Kentucky, the most ever by a Vanderbilt player against its conference rival, Wildcats coach Adolph Rupp was moved to say, "We'd like to have him.

"[1] The Commodores reached the NCAA Mideast Regional Finals, where top-ranked Michigan outlasted them, 87–85, but not before Lee outplayed the Wolverines' Bill Buntin in a highly anticipated matchup in the middle.

The Commodores finished the season with a 24–4 record and their first Southeast Conference championship with a 15–1 mark, after which Lee was selected for the first of two consecutive SEC Player of the Year Awards.

He averaged 22.7 points and 15.8 rebounds per game, earning All-American honors and another SEC Player of the Year Award.

[6] Lee was the player to be named later upon being sent to the Atlanta Hawks on October 4, 1974, to complete a transaction from February 2, 1970, in which the Warriors acquired the NBA contractual rights to Zelmo Beaty in exchange for its first-round pick in the 1970 NBA draft which eventually became Pete Maravich who was selected third overall.

[7][8][9] After only nine games with the Hawks, he was traded along with a third-round pick in the 1975 NBA draft (39th overall–Jimmie Baker) to the Philadelphia 76ers for Tom Van Arsdale on November 8, 1974.

"[12] In ten (1966–1976) National Basketball Association seasons, spent with the Warriors (1966–1974), Atlanta Hawks (1974), and Philadelphia 76ers (1974–1976), Lee scored 5,733 points (7.7) with 7,626 (10.3) rebounds in 742 games.