Posts for category ‘rashard lewis’

When news of the Gilbert Arenas-Rashard Lewis trade broke, it was received with a groan. The less-than-enthusiastic reception of the 31-year-old Lewis wasn’t so much a public damnation of his basketball abilities, nor an uninterested dismissal of his more intangible, clichéd qualities – veteran leadership, for instance. No, it was the result of a city, of a fanbase, coming to grips with the end of an era.

The Washington Wizards traded away their (cult) hero, and all they got in return was a “lousy” stretch four.

Just a week before Christmas, Lewis arrived in the nation’s capital with his long frame, his long contract, and his long face. Rough. Nick Young—by way of Gilbert Arenas’ interview with ESPN’s Michael Wallace—made Lewis’ first impressions public:

“He was telling me about Rashard Lewis. Nick was like, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to make it two weeks here. He feels like the world just ended.’ “

From a professional standpoint, getting traded to the Washington was one of the worst things that could have happened to Lewis. In the time it takes to pen a bit of chicken scratch on a trade agreement, he went from championship contender to NBA doormat. But for the Wizards, the acquisition of the former All-Star was the best thing that could have happened to team—luck of the lottery draw notwithstanding.

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Back on November 27th when the Washington Wizards last faced the Orlando Magic, four of their five starters struggled mightily.  JaVale McGee was in foul trouble all night trying to guard Dwight Howard; Alonzo Gee, known more for his hustle than his scoring prowess (and now a former Wizard), had eight points and seven rebounds, but really had no effect on outcome. Andray Blatche grabbed 13 rebounds, but scored just 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Kirk Hinrich, starting for the injured John Wall, shot 3-for-12 and finished with nine points.

The fifth starter that night was Mr. Gilbert Arenas, and he lit his future team up for 31 points, and despite the Wizards’ 100-99 loss, Arenas’ play kept them competitive.  He later admitted to the Orlando media that “he had to prove a point” to his friend, and Magic GM, Otis Smith.

Last night, Arenas no longer had to prove a point or show the Magic what he could do, because he was donning the Orlando Magic blue. Rather, Washington fans witnessing his return got more of a meat-and-potatoes version of Arenas; he scored 10 points off the bench to go with six assists, six rebounds and some decent defense. Unfortunately for the Wizards, their starters still struggled, and instead of losing by one point, they lost by 18.

Wall was healthy this time, and put up decent numbers of 14 points, five assists and five rebounds.  But he did not have a good feel for the ball, did not find his teammates consistently and was visibly frustrated by the lack of calls.  He picked up two technical fouls in a span of two minutes late the fourth quarter and he was eventually ejected, and the writers from Truth About It and Bullets Forever immediately began to tally up the resulting fines Wall owed both the NBA and the Wizards.

Nick Young and Rashard Lewis scored 17 and 14 points respectively, but neither player was able to establish a rhythm and distinguish themselves as a legitimate threat.  Young seemed to be under Arenas’ spell, and Lewis, who swore after the game that he wasn’t under the spell of his former team, lacked the assertiveness he had displayed in recent games.

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Long ago, in reference to his team’s troubles at the time, former Orlando Magic GM Pat Williams said:

“We can’t win at home. We can’t win on the road… As general manager, I just can’t figure out where else to play.”

The year was 1992 and the Magic fielded a 7-27 record when Williams said his quote that’s become one of the more infamously comical ones in NBA history. The 1991-92 season started out well enough for the Magic, as they won four of their first six games, two of which came against the Washington Bullets, one in Orlando and one in Landover, MD, despite 30 points from Michael Adams.

But when Williams said his memorable quote, the Magic had won just one out of the previous 21 games and held a  4-12 record at home and a 3-15 record on the road. After the quote, the Magic lost their next game at home versus the New York Knicks, but then won four out of their next six games. As irrelevant as all of this is, it all worked out for O-Town. Well, kinda. Their poor record that season landed them the No. 1 pick in the lottery and thus, Shaquille O’Neal, who later skipped town without winning a championship.

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Upon Rashard Lewis’ arrival in Washington, Flip Saunders lauded him as a professional. Ernie Grunfeld called him a lead-by-example veteran. But these terms easily get demeaned amongst the press conference speak. They are used almost too often to describe just about any veteran who is victim of a trade from contender to bottom-feeder, perhaps as a proclamation of what’s expected from them. But what Lewis has made of his new challenge several games in has given real meaning to these proclamations.

We all know what ‘professional’ means. On the surface, yes, it means you get paid to do a job. A lot of people get paid to do a job but aren’t exactly earning their money … it happens in every profession. Being ‘a’ professional is about more than just earning your keep. For NBA players, it means consistent performance on the court and measured, but worthy, comments in the locker room.

Antawn Jamison was the last professional the Wizards had with an all-star pedigree; some called him the Gentleman Jamison. He was surprisingly consistent for his age, which was only accentuated by the way his game sneaked up on you. In post game media sessions, Jamison could fill a tape recorder with clichés, but he would also give long-winded answers, so one was always sure to find a good quote in there somewhere.

Much of what got lost in the reverberations from the Gilbert Arenas trade was that in Lewis, the franchise might have found their new Jamison. But in a weird twist of circumstance, Lewis means much more to this current group. Toward the end, Jamison was hanging on to hope in an uncompromising manner. He wasn’t on a rebuilding team, he was on a broken team … and he was trying to shoulder the load amidst futility. That philosophy reared its ugly head in the form of a paltry 1.2 assists per 36 minutes for Jamison as a Wizard during 2009-10, a career-low aside from the season he won the Sixth Man of the Year Award as a Dallas Maverick.

Jamison was never much of a passer, however. It just wasn’t what he was often called on to do, he’s always been a scorer instead. Lewis’ game has been similar in many ways, at least as far as career passing numbers are concerned — Jamison with 1.7 assists per 36 minutes over 898 career regular season games, and Lewis with 1.9 per 36 over 883 games. But the difference can be found in what Lewis has done since donning a Wizards uniform.

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Before the Gilbert Arenas-Rashard Lewis trade went down, Flip Saunders dropped a comment or two about the imbalanced roster he’d been given, and even referred to his, quote “our top players play the same position,” sentiment after the deal was done. But the fact that Rashard Lewis is a 31-year old stretch four with ‘been in the league since high school’ mileage is the zinger. How’s that for roster imbalance? Flip, your team is still soft.

You almost think that Lewis’ current trade value for the Wizards is less than the perceived value of Gilbert Arenas when he was a Wizard, even with Arenas’ longer contract … in that as a Wizard, Arenas’ trade value was always going to be high risk, high reward for a desperate GM, and he was building on an ‘okay-ish’ job at improving his status. In reality, Lewis may have been more stuck in Orlando than Arenas was in Washington. But Arenas’ potential trade value probably was higher for Otis Smith than anyone else, and that’s why Lewis is in Washington.

Which, of course, will bring us back to some comments from Arenas in that infamous Q&A with ESPN’s Michael Wallace which came across as jerk-ish. When asked about the entirely different subject of keeping in touch with Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood, Arenas spoke about Nick Young instead and ended his answer by pointing out how mad Rashard Lewis is, and should be, about his situation in Washington … while Arenas smiles in Orlando. Here’s the excerpt:

Q: You say you’re past it all now. Everyone has moved on. Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson and Brendan Haywood ended up in Dallas. Antawn Jamison is in Cleveland. You’re now in Orlando. Do you guys still keep in touch?

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[Ed. Note: Below is something I wrote about Rashard Lewis' debut for the December 23 edition of ESPN's Daily Dime ... then some must-read links.]

In his Washington Wizards debut, Rashard Lewis performed about as expected for a 31-year-old 3-point-shooting wing player who just got traded from a championship contender to a rebuilding team. In 22 minutes off the bench, Lewis scored eight points on 4-for-10 shooting (0-for-5 from 3) with three rebounds, one block, an assist, two turnovers and five fouls.

The biggest challenge for Flip Saunders is how to integrate Lewis into a team that’s also just welcoming Josh Howard back into the mix after offseason knee surgery. Saunders is not only getting to teach his young team — a lot — but he’s also getting to experiment.

Lewis was inserted at the 3-spot late in the first quarter, creating a lengthy unit with Howard, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee, and Kirk Hinrich running the show. The lineup produced instant results for Lewis, as the new addition got his first points as a Wizard on a putback about a minute after he entered. More his style, his second basket came when he slipped a ball screen and Hinrich found him for a 17-footer in the left corner.

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“Hopefully I can get back to my old self of when I was in Seattle when I made the All-Star team, when I was playing the three position…”

-Rashard Lewis

“We’re going to try to use him a little bit how he was used in Seattle, move him around, let him play a couple different positions, run plays for him where he doesn’t become such a one-dimensional type player.”

-said Flip Saunders, who went on to express that Lewis could play the three or four positions, throwing out several obvious lineup combinations.

Let’s get a couple facts about Lewis out of the way. He was drafted out of high school and this is his 13th year in the league — lot of tread on those tires, 847 games worth, plus 64 playoff games. He also has experienced bouts of knee tendinitis at various points in his career.

Looking at PER (Player Efficiency Rating by ESPN’s John Hollinger — league average is 15), Lewis’ best career seasons came in Seattle in 2005-06 (20.0) and 2006-07 (20.7). He made the All-Star team in 2004-05 with a PER of 19.9.

In those three successive seasons of Seattle’s best, Lewis shot field-goal percentages of .462, .467, .461; three-point percentages of .400, .384, .390; and averaged 20.5, 20.1 and 22.4 points per game, respectively.

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