Lewis Clinch

Lewis Clinch had a very strong Maui tournament doing what he does best, but his contributions didn’t go much farther than his ability to score the basketball. Clinch has quickly stepped into the role of go-to guy in this his sophomore season at Georgia Tech, and so far he’s shown good consistency and ability scoring the basketball.

Clinch does most of his scoring from mid and long-range, with the most impressive thing about his scoring being his ability to maintain his balance on the move. Whether he’s coming off a curl, taking the ball off one or two dribbles, or hitting a spot-up jumper on the move, Clinch is excellent at keeping his body upright, keeping his legs beneath him, and maintaining a consistent shooting motion, often allowing him to put up high-percentage long range shots in the blink of an eye. With solid form and a high release point, this allows Clinch to get lots of opportunities to put the ball in the air, and so far he’s been knocking shots down with regularity. Clinch does have a tendency to put up some contested shots that he probably shouldn’t, and is definitely at his best playing off the ball when someone else is creating for him.

Clinch also has a bit of a mid-range game with a floater in the lane and the ability to pull-up off the dribble, but this is not his forte. He also rarely takes the ball all the way to the hole, and is much more comfortable shooting the jumper.

Defensively, Clinch is inconsistent, occasionally playing good fundamental defense and moving his feet, but at other times lagging to fight through screens or just not putting in the effort to stay in front of his man.

At 6’3, Clinch doesn’t show much in terms of point guard abilities, though he does make some nice post entry passes from the wing. Still, he hasn’t shown an ability to run an offense, and it looks as if his future will be at shooting guard. With the NBA’s recent tendency to go towards more quicker, smaller guards, Clinch may have a chance, but he first will likely need to work on developing a more well-rounded game.