Who's the biggest Free Agent on the Market this summer? Other than Chauncy Billups, I think Rashard Lewis is the big fish in a little pond. I remember myself saying at the beginning of the season that he might not be the best fit for the Raptors due to his defense and the number of shots that he takes. After getting the chance to watch him play live in a relatively high scoring game, here's what I was able to observe about him:
1) Lewis is not volume jacker. Based on the number of shots he takes, I thought Lewis was the kind of player that never met a jumper he didn't like. In fact, from what I could see yesterday, Lewis functions very well in an offense, and he really lets the game come to him. His points are a function of his shooting ability combined with the fact that he is the 2nd option on the offense. When Allen was having an off 1st quarter, Lewis asserted himself some more, but when Allen started to catch fire, Lewis took the shots that were available and were within the confines of the offense. He isn't the kind of player that pounds the dribble to try and create his own shot off a drive. He didn't at any point decide to go 1 on 5 and total ignore his teammates. This is a huge bonus considering the style that the Raptors like to play.
2) You're right in that he grabs a shit load of rebounds for a SF. He is tricky with his boards because he is usually set up from behind the arc, and he sneaks in after the offense moves away from him to work the weakside glass. Now, Lewis didn't stand out yesterday as a phenomenal defensive rebounding presence, but its not like the Raptors (aka Garbo/Parker) where eating up the offensive boards, so I am assuming he blocked out at least decently. Of course, I really wasn't scouting Lewis closely enough to really say for certain what his defensive rebounding is like.
3) Lewis is terrible on defense. Now this is more of a statement that is indicative of the entire Seattle team. The Sonics showed no interest in playing any defense. Now I can honestly say that their defensive issues do not stem from Lewis, he is merely a victim of circumstance in this regard. I mean he could be okay on defense, but since no one else even bothers to get in the way of the other team, there is only so much one man can do.
Will he fit in with the Raptors? This is the million dollar question, or in Lewis' case its the $14 million question (he is set to earn $10 million in Seattle next season, I can't see him opting out of that contract to earn less than that). I think Lewis, if he comes to Toronto, would provide the Raptors with the athletic swing man at SF that they are dying for in order to get their offense to the next level. By next level, I mean the absolute elite of the NBA, if you add Lewis into the offensive game plan that the Raptors run right now, Toronto will be able to score at almost the same clip as teams like the Suns. Defensively they are hurt a little bit because Garbo comes up with a bunch of hassle turnovers every game, but the increase in their scoring would off set that. Garbo would be able to move into the 2nd unit combine with Calderon (and maybe Brags) to form a pretty lethal bench.
Now I would love to see Rashard in a Raptors uni next season. After watching the Raptors all season and getting a pretty good idea on what they need to get to that next level, I take back my initial assessment of Lewis, and I have come to the conclusion that he would in fact combine with Bosh to form a pretty formidable front court duo. When Andrea gets promoted to the first unit, he, Bosh, and Lewis would be pretty much unstoppable. Any double team on Bosh would probably result in a wide open 3 pointer (unless its Spurs, since they can teleport on defense), or if teams tried to play the Raptors straight up, the high screen - roll would cut the heart out of almost any team, which then leads to more drive and kicks. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself because none of this is possible. Rashard Lewis is looking for HUGE money this summer, and Toronto just doesn't have that kind of space. What we need is the rookie version of Lewis, the kind of guy that can play his game, with maturity, but we won't have to pay him a crapload of money.
My odds on favorites on who the Raptors could get that can fill this role (assuming Colangelo can somehow finagle his way into the 1st round): Jeff Green from Georgetown, Al Thorton from FSU, or Brandon Rush from Kansas
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