On Monday morning freshman Scottie Lewis announced via Twitter that he will be returning to Gainesville for the 2020-21 season, forgoing the NBA Draft which seemed like his certain destiny prior to this year.
“My dream of playing in the NBA is still a top priority, but my heart is in Gainesville! With that being said, I am more than happy to announce that I will be returning for the 2020-21 season.”
He ended his message to Gator fans with an encouraging note:
“I am excited for the journey that lies ahead. My story hasn’t even started and trust me THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
Lewis entered the season as a top-10 recruit with the athleticism of an NBA wing and it was expected that he would only be with the Gators for a single season and having him return has to be extremely exciting for the team and coaching staff. His freshman campaign didn’t exactly go as planned as he spent some time adjusting to the pace of high major basketball and found his way around his new offensive role but throughout conference play his production was on an upward trajectory and he was playing his best basketball in the final weeks of the season. It’s unknown how much the season’s abrupt end played a role in his decision to return, but he did mention in his tweet that “Our season was cut short, and we were not able to complete our season that we were supposed to” so the unfinished business definitely factored in, at least somewhat.
Even though he has announced he’s returning to Florida it’s likely that Lewis will still enter his name into the draft to receive feedback from NBA teams before withdrawing, using the new rules that are only a couple years old that allow players to do so. Typically that would mean going to the combine, having individual workouts, and face-to-face interviews, but this year that’s likely going to mean zoom meetings without any actual basketball. It will still be helpful for him to get in touch with various NBA teams and the feedback they give him could be extremely valuable.
Teams will likely want to see more development out of Lewis’ offensive game. Later in the season he was knocking down jumpers and throughout the year he showed his athleticism and length around the rim but teams would like to see him be more effective with the dribble and would love to see his ball handling improve. Defensively Lewis shows outstanding effort but still needs some work understanding angles and team defensive schemes, something one more year in college will do wonders for.
Florida’s wing position hasn’t been deep over the last few seasons and Lewis’ return will really help there. With incoming recruits Niels Lane and Samson Ruzhentsev joining the mix as well as transfer Anthony Duruji getting activated from a redshirt year the Gators are going to be a lot longer and more athletic than we’re used to and that is going to excite Mike White greatly.
With Lewis having made his announcement, we now wait on Andrew Nembhard and Keyontae Johnson who will have the same decision to make. With Lewis coming back the Gators are looking like an extremely talented group which certainly can’t hurt Florida’s chances with these two players, but time will tell.