flipcritic
05-27-2009, 01:25 AM
Orlando's quiet star. Despite his galactic contract, he works hard, keeps out of trouble, and oh yeah... hits incredibly clutch 3-pointers. If you thought Tim Duncan was quiet, this guy many times seems off the radar.
I wish he were a lot better defensively, but hell, that's about the only beef I have with this guy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/sports/basketball/22magic.html
***
Magic’s Lewis Is Working on the Art of Expectation
By JONATHAN ABRAMS
Published: May 21, 2009
In the corner of nearly every Magic player’s locker — Dwight Howard’s is a notable exception — Orlando’s coaching staff has taped gentle notes of emphasis.
Rashard Lewis’s postings are not about scoring but about being assertive: Aggressiveness at both ends. Competitive fire every night. Physical defense and rebounding.
It is that dichotomy that is Lewis. At a glance, he is a good but not a great player with a bloated contract who rarely talks on the court. At another, he is the consummate teammate who ebbs and flows within the uneven waves of a game.
“When I feel like it’s time for me to say something and it’s time for me to speak up and allow my emotions to get into the games and practice, then I will say something,” Lewis said. “It seems like everyone listens in because I’m not one of these guys who talks every day, but when I do say something, it’s coming from the heart and I really do mean it.”
Lewis, who made the winning 3-point shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, is a walking mismatch, capable of shooting 3-pointers and posting inside from his forward slot. He has left a trail of 3-pointers, but also a career path that has veered between unbridled success and unnerving uncertainty.
He does not scowl or chirp on the court. Lewis’s productivity speaks for him. But he is difficult to appreciate because of what he is not. And to many, he is not worthy of his contract, which stretches for six years and $118 million.
Those numbers nearly demand that Lewis amass superstar statistics. That is not in Lewis’s fabric and not what the Magic asks of him, but it is usually the starting and ending point for his detractors.
“I can do that,” Lewis said. “I can go out there and take 20 or 25 shots a night. But that’s not better for our team.”
Lewis is decidedly better for the Magic. When General Manager Otis Smith engineered the sign-and-trade deal that brought Lewis from the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007, their fates and futures became entwined. With Lewis, the Magic jumped from 40-42 to 52-30 in 2007-8, and to 59-23 this season.
In his own rhythm, the 6-foot-10 Lewis averaged 17.7 points this season; for the last seven seasons he has averaged between 16.8 points and 22.4 points. He is consistent, almost predictably so, and that very word comes up several times in conversations with Smith.
“Sometimes it bites you in the butt if you don’t crank it up all the time,” Smith said. “But he’s just been consistent for us. You look up and he ends up with 18, 19, 20 points. There’s some good and bad to that, but for the most part he’s done exactly what we’ve asked him to do.”
The criticism used to disturb Lewis’s mother, Juanita Brown, but it rarely does anymore. She occasionally hears the riffs in the stands, but they register below the effect of a glancing blow.
“At this point of his career it doesn’t bother Rashard,” Brown said. “He’s the type of person who does what’s asked of him.”
That was not always the case. Occasionally, Lewis would sneak an after-school soda or candy as a child. That was a no-no with Brown. But it was hardly a solo mission. Lewis always made sure to rope in his twin sister, Kristen.
Later, he truthfully, and somewhat underhandedly, would testify that it was a two-person heist. The blame, he said, should be spread equally.
“Rashard was a little mischievous,” Brown said. “He wouldn’t do anything that he got in trouble without dragging in his sister.”
The youthful traits mostly evaporated as Lewis, the basketball player, evolved, and Lewis, the person, matured. Basketball became business, business became work and work was to be taken seriously.
At Houston’s Alief Elsik High School, Lewis jumped to the varsity team as a freshman and later blossomed. “We wanted him to shoot more his senior year,” said Jerrel Hartfield, Lewis’s coach in high school. “We didn’t want him to pass the ball, he’s so talented.”
Lewis declared for the 1998 N.B.A. draft, bypassing enrollment at the University of Houston. The ecstasy faded into empathy on draft night. Lewis watched in the green room as the entire first round came and went, 31 names in all, before his name was called by Seattle. His hometown Houston Rockets had three picks in the first round, but bypassed him each time.
“That evening was tough,” Brown said. “When you’re with your child and your child is in pain, you feel the same thing. You can only imagine what they must feel, but it’s also extremely painful knowing your child is going through a what-am-I-going-to-do-now transition.”
Lewis actually made it quite well. By his third season, he averaged 14.8 points. By his seventh, he was an All-Star.
“I’ve been criticized my whole career,” Lewis said. “When I got drafted in the second round in the green room, they said I wouldn’t even make it in the N.B.A.”
In a recent interview, the 29-year-old Lewis denied that his contract and its expectations weighed heavily when he arrived in Orlando. Smith said that he noticed Lewis pressing early: “I don’t think it’s abnormal for anybody who has a conscience to say, ‘I’ve got to play according to that contract,’ and that’s not fair.”
Brown said she and Lewis often talked about that subject.
Early last season, Lewis turned his ankle while jumping. Brown said he could have avoided the injury if he had been more in tune with the game.
“I told him that he was trying too hard,” Brown said. “I said: ‘You are so determined. You’re too preoccupied with having a good showing. You’ve got to relax and don’t think about what people are saying because you’ve been blessed. You’ve been in the league. You don’t have anything to prove. If you have anything to prove, you wouldn’t have gotten that contract.’ ”
Lewis did as requested. He blended and deferred and rose when needed with Howard, the versatile Hedo Turkoglu and the spark-plug point guard Jameer Nelson.
“He’s not mischievous like he was as a kid, and Rashard is more serious and businesslike when it comes to the game,” Brown said. “He likes to laugh, he likes to have fun, but he takes his basketball serious. He’s at the stage of his career where he wants a championship, and Orlando is that best opportunity.”
***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GDOr7iq2DA
I wish he were a lot better defensively, but hell, that's about the only beef I have with this guy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/sports/basketball/22magic.html
***
Magic’s Lewis Is Working on the Art of Expectation
By JONATHAN ABRAMS
Published: May 21, 2009
In the corner of nearly every Magic player’s locker — Dwight Howard’s is a notable exception — Orlando’s coaching staff has taped gentle notes of emphasis.
Rashard Lewis’s postings are not about scoring but about being assertive: Aggressiveness at both ends. Competitive fire every night. Physical defense and rebounding.
It is that dichotomy that is Lewis. At a glance, he is a good but not a great player with a bloated contract who rarely talks on the court. At another, he is the consummate teammate who ebbs and flows within the uneven waves of a game.
“When I feel like it’s time for me to say something and it’s time for me to speak up and allow my emotions to get into the games and practice, then I will say something,” Lewis said. “It seems like everyone listens in because I’m not one of these guys who talks every day, but when I do say something, it’s coming from the heart and I really do mean it.”
Lewis, who made the winning 3-point shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, is a walking mismatch, capable of shooting 3-pointers and posting inside from his forward slot. He has left a trail of 3-pointers, but also a career path that has veered between unbridled success and unnerving uncertainty.
He does not scowl or chirp on the court. Lewis’s productivity speaks for him. But he is difficult to appreciate because of what he is not. And to many, he is not worthy of his contract, which stretches for six years and $118 million.
Those numbers nearly demand that Lewis amass superstar statistics. That is not in Lewis’s fabric and not what the Magic asks of him, but it is usually the starting and ending point for his detractors.
“I can do that,” Lewis said. “I can go out there and take 20 or 25 shots a night. But that’s not better for our team.”
Lewis is decidedly better for the Magic. When General Manager Otis Smith engineered the sign-and-trade deal that brought Lewis from the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007, their fates and futures became entwined. With Lewis, the Magic jumped from 40-42 to 52-30 in 2007-8, and to 59-23 this season.
In his own rhythm, the 6-foot-10 Lewis averaged 17.7 points this season; for the last seven seasons he has averaged between 16.8 points and 22.4 points. He is consistent, almost predictably so, and that very word comes up several times in conversations with Smith.
“Sometimes it bites you in the butt if you don’t crank it up all the time,” Smith said. “But he’s just been consistent for us. You look up and he ends up with 18, 19, 20 points. There’s some good and bad to that, but for the most part he’s done exactly what we’ve asked him to do.”
The criticism used to disturb Lewis’s mother, Juanita Brown, but it rarely does anymore. She occasionally hears the riffs in the stands, but they register below the effect of a glancing blow.
“At this point of his career it doesn’t bother Rashard,” Brown said. “He’s the type of person who does what’s asked of him.”
That was not always the case. Occasionally, Lewis would sneak an after-school soda or candy as a child. That was a no-no with Brown. But it was hardly a solo mission. Lewis always made sure to rope in his twin sister, Kristen.
Later, he truthfully, and somewhat underhandedly, would testify that it was a two-person heist. The blame, he said, should be spread equally.
“Rashard was a little mischievous,” Brown said. “He wouldn’t do anything that he got in trouble without dragging in his sister.”
The youthful traits mostly evaporated as Lewis, the basketball player, evolved, and Lewis, the person, matured. Basketball became business, business became work and work was to be taken seriously.
At Houston’s Alief Elsik High School, Lewis jumped to the varsity team as a freshman and later blossomed. “We wanted him to shoot more his senior year,” said Jerrel Hartfield, Lewis’s coach in high school. “We didn’t want him to pass the ball, he’s so talented.”
Lewis declared for the 1998 N.B.A. draft, bypassing enrollment at the University of Houston. The ecstasy faded into empathy on draft night. Lewis watched in the green room as the entire first round came and went, 31 names in all, before his name was called by Seattle. His hometown Houston Rockets had three picks in the first round, but bypassed him each time.
“That evening was tough,” Brown said. “When you’re with your child and your child is in pain, you feel the same thing. You can only imagine what they must feel, but it’s also extremely painful knowing your child is going through a what-am-I-going-to-do-now transition.”
Lewis actually made it quite well. By his third season, he averaged 14.8 points. By his seventh, he was an All-Star.
“I’ve been criticized my whole career,” Lewis said. “When I got drafted in the second round in the green room, they said I wouldn’t even make it in the N.B.A.”
In a recent interview, the 29-year-old Lewis denied that his contract and its expectations weighed heavily when he arrived in Orlando. Smith said that he noticed Lewis pressing early: “I don’t think it’s abnormal for anybody who has a conscience to say, ‘I’ve got to play according to that contract,’ and that’s not fair.”
Brown said she and Lewis often talked about that subject.
Early last season, Lewis turned his ankle while jumping. Brown said he could have avoided the injury if he had been more in tune with the game.
“I told him that he was trying too hard,” Brown said. “I said: ‘You are so determined. You’re too preoccupied with having a good showing. You’ve got to relax and don’t think about what people are saying because you’ve been blessed. You’ve been in the league. You don’t have anything to prove. If you have anything to prove, you wouldn’t have gotten that contract.’ ”
Lewis did as requested. He blended and deferred and rose when needed with Howard, the versatile Hedo Turkoglu and the spark-plug point guard Jameer Nelson.
“He’s not mischievous like he was as a kid, and Rashard is more serious and businesslike when it comes to the game,” Brown said. “He likes to laugh, he likes to have fun, but he takes his basketball serious. He’s at the stage of his career where he wants a championship, and Orlando is that best opportunity.”
***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GDOr7iq2DA