RealGM

Greetings everyone. First time poster, long time reader. Since his time in Memphis may be done, and there's a good chance we lose Evan Fournier to a ridiculously overpriced contract offer from another team...how about Lance Stephenson? He played well for the Griz in his short stint (14.2 ppg, 4.4 rebs). He can score, he can defend, has some playmaking ability. Besides being enigmatic at times, he could bring much needed toughness to our team. Playing for Vogel could be a draw. Your thoughts?

If Orlando go with Gordon at SF, Stephenson could be a quality backup for Orlando. I am not sure that is the role he would expect.

Before we trade for Meeks i was on board. Now.. not so much.

just what we need, another ballhoging player who can't shoot. Dream team- Payton- Lance-Marble-Gordon- Deadmon all NBA can't shoot team

magicshow75 wrote:Greetings everyone. First time poster, long time reader. Since his time in Memphis may be done, and there's a good chance we lose Evan Fournier to a ridiculously overpriced contract offer from another team...how about Lance Stephenson? He played well for the Griz in his short stint (14.2 ppg, 4.4 rebs). He can score, he can defend, has some playmaking ability. Besides being enigmatic at times, he could bring much needed toughness to our team. Playing for Vogel could be a draw. Your thoughts?

If we re-sign Fournier and don't bring in a free agent SF (eg Parsons, Batum, Barnes etc), then that will most likely see Gordon start at SF. In this scenario our rotation would involve Watson (PG), Meeks (SG) and Hezonja (SF) unless we make any moves in free agency or make any trades to improve the bench that would shift these players to another position or place on the depth chart (eg Hezonja backing up Fournier at SG, with Meeks as third on the depth chart).

Would Stephenson fit in this rotation? I think he could because if he slides in at SG, we would have Watson and Hezonja who can knock down three point shots. Equally if he slots in at SF, we would have Watson and Meeks (or Hezonja), again we have players who can knock down three point shots to create space for someone like Stephenson who is not the best or most consistent shooter. Obviously we would need to make sure one of our PF and C can shoot, and that line ups including our starters don't lead to lacklustre shooting line ups (eg. Payton, Stephenson, Gordon, ?, Dedmon could be problematic). Overall if he is willing to take a team friendly contract (I doubt he would earn south of Meeks), then I would have no major issue slotting him into the rotation if Vogel believes he can get the best out of Stephenson. However, I would personally look elsewhere and try to find someone that offers better shooting and can play defense.

Orlandipo wrote:Before we trade for Meeks i was on board. Now.. not so much.

Meeks at back-SG and Stephenson at back-up SF makes a court time issue for Hezonja.

..

drsd wrote:

Orlandipo wrote:Before we trade for Meeks i was on board. Now.. not so much.

Meeks at back-SG and Stephenson at back-up SF makes a court time issue for Hezonja.

..

Or Aaron cause I don't believe Aaron will be starting at SF due to lack of shooting and being a bad shooter in general.

Or even both. Yeah, when I think of it, that would be less minutes for both Mario and Aaron.

Two years ago, I say yes all day.

Von Bismarck wrote:

drsd wrote:

Orlandipo wrote:Before we trade for Meeks i was on board. Now.. not so much.

Meeks at back-SG and Stephenson at back-up SF makes a court time issue for Hezonja.

..

Or Aaron cause I don't believe Aaron will be starting at SF due to lack of shooting and being a bad shooter in general.

Or even both. Yeah, when I think of it, that would be less minutes for both Mario and Aaron.

Meeks is a 3rd stringer , dont worry about him eating peoples minutes. Hes there to hit 3s in oractice to aggrivate our 1st tstring guys into player better perimeter D

seeingstars wrote:Meeks is a 3rd stringer , dont worry about him eating peoples minutes. Hes there to hit 3s in oractice to aggrivate our 1st tstring guys into player better perimeter D

Meeks is alright. Stephenson or another non-star wing would be stupid to add.

I said this in another thread, but if Vogel were to meet with him and sign off, I'd absolutely be in. He would be more willing to come off the bench, gives us another playmaking guard and doesn't take away PT from other players. He can also create for others and himself, something we really need now. If he legitimately has his head on straight, he could be a huge get for us. Also, I'm glad we got Meeks, but let's not overvalue him here. He may be our backup two guard, but if we have the opportunity to get someone better, we will. We acquired him for a conditional 2nd rounder.

I'd do it. First off, Meeks is a guy who will be cheering for us most nights. Lance would probably hybrid as the 1 off the bench with a guy like Mario who can also initiate offense. It would not affect Marios PT.

If we wanted to run a huge backcourt with two guys who can run point, this would be awesome. The only reason I like this is because Vogel is the coach, and the Magic need to make gambles like this now and then to find a star player unconventionally.

How would he not take away PT from other players?

If we brought Stephenson, you'd have

Fournier/Meeks/Stephenson
Gordon/Hezonja

Out of 96 swingman minutes, please explain how would we distribute those minutes on these 5 guys?

Von Bismarck wrote:How would he not take away PT from other players?

If we brought Stephenson, you'd have

Fournier/Meeks/Stephenson
Gordon/Hezonja

Out of 96 swingman minutes, please explain how would we distribute those minutes on these 5 guys?

Because Meeks would probably not play much at all. So that is 4 guys.

Additionally based on history, Vogel likes to run 2 SG lineups in the backcourt. So you would have a bench of Mario and Lance at the 1 and 2.

PennytoShaq wrote:

Von Bismarck wrote:How would he not take away PT from other players?

If we brought Stephenson, you'd have

Fournier/Meeks/Stephenson
Gordon/Hezonja

Out of 96 swingman minutes, please explain how would we distribute those minutes on these 5 guys?

Because Meeks would probably not play much at all. So that is 4 guys.

Additionally based on history, Vogel likes to run 2 SG lineups in the backcourt. So you would have a bench of Mario and Lance at the 1 and 2.

I would prefer evan turner instead of stephenson

Von Bismarck wrote:How would he not take away PT from other players?

If we brought Stephenson, you'd have

Fournier/Meeks/Stephenson
Gordon/Hezonja

Out of 96 swingman minutes, please explain how would we distribute those minutes on these 5 guys?

I don't see Meeks playing, in fact I see Hezonja playing at least 30mpg splitting minutes at the 2 and 3. Why I think he'll get his playing time is because I read from OS, IIRC, that Henni and Skiles also had a disagreement on how to handle rookies. Henni wanted rookies to play a lot of minutes. So I think Hezonja will get his PT this year so that he can develop further.

PennytoShaq wrote:

Von Bismarck wrote:How would he not take away PT from other players?

If we brought Stephenson, you'd have

Fournier/Meeks/Stephenson
Gordon/Hezonja

Out of 96 swingman minutes, please explain how would we distribute those minutes on these 5 guys?

Because Meeks would probably not play much at all. So that is 4 guys.

Additionally based on history, Vogel likes to run 2 SG lineups in the backcourt. So you would have a bench of Mario and Lance at the 1 and 2.

Exactly. Stephenson can play anywhere from the 1-3. Fournier can play the 2-3. Mario can play the 2-3 and at least bring the ball up when needed. Gordon plays the 3-4. We put the guys out there that are playing the best on a given night. I'm not sure if the Magic will go after Stephenson, but he wouldn't hurt people's playing time. Do we really want to depend on Meeks who barely played last year?

To add, I'm not praying we sign Lance. I just think it would be interesting considering the guy is young and flourished under Vogel.

That being said, he is also insane.

Well, I'm not against Lance per se, but I'm up if Meeks is ready to toss the towels.

But yeah, as the poster above said, he's also mental. It might work out well after all

No.