Jai Lewis

Jai Lewis’s stock may have remained neutral, but that’s only because he doesn’t really have much stock to begin with. Nothing about his game really screams NBA prospect. At a massive 275 pounds while only 6’7, Lewis is a man among boys in the NCAA. He uses his power to bully opponents in the post on both offense and defense, though that’s pretty much the extent of his skill. All of his scoring in this game came as a direct result of brute strength, as he backed his man down to shoot an easy lay-up or beautiful jump-hook. He doesn’t have much in terms post moves other than backing his man down and putting up a routine shot or lay-up. He’s fairly effective in the NCAA with his tremendous strength advantage, but certainly won’t have that advantage in the NBA.

When matched against someone with above average length and athleticism, such as Florida PF Al Horford, Lewis’s offensive game is really exposed. Lewis wasn’t able to do anything against Horford when he wasn’t using his brute strength. With no advanced post moves to go to, Lewis had great trouble putting up high-percentage shot attempts when matched against Horford’s length. And this is talking about a college sophomore he was going against. He’ll be even more overmatched when up against the more experienced players in the NBA.

On the defensive end, it’s the same story with Lewis. Beyond his strength advantage, there’s not really much to rave about. He’s adverse to making lateral movement, so all you really need to do is dribble or spin to get around him. He won’t move his feet and he’ll watch as you lay the ball in the basket. He wouldn’t stand a chance against the inside-out power forwards in the NBA.

On the positive side, Lewis made some nice passes out of double teams and showed pretty good awareness on the offensive end. He is very strong, and he rebounds pretty well. He also has a decent touch around the basket and is able to take advantage of his strength to get in good post position. The problem is a lot of this won’t translate to the NBA and his weaknesses are so glaring that they won’t be overcome. There’s nothing about Lewis’ game that makes him stand out against the likes of J.P. Batista and Marco Killingsworth, two other 6’7 power forwards with tremendous strength, both of whom are fringe second round picks. Those two would have an uphill battle finding a niche in the NBA, so there’s not much hope for Lewis either.