T'Athletic writeup on Kira Lewis

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Coach Two: “I love Kira. Ridiculous speed. He’s a much better shooter than what he gets credit for. Now, they shoot a ridiculous amount of 3s, but he’s a better shooter. And he’s tough because he can make open shots, but he’s a mother fricker getting to the rim. End-to-end speed is ridiculous. Superfast.

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Let’s start on the production side. Lewis averaged 18.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists on a 56.0 true-shooting percentage, and did so while playing his entire sophomore season at 18 years old. Given that he’s younger than most freshmen in this class having just turned 19 in March, it’s worth noting that the only freshmen in the last 28 years to post numbers hitting at least those thresholds are Dennis Smith Jr. and D’Angelo Russell. Both Smith and Russell went in the top 10. Other comparable high-major point guards to put up numbers nearing what Lewis did this year in terms of production and efficiency include Markelle Fultz (who went No. 1), Chauncey Billups (who was a top-five pick), John Wall (No. 1), Brandon Knight (top-10 pick), Marcus Smart (top-10 pick), and Jason Kidd (No. 2 overall).

The only high-major underclass point guards to put up at least 16 points, four rebounds and four assists per game on national-average efficiency to not go in the top 10 were Troy Bell (who went 16th), Malcolm Delaney (undrafted), and Nick Calathes (45th overall). Calathes and Delaney were a full year older than Lewis at the time of their breakouts, and went on to have elite careers overseas (with cups of coffee in the NBA). Bell suffered multiple knee injuries that essentially ended his NBA career by his second season. A lot of the guys above have either morphed into all-stars (Billups, Kidd, Russell, Wall), or had the trajectory of their carer tangibly altered by injury (Bell, Fultz, Knight). Really, Smith is the only player that looks like a bust. Lewis’ production is about as elite as you’ll find from someone his age against a high competition level.

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Having said that, a big reason I like Lewis is the versatility with which he can play within scheme. Because he’s a good pull-up shooter out of ball-screens, scorer, and passer, you can play him on ball. His speed in transition will make you want to quickly outlet the ball to him as well in order to try to get early offense. But the thing with Lewis is that he can also work well with others. If you’re a team with a big initiator, like Milwaukee with Giannis Antetokounmpo or Dallas with Luka Doncic, he’s a good fit. You could even play him in Phoenix with Devin Booker well. The reason this works is that Lewis is a terrific shooter off the catch. He hit about one 3 per game this year off the catch, making those shots at a 61.9 effective field goal percentage. The ability to be effective as a part of an offense without the ball in your hands is enormous in this day and age, where the best players in the league tend to be big wings who can get their own shot and run 50 pick-and-rolls per game themselves. Lewis has that skill to play as both a primary lead, and a secondary guy.

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