Thing is, if they let Lee actually hit someone with the lotus, I would think that someone would be dead 0-o.
Theres no way they would let sasuke die, so scratch the first attempt.
Gaara was too popular a character/had to play a role in the upcoming war, so scratch that too.
I think they coulda got away with killing Dosu at that point..does anyone really like him? 0-o besides, he got killed just a short while later.