When you see stories of guys Quinn Cook, who work hard to make the NBA despite not having elite talent or, in Cook’s case, being somewhat undersized, it’s always moving. When he won his ring with Golden State, his coach, Steve Kerr, hugged him and expressed great pride in Cook’s having made it.
Later, he won another title with L.A., but he never really stuck. It wasn’t for lack of effort or character. He just wasn’t quite good enough. And when you look at the talent level in the NBA, very few people are.
That’s why it baffles people when guys who obviously do have the talent don’t make it. Earl Manigault. Chris Washburn. Pee Wee Reese. The Helicopter.
L.A. has produced some great players - Dennis Johnson, Kawhi Leonard and Reggie Miller among them - but few had the raw talent of Lewis.
He was drafted by Philadelphia in 1973 and reportedly outplayed Doug Collins rather significantly, but he was immature and was told to wait a year and come back. He tried the next year and the next, but never made the team. He tried to play in the ABA, but Philly blocked that.
Ultimately, he never played a game in the NBA, which is too bad. Three years after he was drafted, the ABA and NBA merged and Julius Erving became a 76er. The idea of those guys together is amazing.
Lewis died in 2001, a broken man. He had suffered for years from depression and alcoholism and had had a leg amputated, which must have been devastating for a man of his rare talents. He was just 48.
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