<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The conversation inside the Sonics' locker room turned to Freaknik, the annual spring bash that drew hundreds of thousands of black college students and partygoers to Atlanta before being canceled several years ago. "Yeah, I remember that," forward Rashard Lewis said. "Never went. Never had a chance to. Too busy. Too busy playing ball." If he could do it all over again, Lewis, who said he never really had a chance to be a kid away from home, would have accepted a scholarship to Duke or Kansas and delayed his entry into the NBA. He wonders how his life might have been different if he hadn't decided to skip college and enter the 1998 draft. "At that time, you go (into the draft) because you feel have the ability to go," said Lewis, who was selected in the second round (No. 32 overall) by the Sonics. "But you never know how much stuff you miss out on until later on." Now 24 and playing in his sixth season with the Sonics, Lewis is fully aware that he is neither the first, most heralded, latest or worst in the long line of prepsters who turned pro. He falls somewhere in the middle of a fraternity that includes Bill Willoughby, Kobe Bryant, Kwame Brown and LeBron James, who makes his KeyArena debut at 7 p.m. today. More than any other Sonic, Lewis understands what James must be feeling as he navigates his rookie NBA season.</div> <font size="1">Full Story from Seattle Times writer Percy Allen.</font>
