Part Three: Jai Lewis
 | Part One: Seeking Cinderella Part Two: Lamar Butler • Part Four: Tony Skinn |
 Jai Lewis Team: Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan Location: Ramat Gan, Israel Hometown: Aberdeen, Md. Ht./Wt.: 6-7/275 Position: Forward |
Even before Lewis arrived at Portsmouth, he had drawn interest from scouts. NFL scouts, that is.
Lewis, who at 6-foot-7 generally was considered too small to play his natural position of power forward in the NBA, intrigued those who had watched former college basketball stars like Antonio Gates and Marcus Pollard flourish in the NFL as tight ends. Lewis had played football in high school and wanted an opportunity to play it again.
The New York Giants gave him that chance.
Lewis signed a free-agent contract that included a $5,000 bonus and headed for the team's training camp. One night, he called Butler. Lewis told him the workouts started at 6 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m.
"Wow," Butler said. "You couldn't pay me to do that."
A few days later, Lewis called again.
"I can't do this no more," Butler recalled his former teammate saying.
Without explanation, the Giants announced that Lewis had left the team. A few weeks later, he found himself running four miles through the mountains of Bosnia and then practicing for another three hours. He'd signed a contract with KK Bosnia, a team that competes in the Adriatic League and has a training regimen that made Lewis long for NFL training camp.
But his contract for $8,000 a month provided incentive to stay.
"Make it through the first year on one team," his agent told him.
Lewis tried, but he lasted only six weeks. The team decided he was too small to play power forward, even in the European leagues, and released him from his contract. In October, shortly after returning to Maryland, Lewis was headed back overseas, this time to play for Maccabi Ironi Ramat-Gan in Israel.
He called Butler again.
"You got to check this out," Lewis said, directing him to YouTube. It was a video Lewis posted of himself dunking on some poor Israeli. Lewis, always on the portly side, looked lean and mean.
Despite safety concerns, Lewis said he felt at home in Israel, where no one asked him to run four miles through the mountains or work out from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lewis would say only that he makes more than $5,000 a month. He likes the Israelis, too – well, except for the basketball referees.
"They're horrible," he said. "It's like they never played basketball."
He said he has adjusted to the routine checkpoint stops and metal detector searches at the entry of most grocery stores and malls where security guards stay on the lookout for suicide bombers. He also has grown accustomed to watching the young soldiers carrying their rifles.
Upon turning 18, Israelis must serve in the Army, and Lewis said some of his teammates bring their M16s to practice.
"They say if they lose their weapon, they go from five years [of military service] to 10," Lewis said.
Ten years might seem like a long time, but Lewis could end up spending that much time playing basketball overseas and never make more than $100,000 per year. His agent is trying to get him a spot in the NBA summer league. But his only serious chance of making it big, or in the NBA, is if he proves he's big enough to play against the world's top power forwards as a member of one of the top European teams.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the dog. Anything is possible as long as you keep working hard," Lewis said. "That's one thing the Final Four has taught me."
