Who has his luck? averaged only 14 points per game in his career, but won the championship + All-Star, earning 150 million

There is no 24th in the rivers and lakes

2024-05-25 22:28Posted in Henan Sports Creators

Preface

In today's small-ball era, whether it is an outside point guard or an interior center, you must have a long-range shooting scoring means to get stable playing time in the NBA. This is not only embarrassing, after all, in the NBA 10 years ago, it was still the era when the inside line was king, and in the eyes of the outside world at that time, the inside three-point shooting was an "alternative" style of play, even the great Dirk Nowitzki was once named a "soft egg". And the protagonist we are going to talk about today is also a player famous for long-range shooting in that era, he is the former "outside battery" Rashad Lewis. Now, let's walk into his story together.

The top genius of high school, but he was only selected in the second round.

As early as high school, Lewis had already made a lot of fame, especially in the summer of 1998, Lewis was the hottest five-star high school student in the United States. He averaged 28.2 points and 12.4 rebounds per game, and was directly selected by USA Today newspaper as the No. 1 team of high school students in the United States, and he was invited to participate in the McDonald's All-Star Game, scoring an astonishing 28 points in the game.

After that, he was invited to the "Magic" Johnson Basketball Celebrity Game, and he not only scored 27 points and 9 rebounds in the game, but also became the MVP of the training camp with his amazing performance. With a height of 2.08 meters, he can make movements like a guard, and at the same time has a stable outside projection, many NCAA giants at the time wanted to get Lewis.

Surprisingly, however, Lewis did not choose to enter the NCAA, but instead announced his participation in the 1998 NBA Draft, skipping directly to the NBA.

However, unlike Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and other predecessors, although Lewis showed good ability, he was too thin, you must know that in that era when the interior line was very important, Lewis's thin body suffered very much, which also made his draft market continue to fall, until the third pick in the second round, he was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics.

finally entered the NBA, but the sudden shutdown made Lewis confused, and the SuperSonics team at that time was a playoff-level team, with Detreve Schramf, Vin Baker, Don McClen and others on the inside, so Lewis only got 20 appearances in his rookie season, almost all of them in garbage time, averaging only 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds per game, and he was a real water cooler manager.

gradually became an all-star and was poached by the Magic with a high salary.

Although his start in the NBA was not optimistic, Lewis's talent could not be hidden, and the SuperSonics quickly discovered Lewis's potential, and with the arrival of coach Nate McMillan, Lewis was completely corrected. In the 00-01 season, Lewis, who was only 21 years old at the time, became the team's iron-clad starter, averaging 14.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

The turning point in Lewis' career came in the 02-03 season, when the SuperSonics began to look for a rebuild, and they sent Gary Payton, the meritorious "glove" who had been with the team for 13 years, to the Bucks in exchange for All-Star guard Ray Allen, and since then the "Supersonic Twin Batteries" have also been built.

In the 04-05 season, Lewis averaged a career-high 20.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while Ray Allen also contributed 23.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists, both of whom were selected as All-Stars, and with these two shots, the SuperSonics not only had an excellent record of 52-30, but also defeated the Kings in the playoffs and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals.

However, in the NBA at that time, it was impossible to go too far with top-notch shooting skills, and the supersonic interior line was empty for a long time, and in the fiercely competitive West, it was simply a lamb to be slaughtered, so although the Gemini stars were impeccable in terms of performance on the court and statistics, the huge disadvantage of the interior line made it impossible for them to even enter the playoffs. In the 06-07 season, Lewis averaged a career-high 22.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game, but it was difficult to hide the team's poor record of 31-51.

That summer, he gave up the final two years of his $21 million contract to become a free agent. The Magic team took a fancy to his shooting skills and directly threw a 6-year fat contract worth $118 million, Lewis did not hesitate at all, and directly reached an agreement with the Magic team and became another Mr. 100 million yuan.

Plagued by injuries, but lucky to win the championship.

The reason why the Magic recruited Lewis with a high salary is naturally for their purpose. At that time, Dwight Howard had gradually become the league's No. 1 center, but his problem was that once he left the interior or was caught in the bag, he could help the team on the offensive end, so the team also hoped that Lewis could have chemistry with Howard.

Lewis didn't disappoint the team, shooting 18.2 points on 40.9% three-point shooting in the '07-08 season, and he shot another 17.7 points the following year, not only being selected as an All-Star again, but also helping the Magic beat many strong opponents along the way to the Finals. In this year's playoffs, he averaged 19 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

However, Lewis also has a lot of problems, that is, the need for a system, once Howard encounters strict restrictions, the "star-studded" tactics are completely strangled, and his role is greatly reduced. In addition, the onset of injuries also damaged Lewis's condition, in the 09-10 season, the 30-year-old Lewis only averaged 14.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, the team also lost in the playoffs, coupled with his huge contract restrictions, and finally the Magic sent him to the Wizards in the middle of the 10-11 season. Just when everyone thought that Lewis would be embarrassed to fulfill his six-year contract and choose to retire indifferently, he signed a veteran contract with the Heat in the summer of 2012.

Here, he reunites with his old partner Ray Allen, two former Seattle twins, although they are no longer in their prime, but they have good experience and shooting skills, averaging 5.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game as a substitute, and finally Lewis also went through all odds to win the coveted championship. At the end of the 13-14 season, the 35-year-old Lewis announced his retirement, looking back on his career, it was not so legendary, but he also left 15,579 points, and got a salary of hundreds of millions and a championship, which can be described as a winner in life.

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