Michael "Mikey" Lewis 6'3" G 2024

Mike Cagley, C0-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

May 20, 2023

Mikey Lewis courtesy Mike Cagley, IlliniGuys

Mikey Lewis plays for the Oakland Soldiers as a lightning-fast guard. Watching him play, once a scout sees him go up and down the court, it’s hard not to imagine how much pressure he will put on a defense simply by forcing the opposing coach to assign someone to try and keep up with him. There are fast players and then there are "Mikey Lewis fast players".

There are two kinds of speed that are particularly beneficial on the basketball court:

1. Straight line speed. How fast can a player get from one end of the court to the other. Trust me, Mikey gets from here to there in no time flat.
2. Side-to-side speed. Many refer to this as quickness. Guess what? Mikey Lewis has quickness to go along with that straight line speed. He can switch directions and break ankles if a defender overcommits or if the defender is not quick enough to keep up.

There is one other skill that a guard needs to have which allows him to maximize the effectiveness of their speed advantage. That skill is ball handling. Mikey Lewis has that as well. His ball handling skills allow him to use his speed to create shot opportunities for himself and his teammates. He can dribble with the ball nearly as fast as he can run without the ball. When he gets going with the ball, he is noticeably faster than what fans are used to seeing when other players dribble the ball.

It’s not fair to compare a young player to a sure-fire Hall of Famer, but I am going to do so. Mikey’s game and even his shooting form is incredibly reminiscent of Golden State Warrior standout Steph Curry. As a Bay area player, Lewis can start his scoring from the outside, shooting 5 feet past the 3-point line and when a defender comes out to guard him, Lewis can blow by him and attacks the basket with runners or a myriad of layup types. He also uses his version of Steph's step back three pointer and has the capability to find the open man. In the games I watched, he found the open man but the bigs had a challenging day converting assists into points.

I see Lewis as a player who will be successful with any team he suits up for. He could use a bit more muscle, but a good strength and conditioning coach and age will help with that opportunity. His speed and shooting ability will keep him rising in the player rankings.

Lewis is averaging 19.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 27 minutes per game. He also shoots 43.9% from the field, 40.8% from the three-point line, and 86.4% from the free throw line.