Don’t blame Rashard Lewis
So Rashard Lewis apparently has become the poster boy in these NBA labor talks, the symbol of a system gone haywire.
First, it wasn’t Lewis’ fault that the Magic grossly overpaid him in 2007 to the tune of 8 million over six seasons.
Would you turn down that money?
Lewis told reporters recently, “You sign me to a deal, you think I’m going to say, ‘No, I deserve [million] instead of [million]?’ I’m like, ‘Hell, yeah.’ I’m not going to turn it down. You can’t blame the players. If anything, we don’t negotiate the deal. We’ve got agents that negotiate the deals with the team. Y’all need to go talk to the teams and the agents.”
The Magic were doing everything to build a title team around Dwight Howard, and went to extremes: They promised Lewis max money and a sixth season.
The headline on an ESPN story reads, “Why lockout is all about Rashard Lewis.”
Really?
Secondly, forget about Lewis.
If you want a true poster boy for excess, start with Juwan Howard. Then pause at Alonzo Mourning.
In the maddening summer of ‘96, the period inwhich the Magic lost Shaq, the Miami Heat offered Howard an outrageous seven-year, 1 million contract — the highest in NBA history.
The deal was voided because the Heat violated salary-cap rules (long story). As it turned out, Mourning officially became the game’s first 0-million player, as the Heat had agreed with ‘Zo before the Howard deal.
Now everybody knows Howard — who stayed in Washington for 5 million over seven seasons — never could live up to those Monopoly-like numbers.
Mourning was a perennial all-star, sure, but the point is this: Owners were corrupting the system long before it got around to overpaying Rashard Lewis.
Any wonder why they say it’s broken now?
Actually, history repeated itself, as Lewis has become a modern-day Howard.
And by the way, the craziness just continued: The Wizards handed Gilbert Arenas 1 million over six years.
How’d that work out?
In the irony of ironies, the Magic and Wizards traded liabilities last season — Lewis’ play was rapidly declining, Arenas had a P.R. problem after a lockeroom gun incident in D.C.
Instead of being weighed down by Lewis’ mammoth deal (which runs one year less than Arenas’), the Magic are stuck with Gilbert’s -million-a-year albatross.
The owners — including the Magic’s Rich DeVos — never stopped themselves 15 years ago from overpaying and escalating an arms race.
The fact that Juwan Howard was the first player offered 0 million gives them no soapbox to stand on and cry about Rashard Lewis.
