NBA Draft: Maxwell Lewis is a Worthwhile Gamble
For years, the “jumbo creator” has been the most coveted archetype in the NBA. Offensive catalysts who can efficiently score off-the-dribble in a multitude of ways and pass over the defense are nightmares for even the best to deal with. These players are rare, though, and typically rewarded with max contracts for their unique value.
Pepperdine’s Maxwell Lewis has fulfilled this role for the Pepperdine Waves at the college level. After earning WCC All-Freshman team honors last season, he’s taken a gigantic leap, averaging 19.4 points and 2.9 assists per game. The 6-foot-7 wing is also doing his scoring with a remarkably efficient 65.2 TS% which consists of 60.0% shooting from inside the arc and 43.8% shooting from behind it.
Consequentially, his draft stock has ballooned into lottery territory for many and for good reason. Great shooters with size, some ball skills, and defensive chops have a clear path to impact. However, most dribble-pass-shoot offensive prospects don’t average a wildly efficient near-20 points while initiating this much offense, which raises major questions regarding Lewis’ true ceiling as a potential volume creator at the next level.
Lewis approaches the game like a wizard, beating defenders by dictating their every move as if he’s cast the Imperius spell on them. He shrewdly moves defenders into exploitable spots to create an angle to attack.
What makes this method so effective is the range of angles Lewis can exploit, he really just needs to get his defender slightly out of position. His perplexing ankle flexibility allows him to bend low and propel himself in practically any direction off of either foot, including up into the air, from any prior position. It’s like he’s controlled by a joystick.
Most importantly, the 20-year-old sophomore understands how to take full advantage of these physical gifts to leave defenders in the dust, slither around them and sky above them to get his own.
In his post-up in the clip below, Lewis decides he’s going to fake a drop step to divert his man to the baseline, then spin back and shoot from closer to the middle of the floor. His execution is bewildering. His initial move is quite extreme for a fake — note how far he extends his right foot. Still, he’s able to swiftly counter it by pirouetting on the toes of his left foot and miraculously generating enough power to launch him in the opposite direction and trampoline himself upwards for an incontestable jumper. Many NBA players would injure themselves even attempting to do this, but the Pepperdine product is clearly unordinary.
In both of the plays in the clip below, Lewis brings his man to the middle of the paint, so he has enough space to fling himself into a flying drop-step layup. This isn’t a possibility for most player — but Lewis knows it is for him — so he pivots almost 180 degrees with his outside foot and simply goes for it.
In this next possession, he makes use of his beloved lightning-quick stutter rip to deceive his defender into jumping left, then gets low and catapults himself downhill. When Lewis goes, he really goes. His colossal strides churn as if someone is holding down the R2 button to activate his speed boost.
Below, Lewis uses his innovative handle to move his man. He starts by proactively getting into his patented wide cross and then zips in the other direction. When his defender recovers, he reacts by spinning back the other way to get a clean look, displaying how his bag of counters adds to his proactive style.
Lewis can also utilize his skillset to lunge backward to concoct open pull-ups from deep.
Enjoy this nice shot-creation montage if you please.
While Lewis is adept at shifting his defender with his handle, footwork and ball fakes, the contact he initiates to do so can have mixed results. He’s strong for his frame, but too often he does not have the brute power to bludgeon defenders the way he wishes, which can foil his plans during that possession.
Increased strength will allow him to expand upon his current technique of putting defenders where he wants them to be, and will also help him to cut off recovery attempts by beaten defenders.
Also, as potent as his handle can be, sometimes it’s loose and gets away from Lewis.
In general, Lewis excels at creating his own shot with a bevy of different methods. He’s undoubtedly extremely advanced in this area, but it only matters if he can finish these plays at a high rate.
Earlier, I mentioned Lewis’ incredible scoring efficiency this season, and a big part of that has been his ability to cash in on these self-created looks. Per Synergy Sports, his efficiency on “dribble jumpers” has ranked in the 74th percentile thus far and his efficiency at the rim has sat in the 96th, albeit with mediocre volume.
With how high he gets off the ground, contesting his pull-up jumpers is nearly unstoppable. He’s made 45.8% of these attempts from two and 34.4% of them from three, certainly a shot Lewis can rely on to get buckets out of every play type.
Just by virtue of being a monstrous one-foot leaper with size, Lewis is able to easily capitalize on the looks he creates at the rim with layups.
However, when he ends possessions with tougher finishes, he hasn’t found much success. Lewis’ touch in traffic and on high-speed finishes has been underwhelming. He’s shot a mere 36.4% on runners, and the misses don’t look great.
While this absence of elite touch will likely inhibit Lewis from ever becoming a top-tier NBA finisher, a lot of the negative impact this causes can be mitigated with development, once again in the weight room. Added bulk will allow him to attack the basket with the ferocity his athleticism should encourage rather than settling for these more difficult attempts. This would ignite a much-needed uptick to his current low free throw rate of 26.8%.
In order to warrant heavy on-ball usage at the next level, Lewis will have to be able to dissect a defense with his passing. It’s hard to pinpoint just how good of a facilitator he is, it all comes down to how one weighs the passes he does make vs. the ones he doesn’t.
On one hand, he misses a wide open teammate in transition here.
He fails to recognize the impending trap here and turns it over.
He also simply makes some puzzling decisions, to say the least.
Alternatively, Lewis can make passes like these.
In general, he can make the right reads, and even craft some flashy deliveries when looking to pass. The issue is that as of right now, he falls into stretches where he gets tunnel vision, and only assesses how he can score, viewing passing as a last resort. Given how he can break down defenses, the passing windows will be very large for Lewis, he just has to look to exploit them to be a facilitator in the league. He’ll have to evolve to be able to constantly weigh the value of passes vs. shots in every scenario, which is something he’s already flashed.
Overall, Lewis is one of the most skilled wing-sized prospects in recent memory. The Pepperdine star’s footwork, movement skills, handle and pull-up shooting make him a delight to watch, an enticing jumbo creator bet and gives him a clearer path to legitimate NBA stardom than all but a few guys in the 2023 Draft Class.
Want to join the discussion? Like Draft Digest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest NBA Draft news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.