After taking part in athletic testing and physical measurements earlier in the week it was time for the Gators’ going through the NBA Combine to take part in scrimmages.
Tre Mann did what many projected first round picks do and that’s sit out of the scrimmage portion. For players who already feel comfortable with their draft position there isn’t much to be gained from taking part in these scrimmages, so normally you don’t see players like Mann taking part and what he is doing is completely ordinary.
For a player like Scottie Lewis, the scrimmages are a huge opportunity to showcase their talent against other players projected in a similar range to them.
Lewis was on “Team 3,” a squad that also featured Iowa’s Joe Wieskamp, LSU’s Trendon Watford, Tennessee’s Yves Pons, and the G League Ignite’s Daishen Nix. Team 3 went 0-2 with two blowout losses, and here was Lewis’ stat lines:
Game 1
22:41 MIN
4-11 FG
0-4 3-PT
1-2 FT
9 PTS
2 AST
3 REB
1 STL
2 TO
7 PF
-24 +/-
Game 2
22:30 MIN
4-7 FG
0-1 3-PT
8 PTS
1 AST
1 REB
1 TO
2 PF
-15 +/-
To begin, it’s worth noting that Lewis got plenty of opportunities. He led his team in minutes the first game and was second in minutes the second game, and he led his team in shots the first game.
His points were largely off of dump off passes where he was able to use his length and athleticism to finish around the rim. He did hit one short mid-range jump shot, and his best bucket was a spin to layup on the left side.
Scottie Lewis with the spin and finish in the lane with his left. pic.twitter.com/OJeBSju18D
— Aram Cannuscio (@AC__Hoops) June 25, 2021
Daishen Nix with the great find on the drive to an open Scottie Lewis who hits the mid-range J pic.twitter.com/NPS4hNpPHE
— Aram Cannuscio (@AC__Hoops) June 24, 2021
Unfortunately for Lewis, one of his biggest question marks, the three-point shot, didn’t look any better in these scrimmages. He went 0-5 between the two games, with most of his attempts coming off his hand heavy and clanking off the far side of the rim, not close to falling.
Defensively there were definitely some moments of greatness as he anticipated plays and used his close out speed to generate turnovers but there were still the moments of porous perimeter defense that he had in Gainesville. The 7 fouls he had in the first game wasn’t a typo, as he was regularly getting beat off the dribble forcing him to commit fouls. The 9 fouls in just over 45 minutes of play over two games where most came on plays where he got beat wasn’t a great look, something that won’t help his stock.
As you’d expect from Lewis he played with a ton of tenacity and hit the floor for a number of loose balls and went careening out of bounds on a few occasions to keep balls alive for his teammates. Sadly, those hustle plays might have been forgotten since his team got blown out by nearly 40 points in the first game and 10 in the second. How much blame can you put those losses on Lewis? On one hand, it was apparent, at least to me, that Lewis’ team was less talented than the other assembled teams. So, it wasn’t entirely shocking to see them go 0-2. However, Lewis was on the floor a lot, and he wasn’t able to regularly contain guards like Oral Robert’s Max Abmas and South Carolina’s AJ Lawson who got the better of him and he wasn’t able to provide much punch on the offensive end to move the needle there either.
Generally speaking, scouts watching these two games got a very accurate look at the Scottie Lewis experience. There were moments of awe as he used his athleticism to sky for rebounds and create steals, and also moments of frustration where he clanked open jumpers and couldn’t provide resistance at times on the perimeter against opposing guards. For Lewis’ next step in basketball it will be a team banking on his potential and not his production, and that’s something that was made apparent once again in these scrimmages. While this style of combine game where every player is trying to get theirs and show off isn’t suited for a player of Lewis’ skill set, I still think anyone watching would have a very accurate idea of what Lewis is as a player after watching these games.
Lewis has already had interviews with 10 different NBA teams and had his first individual workout with the Houston Rockets. He’ll have more opportunities for interviews and workouts on the weekend at the combine.