Retrospective: The Top-10 Power Forwards in Orlando Magic History

1. Rashard Lewis

There is a lot of mixed sentiment regarding Rashard Lewis’ tenure in Orlando. 

It ended with a trade to the Washington Wizards for another player the Wizards wanted to amnesty (Gilbert Arenas). Both players were eventually amnestied, and that bitter end certainly taints one’s view of what Lewis did at his best in Orlando. 

While Lewis was playing with Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, he gave the Magic a tough frontcourt that other teams had trouble contending with.

But Lewis was not the player he would been with the Seattle Supersonics, and a lot of Magic fans expected that Lewis, not the one that simply camped out on the 3-point line and seldom put the ball on the floor. Lewis averaged more than 20 points per game in the 2007 season in Seattle, but he would begin to decline every season thereafter in Orlando.

Lewis stopped playing like a small forward and embraced the new role as a stretch-4, a concept Stan Van Gundy used to perfection. Lewis was a great player to pair with Howard, but because he came on a max contract fans expected him to continue to be an All-Star. He did in fact appear in both the 2005 and 2009 All-Star games, but Lewis was not the player he had been with the Sonics.

He had reinvented himself.

That is tough for some fans to understand, but when a player fills a niche perfectly, sometimes it comes at the sacrifice of playing a more defined role. 

Lewis was not even a tertiary playmaker with Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson doing most of the creative work within the offense. Lewis became a beneficiary of Howard, as did Turk, and being interchangeable at the 3/4 spots gave the Magic a big edge in matchups.

Other teams had to adjust to matchup with Orlando, but seldom did that work in reverse. It was primarily because Lewis could defend power forwards, despite his slight frame. He was good at keeping guys out of position and he was simply a different player as a power forward in Orlando. It is just that simple really.

Next: Honorary Mention; where current players sit