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Lewis wants to emerge from NBA shadows
Topic Started: Jul 16 2007, 10:05 PM (348 Views)
MAGICMANEVAN
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Magic's new guy wants to emerge from NBA shadows

He enters the tiny room for an appointment an hour before a news conference scheduled in his honor, filling up the doorway at 6 feet 10. He grins and extends a hand, strikingly polite and genuine, just as his mother's scouting report suggested.

"I'm Rashard," he said.

The No. 9 Orlando Magic jersey he wore for an in-house photo shoot already had given away his identity, of course.

Still, Rashard Quovon Lewis realizes formal introductions will be necessary for a while.

A nine-year NBA veteran, Lewis is a top-flight scorer, finishing last season with a 22.4 average. He hung a career-best 50 points on the L.A. Clippers in the 2003-04 season and became an all-star the season after that.

His name and game are largely a mystery in Orlando, though.

"They may have seen flashes of me on SportsCenter," he said.

What many Magic fans know about Lewis now is that he will make about $118 million -- and they really don't know what they are getting in this erstwhile free agent. Usually, a player making that kind of money doesn't need his resume Googled.

Lewis arrives as an unknown factor, his ability virtually a rumor here, the result of being based in the Pacific Time Zone with the Western Conference also-ran Seattle SuperSonics and playing in the shadow of Ray Allen.

It is not an entirely new feeling for him.

"Not just now, because I'm with a different team in Orlando, but I've always had that feeling ever since I was playing in Seattle or at least before I finally established myself," Lewis said. "I still have that feeling that a lot of people don't know me or recognize me.

"I feel like I have to continue to make a name for myself in the NBA."

He had to make up ground from the start as a second-round pick by the Sonics, often on the rebound after his entry as a Houston high school star backfired on a teary-eyed draft night in 1998.

He blossomed quietly in the Great Northwest as Allen's respected sidekick, vice presidential in stature, without widespread media acclaim or major endorsements.

Lewis thinks he is ready to be cast as a leading man on the floor and a community ambassador for the Magic. He wants to build a Ronald McDonald House here with a home theater for kids, as he did in Seattle.

He comes to Orlando still peaking as a player at 27, capable of carrying a team from the perimeter or the post.

He said he has matured as a person, still true to his family roots after being raised by a strong-willed mother and The Good Book Jesus. As anecdotal proof of his maturity, he sheepishly pointed to the large, dark tattoo on his left forearm. It is in the shape of the state of Texas. But he got it to blot out a previous tattoo of a cartoon character from his youth.

"It was time to cover up Marvin the Martian," he said.

At last, Rashard Lewis thinks the time -- and his timing -- is right for him to properly introduce himself.
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dhoward541524
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Love_Is_The_Movement
its very true. i don't really know how good he is, i just hear that is he. hope he lives up to it.
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ec23456
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I think all Magic Fans believe that dhoward541524
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Black and Blue
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Have You Hugged Your Van Gundy Today?
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For that money, and let me preface this by saying I love Lewis as a player,....he BETTER emerge from the shadows.
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GoMaGicVR6
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and he BETTER not get INJURED!
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iceveins333
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Rocks blocking shots on guys with dreadlocks
for the money we are giving him he better pull off a tmac like rise in these next few seasons
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