NBA Blog

One got 6 years, $126 million, the other got 5 years $57 million.  They both play the same position.

One has been in the league 9 seasons and is 27 years old, the other has been in the league 6 seasons and is 25 years old.

One played 60 games last season and averaged 39.2 minutes per game, the other played in 72 games and averaged 36.7 minutes per game.

One averaged a career-high 22.4 points per game last season on 46% shooting, while the other averaged a career-high 18.1 points per game on 50% shooting. 

If you did not know by now, the first player is Rashard Lewis and the second is Gerald Wallace.

Let’s take a better look at last season’s statistics:

Lewis -     39.7 mpg     46% shooting     6.6 rpg     2.4 apg     1.1 spg     0.7 bpg     22.4 ppg
Wallace -  36.7 mpg     50% shooting     7.2 rpg     2.6 apg     2.0 spg     1.1 bpg     18.1 ppg

Now, I did not list the fact that Rashard Lewis shoots about 12 percentage points higher than Wallace does from beyond the arc.  I also did not list the fact that Lewis is, at best, an ole’ defender while Wallace is one of the better defensive small forwards in the league.  Wallace also does a much better job of attacking the rim.  Despite the fact that Wallace is about 2 inches shorter, he averages more rebounds per game, which further shows his toughness. 

In case you were wondering, take a look at the stats for Lewis after his sixth season:

36.6 mpg     43% shooting     6.5 rpg     2.2 apg     1.2 spg     0.7 bpg     17.8 ppg

Aside from the increase in scoring, Lewis has been the exact same player statistically for about 5 years.  He will not dominate a game in any category, yet he is earning twice the amount of money that Wallace will earn.  I do not understand that, especially when Wallace is further along the curve than Lewis was after his sixth season.  The Magic chose to spend all of their money on Lewis this offseason, instead of spending their money on Wallace and Millicic.  Last time I checked two players were better than one, after all, this is a five person game.  The other thing that kills me about this deal is the fact that the Magic already have the same type of player, a much lesser version no doubt but still the same player, in Hedo Turkoglu.  Hedo is a 6′10″ three point shooter who plays little to no defense.  What was Lewis again? 

Look, I’m not knocking Rashard Lewis.  I like him both on and off the court (my limited sources have said he’s a great guy).  He’s young, talented, and a rare commodity (a tall athlete with a sweet shooting stroke).  But there is absolutely now way that he deserved that contract.  I think the Magic just would not know what to do with themselves if they were not severly overpaying a player to the point that it hamstrung all of their options for the foreseeable future.  (Read Grant Hill).  It is just totally absurd that Lewis would get that much money, more than any other player this summer.  The Magic would have been fine re-signing Millicic, Howard, Nelson, and Ariza and rolling over some of their cap money into next summer when players that are true franchise players become available.  Instead, the Magic have made themselves a middle of the pack team in the Eastern Conference that will not be good enough to go the distance.  Hope Lewis is enough to win over those Billy Donovan fans who are stuck with season tickets. 

In case you were wondering who you would probably spend $126 million on, I’m guessing it is this guy (well, eventually)

Urban Watch:  I was in San Antonio a few weeks ago, and I had the opportunity to spend the day with my old teammate/friend, Jerheme Urban.  Jerheme is still living the D-III dream.  He’s on the Cowboys roster, and according to him (and this), he has a great shot at making the team.  Hopefully, he will make the squad and I will get to hear some more great stories about his continuous efforts to have Jerry Jones recognize him on the golf course.  (Someday, I will tell you guys the story also).

For now, let’s just relish in the fact that my man scored his first (and only thus far) NFL touchdown on Monday Night Football.  

Every once in a while while scouring the Summer League rosters, I see long lost college stars that never quite made to the NBA.  Then, once in a blue moon, I discover something far more interesting, players that I actually played well against while growing up in San Antonio.  This always makes me feel good, in an I-need-something-because-I-never-really-achieved-the-success-I-was-hoping-for-and-now-feel-aged-and-diminished-athleticly type of way.  This feeling began when I had the opportunity to watch Devin Brown succeed as a Spur.  Brown was a star in the San Antonio high school sports scene when I was entering my junior year in high school.  We had the opportunity to play West Campus at our house that year.  Brown showed up wearing the Horace Grant blue rec-specs, and we immediately wrote him off.  We also had a 6′9″ center who was hoping to garner some area recognition by shutting Brown down.  Well, Devin went for something like 40 points, at least that’s how I remember it.  I guarded Devin for about 1 minute and 33 seconds, and he did not score on me.  It’s pathetic, I know, but at this point, I’ll take whatever recognition I can get. 

Two summers ago, I was watching some Summer League games and I discovered a player that I played many games against in high school.  His name was Steven Barber and he was playing for the New York Knicks.  I watched that game intently, and Barber played very well.  In fact, he played well enough to earn a preseason roster spot with the Knicks.  He did not make the roster, and I failed to pay too much attention to what he was doing.  The story does not end there however.  Earlier this morning, when I should have been working, I was checking out the 2007 Pepsi Summer League rosters.  During my search, I was happy to see that Steven Barber was once again on the NBA radar.  He is currently on the Orlando Magic summer league roster.  He did not play in the first game (check the box score), but I will be watching the Magic box scores in the hopes that Barber will get some run. 

You see, I went to a high school that was in the same district as Barber’s high school, and we were in the same class year.  Therefore, I played against Steven two times per year.  His high school was much more talented than ours, and they always killed us in basketball.  During our freshman year, we were both the leading scorers for our teams.  He was the point guard, he was probably 5′5″ at the time, and I was our power forward.  They ran a 2-3 zone against us, which always suprised me, because they easily could have manned up on us.  (It did not matter, they beat us by 30 every time).  However, I was able to find all kinds of holes in their zone at the high post, and averaged 23 against them.  (I can only verify this, because when I was cleaning things out of my old room at my parents’ house, I found an old scrap book of newspaper clippings and other sports stuff that my dad kept for me).  We also met up in AAU games during the summer.  There were guys who were just as talented as Steven, both on his high school teams and his AAU teams, but for one reason or another, they disappeared off the radar.  Obviously, my game never fully developed (neither did my height, I think I grew one inch in high school) and I went on to be another anonymous Division III athlete (football and baseball), while Steven went on to be a star at UT-Arlington.  (Read more here).  It just feels good to know that some people that I played against have been able to continue playing and doing what they love to do.  Trust me, I would rather be pulling 1,000 jumpers a day than sitting at a desk. 

Recently, he has been bouncing around leagues (playing briefly in the new ABA, the USBL, and the NBDL last year), looking for a home and an opportunity to continue to play the game we all love.  I can only hope that he enjoys every second of his journey, and the people here at nbahoops.blog.com (me) will be rooting for him and keeping a watchful eye on his career.