Scottie Lewis
Profile:
Position: Shooting Guard
Role: Two-Way Shot Creator
Age: 21
Nation: USA
Year: Sophomore
College: Florida
Height: 6’5
Wingspan: 7’0
Weight: 188 lbs
Stats:
Positives:
- Excellent length. His height at 6’5 isn’t anything special for a shooting guard but his 7’0 wingspan is absolutely massive, good for a +7”.
- Elite athlete. He is lightning-quick moving around the court, making him a menace in transition. He is incredibly explosive and plays with a lot of burst. He is an above-the-rim athlete with an excellent vertical.
- Solid finisher. He is a high flyer who finishes above the rim with a lot of explosiveness and force.
- Quick handle. He has an excellent first step and can blow by opponents without much trouble. He moves around the court incredibly well and he has an advanced enough handle to break down defenders and create separation.
- Shot creation upside. He has the burst and handle to be able to create space off the dribble in order to get his shot up. He is a big fan of the stepback and creates a ton of separation off of it. He is a pretty good shooter off the dribble and has smooth form on his jumper.
- Shooting potential. He had a down year shooting the ball during his sophomore season, with 31.8/67.3 splits from deep and from the line. However, his freshman year splits were far better, with 36.1/81.7 splits on equal volume. His form isn’t broken by any means and he has shown that he can make 3s at a reliable mark in the past, he just needs to improve his consistency and comfort levels as a shooter.
- Tremendous on-ball defender. He has excellent lateral quickness and can keep up with the fastest of players on the perimeter. He uses his long arms to contain opponents and force them into taking jumpers. He is fantastic at contesting shots and gets a large number of on-ball blocks. He closes out incredibly quickly on shooters with one hand up to contest the shot while still staying balanced in case the shooter tries to attack the closeout.
- Elite off-ball defender. He makes timely rotations, reads the passing lanes, and does a solid job of collapsing onto the play. He spends a fair bit of time playing as a free safety roaming around in open space and making reads about where to be to disrupt the play. He can get away with this thanks to his fantastic recovery speed, which allows him to reach his man before they can take advantage of being open. He is also a tremendous shot blocker for a guard thanks to his length and explosive verticality and he can serve as an emergency rim protector to deny opportunities on the inside.
- Solid rebounder. He has tremendous length and verticality that allows him to rise up above opponents to snatch the ball. He is an excellent putback threat thanks to his explosive finishing.
Negatives:
- Thin frame. He is incredibly skinny and doesn’t have the frame to be able to pack on a ton of muscle. As a result, he doesn’t handle contact well and his finishes on the inside can be derailed with just a bit of physicality.
- Shooting consistency. He is a somewhat reluctant shooter from the outside and he tends to hesitate before pulling up, which resulted in a lot of shots being taken out of rhythm. His form is a bit stiff and somewhat inconsistent, especially if he is contested. He overall just looks uncomfortable shooting from deep.
- Offensive passiveness. He only took 6 shots a game during his sophomore season and was incredibly streaky, exploding for high-scoring games here and there and completely disappearing in other games.
- Turnover-prone. He plays a little too fast sometimes and ends up losing the ball. His handle is somewhat loose and opponents are able to get a hand in and disrupt his dribble.
- Undisciplined defender. For all his defensive talent, he makes a fair number of mistakes that are overlooked since his athleticism bails him out. He sometimes over-commits to helping out on the play, which can create opportunities for his man to get open.
Upside:
- Jaylen Brown
- Zach Lavine
- Hamidou Diallo
Notes:
Scottie Lewis is the type of player where if you watch his highlights, you wonder why he’s not a top 5 prospect, and when you look at his statline, you wonder why so much talent resulted in so little production. Lewis left high school as a lottery talent but two disappointing years at Florida, including losing his starting spot in his second year, have left him at risk of not being drafted.
There are many external reasons to explain his lackluster college career, including poor coaching and a less-than-ideal system. However, his own passiveness and inconsistency have also played a role in his current ranking. He has a ton of offensive tools but isn’t always able to effectively deploy them and he has a very bad habit of disappearing from games. As for his NBA projection, his defense should be able to translate, giving him a go-to skill to get him on the floor. His offensive game, for all its talent, will need a lot of work in regards to consistency and assertiveness if he wants to be a positive on that end.
In all likelihood, Lewis will have a less-than-memorable career like most second-round picks and his low floor could very easily see him out of the league very quickly. With that said, for a team looking for a diamond in the rough, someone who could actually have star potential late in the draft, Lewis could be that guy. The odds are certainly against it, but he is at least worth a flier in the second round. In any case, a change of scenery is much-needed for Lewis and could help recorrect his trajectory into a solid player.
