Kira Lewis' former coach: 'He’s a low-maintenance, high-reward kid'

Alabama assistant coach Antoine Pettway has watched Lewis blossom from college basketball's youngest active player into a potential lottery pick.

With less than a month remaining until the NBA Draft, Valley Tales will publish a series of profiles on prospects that could be a fit for the Suns, featuring exclusive interviews with a college coach or personal trainer. 

These are the people who discovered and recruited these players, who were around them every day, who observed their development into a potential lottery pick. Sure, these coaches/trainers want to support their guy, but I also generally found them to be honest about where their player needed to improve to have a successful NBA career.

Kira Lewis Jr. is another intriguing point-guard because of his speed and upside. He finished high school a year early, making him a 19-year old with two seasons as a college starter under his belt. Though Lewis is projected to go later than the Suns’ current pick at No. 10, he told Forbes last week that he has spoken to Phoenix twice. 

“That’s my guy,” Alabama assistant Antoine Pettway said. “If Phoenix gets him, man, y’all are getting a rock star. That kid is going to be special.” 

Pettway’s responses are edited for length and clarity. 

First impression

He was a ninth grader when I first saw him play. I kept hearing rumblings up in the Huntsville area about this new little guard that’s really quick and fast and he’s gonna be really, really good. They were having this big Thanksgiving tournament, so I decided to drive up there. He was actually playing against another kid that was a junior or a senior, but he ended up going to Michigan State, Josh Langford. I watched (Lewis) play and I’m like, “Dang, this ninth grader is gonna be really good.” Kira was basically holding his own against a guy who was older than him and was really, really good. Josh Langford was a top-20 player in the country, and Kira was kind of unknown at the time. We got a chance to get to build a relationship from then. He came to a couple basketball camps here, and every time I would watch him play in the summertime AAU (circuit), he showed his quickness and his scoring ability and his IQ. We just kept developing a relationship. 

We got to his junior year, and he’s such a good student, he was ahead in classes. His mom was like, “He’s pretty much done everything in high school. If he plays another year of high school, what’s he averaging, 40 points? I’d rather him go to college, come to the SEC and start getting ready to be challenged and hopefully be a pro one day.” When she said it, I’m gonna be honest with you, I was like, “What? No, man. This kid’s got a chance to be a (McDonald’s All-American).” I fought her on it. I’m like, “You’ve got to let him play his senior year.” I knew he was going to dominate, because he had a really, really good junior year where he averaged a bunch of points and then he had a great AAU season. Me and her are going back and forth, and I’m like, “No, Natasha, he needs to go to high school for that senior year.” She finally convinced me. She was like, “Listen, we’re going to college. So y‘all better make room, or we’re gonna be going somewhere else.” When I heard those words, it was like, “OK, I’m not gonna talk to you about it again.” It was a great decision. 

He had played in the summertime (after his junior season) and really, really tore up the EYBL. He put himself on the map as one of the best, if not the best, point guard in the Southeast. He ended up going up to the skills academy up in Santa Barbara, where all the top Nike kids go to work out, and he announced that he was coming to Alabama a year early. He got here as the youngest kid in the SEC, and as soon as he stepped on campus, his confidence, you could just see it in him. I was expecting to be like, “I’ve got to protect him” and it’s gonna take a little adjustment from him going from his junior year of high school to being a freshman in the SEC. When that kid stepped on campus, it was a seamless transition. He worked his tail off. One thing about him, he’s a gym rat. But he had this confidence that he knew he was the baddest dude, even though he was so young. He knew he was the baddest dude on the court every time he stepped out there. A lot of people say he’s quiet, man, but he’s confident. He’s super confident, and I think he gets a lot of his confidence and his conviction from his work ethic. That’s my little dude. I love this little joker. He’s a baller. 

Strengths

First and foremost, I think it’s his speed. From one end line to the other one with the ball, he’s got to be one of the fastest players in the draft. He’s a guy that knows how to score. He can finish. He can shoot the ball. I’m gonna tell you, what people don’t understand is how good of a shooter he really is. He did so much for us with the ball in his hands, getting shots for everybody else, that we didn’t really get him a lot. We had another dude that could really just get up shots. But catch-and-shoot 3s, he can really, really shoot the ball. He’s a guy that I think’s gonna surprise a lot of teams on how well he shoots it. 

Biggest improvement at Alabama

This season, just watching his passing and his IQ just go to a whole ‘nother level. He would literally come off screens and just be toying with defenders and waiting on them to make their move and just, boom, (he’s) by a guy. His passing and his IQ was off the charts this year for us. He’s so fast, I think when he was younger, if anybody ever pressed up in him, it was like, boom, I’m gone. This past year, I saw him blow by guys, stop, let the guy make his decision. I saw him toy with defenders.

Underrated trait

The one underrated thing about him, because he’s so quiet and he’s got this great demeanor about him, he is a dog, now. He is a dog. He literally expects to win every single matchup he has. He’s gonna work his tail off. There’s two things he’s gonna do. He’s gonna watch basketball, and he’s gonna get in the gym and he’s gonna play. He’s one of those dudes you gotta pull out of drills, like, “Hey, man. You just played 35 minutes two days ago. Let’s get you out of this drill.” But he loves it. 

Game that captures Lewis

The Auburn game here, when he was matched up with Isaac Okoro 1-on-1 (and scored 25 points). I think that’s a game that, if you watched him play, you could see his confidence, his scoring ability, how amped he was to play that game. I would say the Kansas State game, when we played Bruce Weber and his team here (26 points). The Georgia game, when he was going against Anthony Edwards, he wound up with almost 40 points (37) and kind of just took the game over. He had a tremendous year. Then you have the Auburn game at Auburn. We lost, but he had a triple-double (10 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds). I would probably say the game here versus Auburn. They were undefeated, No. 4 in the country, and he was matched up against another guy who’s probably gonna be in the lottery in Isaac Okoro. He was not losing that matchup. Point-blank. Period. I told him that’s who was gonna guard him, and he accepted the challenge and played his tail off. 

Next developmental step

His age is such a benefit to him. Most guys his age are just completing their freshman year, or some of them are even just coming out of high school. You got a kid that’s that age that has played two legitimate years of high-major basketball where he was the starting point guard night in and night out (and) having to guard guys. But you’re getting a kid that age that has tremendous experience at that spot, and still has the upside of being that young. In the NBA, as his body gets bigger and with all the spacing they have, he’s gonna be a problem. I think he’s gonna be a guy after we talk about this draft that it’s gonna be like, “Man, this kid was a steal.” 

Ideal NBA fit

With him, it’s interesting, because he gets along with everybody. I would say a team that has a great culture. He’s gonna work on his game. He’s gonna work out. He’s a great kid. But he’s a guy who’s gonna do that regardless. I’ll put it to you like this. He worked out at 6 in the morning on his own. I started showing up early to work out, and probably the next two or three weeks, he had the whole team in there with him. I want to say it’s got to be a great culture, but he’s a guy that’s gonna do what he does regardless, and he’s gonna bring guys with him, too. The ideal setting would be … I don’t really know, to be honest with you. Because he’s a guy that I think, from Day 1, is gonna be able to get minutes and play, just with his speed, with (the) spacing in the NBA. I think if he had a couple of veteran guys around him that could show him the ropes, maybe that’s in the lineup that can tell him what to expect, because that point guard position is a difficult position. Just having guys around that’s played in the league, they don’t need to be a 15-year veteran, but guys that have been through the wars of the NBA that can tell him what’s coming down the pipeline. He’s a guy that’s gonna study film. He’s doing that. He’s gonna play every single day. He’s gonna work on his craft every single day. And he’s gonna be a guy the coaches love to coach, because he’s never gonna be disrespectful. You can coach him up. He wants to get better. He’s hungry to get better. I think a situation where he’s gonna be pushed and he’s gonna be challenged (would be great), because I think he (responds) in those situations. 

Personality

If you say anything about this kid, this is what I always describe him as. I describe him to his mom this way. I describe him to every NBA team I talk to about him: He’s a low-maintenance, high-reward kid. He don’t look for nothing. He don’t want no extra benefits. He don’t want nothing but to be just treated like everybody else. But he’s gonna bust his ass for you. He’s gonna go the extra mile. He’s one of the guys we never had to worry about being where he was supposed to be on time. If it’s class, if it’s practice, wherever he was supposed to be, Kira Lewis was gonna be there. With him being as talented as he is, sometimes you expect for him to have a little more butthole about him. But it’s not in him. His mom, his dad, his family, they raised this kid right. He’s super respectful. He’s gonna be so low-maintenance. He’s gonna get extra work in. He’s gonna do what he’s supposed to do. But then, when you put him under those lights in that game, he’s gonna excel, man. And he’s gonna expect to excel. He’s a quiet, confident kid. I had Collin (Sexton during his Alabama career). Collin’s gonna let you know about it, like, argh. This kid (Lewis), he’s gonna just smile at you and try to go get 30. They’ve both got that dog in them. This kid, he’s like a quiet assassin. As good of a basketball player he is, whatever organization gets him, they’re getting a better person. And that’s being as real as a I can be. Whatever organization gets Kira Lewis, they’re better for it once he steps into that program. I’m talking from experience. He made us better from the first day he stepped on campus. 

Suns draft prospect profiles

Tyrese Haliburton (with Iowa State assistant Daniyal Robinson)
Desmond Bane (with TCU assistant Ryan Miller)
Killian Hayes (with skills development trainer Tyshawn Patterson)
Obi Toppin (with Dayton assistant Ricardo Greer)
Jalen Smith (with Maryland coach Bino Ranson)