Dwight Lewis

Lewis just graduated from USC, where last year he was both their leading scorer and best defender. (Marcus Johnson gambled a bit too much for my liking.) He's 6'5, athletic, fundamentally sound and strong, with all the physical tools to be such a defender at the next level. However, while he was the team's leading scorer, he wasn't a particularly good one. Lewis scored 13.8 points per game, but used 36mpg to do so, and shot less than 40% from the field. He is not a good outside shooter or ball-handler, and is a finisher not a creator. This is evidenced in those senior year numbers; as the supporting cast around him got worse, his offensive production went down, not up. His decent defense won't be enough on it's own. Even Trenton Hassell was a scorer once, both at Austin Peay and in his rookie year. (He really was. His knuckleball jumpshots used to go in. They quickly stopped doing so.)

Dwight Lewis

Lewis stuck at USC for his senior season, despite the desolation of the franchise right now due to the Tim Floyd incident. That was noble. However, that magnanimity didn't help his performance. On a much weakened USC roster, Lewis struggled offensively, averaging 13.8 ppg but doing so in 36 mpg and on sub-40% shooting. Lewis also doesn't have much range on his jumpshot - it's OK from mid range, but he struggles from farther than that, and shot only 30% from three on the season. He also turned it over too much and recorded a PER of only 12. Lewis is a good defensive player, but not good enough of one. (It's the old Ahearn rationale again.)