Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 11:00 am  |  21 responses

The Struggles of Rashard Lewis

Rashard — he of the enormous contract — has seen his numbers fall across the board. He doesn’t sound concerned, although everyone else is, as FanHouse reports: “His problems have become a worrisome undercurrent for a team that otherwise has looked strong since the All-Star break. He is scoring less (14.2 ppg), rebounding less (4.5 rpg) and shooting a lower percentage (.425) than he has in 10 years. ‘Rashard is just not playing well right now. It’s not just the shooting. He’s not rebounding the ball. He’s just not playing with much energy,’ said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. “He’s turning the ball over. He’s not making the shots he’s taking. I have confidence he’ll bounce back, but right now he’s not playing well.’ Share  Lewis is the best-paid player ($18.7 million) on the defending Eastern Conference champions — ninth highest-paid player in the NBA — yet he has sunk to the fourth option on his own team, an issue that could cause problems quickly if the team falters.
‘There have been times (in the past) I was frustrated over shots, when I wanted the ball more, but I wasn’t on good teams then,’ Lewis said. ‘I’m a veteran now on a good team, a team competing for a championship. It’s loaded. Sometimes you have to sacrifice for that. As long as we’re winning, I’m comfortable with it.”’

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , ,

  • niQ Posted: Mar.15 at 11:05 am
    What did you expect with adding VC to the team?

  • tom Posted: Mar.15 at 11:09 am
    exactly, niQ

  • NUPE Posted: Mar.15 at 11:30 am
    Could this all be a result of what happens when you stop taking performance enhancing drugs?

  • Sparker Posted: Mar.15 at 11:38 am
    they’re winning so so what

  • dirty frank Posted: Mar.15 at 12:05 pm
    >Nupe – exactly what I was thinking.

  • J-City Posted: Mar.15 at 12:18 pm
    How much better is Lewis than Ryan Anderson seriously? I find his game a dime a dozen amoung NBA players. Give almost anyone his minutes and they’ll produce the same without the $19m contract.

  • barry melrose Posted: Mar.15 at 12:20 pm
    those PEDs sure helped last year. I bet LeBron is pissed now.

  • T-Money Posted: Mar.15 at 12:37 pm
    1- Ryan Anderson is a marginal NBA player until he proves otherwise. 2- An average 4.5 rebounds per game (!) prevents you from being called a power forward. I suggest a new position for the Shards and Bargs of the NBA: shooting forwards. 3- 42 fg% at 6-10 is disgustin. 4- With that said, I’m still worried about what he might do vs Cavs in the playoffs.

  • underdog Posted: Mar.15 at 12:50 pm
    Don’t forget he’s playing with D-12 and VC. So, good luck grabbing rebounds and shooting the ball.

  • Anton Posted: Mar.15 at 1:10 pm
    Need a boost? Take these pills, just don’t ask where they’re from…

  • RickyRude Posted: Mar.15 at 1:38 pm
    He sure did look good hitting those trays in the big win against Lakers a week ago… I don’t worry about my man. He’ll be alright come Playoff time.

  • Farman Posted: Mar.15 at 1:55 pm
    The Magic made a huge mistake trading for Vince Carter. I like the fact that they got Ryan Anderson in the deal. But you lose Courtney Lee, a great defender with a decent jumper. You let Hedo go in free agency. And have also lost depth at the point guard position. With Carter on the team, they have lost that chemistry that they had last year. Carter is a ball controling offensive player. His game makes others stand around and watch. Not as good defensively, plus is injury prone as well. He’s not the player he once was. When Hedo was on the team, you had another point guard on the court. You had two guys running the pick and roll, and give teams match up problems and also gave Magic players open looks on the baseline. You don’t see that this year. I don’t understand why teams make changes every year when what you had gave you great success. I really think the Magic were a better team with Hedo, Rafer, and Lee on the roster. Plus, Lee was a rookie last year. It looked like he was gonna have a great future in Orlando.

  • LA Huey Posted: Mar.15 at 2:06 pm
    Orlando, if you’re searching for a scapegoat, look at the GM or maybe even SVG. I think this team has too many good players that deserve to be in the rotation (Eboy, Barnes, Bass, Gortat, and Ryan Anderson). It’s hard enough to make a 9-man rotation work.

  • D12FSU Posted: Mar.15 at 3:02 pm
    ummm..47-21!! 3rd best record in the league!! SETTLE DOWN EVERYONE!! VC had a slump in january and got over the hump, rashard is having one now..it happens. They just came off an 8-game streak…if we had lost those 8 then yes there would be concern..but all is well in O-town..14 more games till playoffs

  • Shem Posted: Mar.15 at 3:11 pm
    It’s funny how he’s getting payed more then Lebron, Wade, Melo and Bosh by 3 mill

  • derek Posted: Mar.15 at 3:39 pm
    there are times when lewis needs to be in the game without howard or carter. but preferably howard so then we can utilize lewis’ post up gm. howard and vs get a lot of touches and nelson is a scoring pg. hey vince had 13 shots last game and in feb + march he hasnt shot that much, he’s just been really efficient. vince is no longer the problem.

  • ab_40 Posted: Mar.15 at 5:49 pm
    orlando now is better than they were last year. the assists are lower but hey the D is good to solid and the O is roling now that most players know their role. They’ll be fine. Especialy if atlanta becomes third in the east. that would be an easier path to the ecf than boston and cleveland who than would have to face each other

  • doyouwantmore Posted: Mar.15 at 9:02 pm
    Good point T-Money. Bargnani, Dirk, Rashard, and others are definitely a new model of player. It’s crazy to say that Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitski play the exact same position.

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers Posted: Mar.15 at 11:26 pm
    i like Lew but his line in 30plus minutes in the loss to the Cats yesterday was horrendous! 3, 2 and 1!! WTF?!

  • Hursty Posted: Mar.16 at 5:19 am
    How the FU*K does a 6’10 PF average only 4.5 rebounds a game? I don’t give a sh*t about the “Dwight Howard” factor. Dude DOESN’T grab 20+ boards a game (and deflected shots don’t always go to him either since he thinks its a great idea to swat the ball out-of-bounds), and it’s not like Nelson is a rebounding guard (Rondo, Lowry etc), and VC is, well VC. C’mon.
    That’s pathetic.

  • ClydeSays Posted: Mar.16 at 7:30 pm
    Lewis is a decent SF, but he’s a shooter & needs X number of touches. No one ever said he was a defensive stopper or a beast on the boards. He has he moments, but he’s basically a taller SG.
    VC, plus Reddick waking out of his 4 year slumber definitely have had an effect on Lewis’ number of shots.

Comments




The comments section is a place to further discuss the topics in this post. Commenters who seek to accomplish any of the following may be banned: - Personally attack other commenters. - Make derogatory comments regarding race, ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation or religion. - Troll, or comment with the intention of creating problems. Trolling includes, but isn't limited to, baiting people to flame at you, encouraging people to leave the site, spamming and using alternate IDs.