The father of Lakers rookie Maxwell Lewis admits that he had his hesitations when the Celtics called to make an offer during the NBA Draft.
The Los Angeles Lakers used the recently-concluded 2023 NBA Draft to add some much-needed young talent to their roster.
One of them came in the form of Maxwell Lewis, who LA picked up as the No. 40 overall pick. As it turns out, this was a
match made in heaven.
Maxwell’s father, Robert Lewis, recently spoke with Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times to share his experience during the
draft. Being a lifelong Lakers fan himself, Robert has been left in awe by the fact that his son is now a member of the team
he’s rooted for all these years:
“I’m blown away,” Robert said. “Still in shock. Because all during the process of him getting drafted and the processes of him
trying out for the teams, I never once said, ‘I hope he goes to the Lakers.’ I would’ve been asking too much. C’mon, Rob. Just
get him drafted. And when they said Lakers, man, I was like numb.
“It’s … it’s … it’s crazy. Hard to believe.”
Being a die-hard Lakers fan means that Robert also has some specific feelings about the Boston Celtics, who happen to be
LA’s fiercest rival. Robert revealed that his son actually got a call from the Celtics on draft night. Apparently, Boston wanted
to give Maxwell a two-way deal, which was not the most ideal situation for the former Pepperdine standout. His dad wasn’t
exactly jumping for joy as well:
“What flashed through my mind is ‘I don’t know if I can wear a Boston jersey … but I’ll take it,’” Robert said.
Obviously, Robert’s loyalty lies with the Lakers and he couldn’t imagine himself supporting his son if he ended up being a
Celtic. Fortunately for the Lewis family, they won’t need to go through that dilemma anymore.
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Ex-Miami Heat guard drops truth bomb on Boston Celtics
It’s been just under two months since the Boston Celtics went crashing out of the playoffs at the hands of the Miami Heat.
Boston battled back from an 0-3 hole, just to get blown out on their home floor in Game 7. It indeed was the most Celtics
way to get eliminated. Break down the fanbase, give them hope, then rip their hearts out.
Boston had a golden opportunity to make their second-straight trip to the NBA Finals and just couldn’t get the job done.
During a recent appearance on The Old Man and the Three podcast, former Miami Heat guard Gabe Vincent — who is now a
member of the Los Angeles Lakers — offered some insight into what went wrong for the C’s this spring.
“I think first off, Boston is a hell of a team and was a hell of a team these last two years,” Vincent told hosts JJ Redick and
Tommy Alter. “[Jayson] Tatum and [Jaylen] Brown raise a lot of havoc for the defense. It almost seemed like to me,
truthfully, they had something going on over there. Despite our game plan, so much has to go right to win in this league and
if you aren’t fully right internally, it shows in different ways.”
Were the Boston Celtics battling internal issues in the Eastern Conference Finals?
Probably, yeah. They sure played like it!
Vincent’s hypothesis that the Boston Celtics were having some other things going on in mid-to-late May might be pretty on
the money. Even without citing stories that have since surfaced, the team’s offseason decisions to part ways with a pair of
rotation staples in Marcus Smart and Grant Williams may tell quite a bit.
After yet another disappointing close to a season, Brad Stevens felt a need to change something.
In addition to Stevens’ actions so far this summer, anecdotes from The Athletic’s tell-all, which was published the day after
Game 7, would indicate that there was, indeed, some weird stuff going on.
None of which was more strange than Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck lighting the team up (deservedly so) after
they dropped Game 3 in Miami.
“With the season on the line following a 128-102 Game 3 loss to the eighth-seed Heat, Grousbeck came in hot,” Jared Weiss
and Jay King wrote. “After Grant Williams asked everyone to clear the room so the players could have some space,
Grousbeck went off. His message that he has been building this franchise for over 20 years and the players need to play with
some balls left the locker room stunned, several team sources who were in the room told The Athletic. The sources were
granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.”
With the massive changes made by the front office this offseason, hopefully, the “something going on” stays in 2022-23.
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