Rashard Lewis finds himself out of Miami Heat rotation: NBA News
Rashard Lewis joined Miami Heat this season along with his former Seattle SuperSonics team mate Ray Allen. One of the best sharp shooters in NBA, Lewis was brought in to bring depth to the Heat bench and has been faring pretty
well until he was suddenly cut down from the team rotation by head coach Erik Spoelstra.
Lewis was averaging 20 minutes a game in the first six outings, but with the return of Dwayne Wade and Mike Miller, Lewis’ playtime was considerably reduced, and the transition has now reduced him to the bench.
The forward averages 7.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game and has better than a 50 percent shooting average from the three point range in the 11 games he has played so far. But these stats have apparently not been enough for him
to earn Coach Erik Spoelstra’s nod in the last few games. As of now, Lewis averages 15 minutes per game but more importantly, he has not played a part in previous 96 minutes of action for the Heat, and it has been 2 games in a row where he was declared DNP-CD.
Lewis however has full confidence in the coach Spoelstra’s decision and said he knew he may have to sit on the bench when he signed up for Heat this summer on a 2 year contract.
“There’s a lot of talent on the bench, a lot of guys that can play any given night,” Lewis said. “So you’ve just always got to be ready when your name is called. And when your name’s not called, you’ve still got to be ready.”
He also added that the coach told him about the shift in advance;
“He said he’s going to change the lineup, the second unit for a little bit, trying to see what else he can do, work with some things, just be patient with him, just see what happens,” Lewis said.
Lewis got a window of opportunity at the beginning of the season and he has showed his coach how well he can perform. For now, he just needs to be patient and wait for his opportunity once again. That may come sooner than expected
given that Shane Battier has sprained a ligament in his right knee and is expected to be out for at least a week. This can pretty much force Coach Spo to play Lewis at starting number 4.
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