We Are Stuck With Him - The Lance Stephenson Thread II

Liver_Pooty · Post #1161 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:31 am

Lol hes going to have to play better in more than 3 games for a thread title change. Doesn't change the fact that hes been pure garbage for 50 games or so.

Post #1162 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:09 pm

DY_nasty wrote:
Sik Infant wrote:
TheKingofSting wrote:If he keeps this up we may have to change the thread title.

Stuck by him-The Lance Stephenson thread II

people need to keep it 100

the vast majority of the board threw him under the bus less than a month into the season

He was literally the least valuable person in the league from the time he got here until the all star break. You had other writers exploring how terrible he was playing.

It's not throwing him under the bus if he's playing absolutely horrible after signing a near $10M per year deal, it's reality.

I mean the guy really isn't even playing all that great now compared to preseason expectations. Last game he was 4 - 9 from the field with two boards, three assists and three turnovers. He did have really nice games against Toronto and Detroit, but it's not like he's blown us away, it's just that our expectations are so low. The big difference is he actually looks engaged and motivated out there. I love that he seems to be turning things around, but how does it take almost five months for him to finally play that way? That's the guy we thought we were getting in the first place.

BeesWax · Post #1163 » by **BeesWax** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:25 pm

yosemiteben wrote:
DY_nasty wrote:
Sik Infant wrote:
Stuck by him-The Lance Stephenson thread II

people need to keep it 100

the vast majority of the board threw him under the bus less than a month into the season

He was literally the least valuable person in the league from the time he got here until the all star break. You had other writers exploring how terrible he was playing.

It's not throwing him under the bus if he's playing absolutely horrible after signing a near $10M per year deal, it's reality.

I mean the guy really isn't even playing all that great now compared to preseason expectations. Last game he was 4 - 9 from the field with two boards, three assists and three turnovers. He did have really nice games against Toronto and Detroit, but it's not like he's blown us away, it's just that our expectations are so low. The big difference is he actually looks engaged and motivated out there. I love that he seems to be turning things around, but how does it take almost five months for him to finally play that way? That's the guy we thought we were getting in the first place.

I disagree that he was the least valuable person in the league no matter what value you are referring to. If trade value then I think Deron Williams has less because of his terrible contract and number of years left and on court value he was better than Maxiell on our own team.

He was thrown under the bus early and then rumored to be traded until the deadline. It messed with his head and it appears he is finally digging out from under that. Hopefully he keeps getting better and we get back to close to what he was in Indy. He needs to get mentally tougher for sure but we did hit him hard very early for his play and for some of that he was dealing with a nagging injury.

Post #1164 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 2:03 pm

jdm3 wrote:I disagree that he was the least valuable person in the league no matter what value you are referring to. If trade value then I think Deron Williams has less because of his terrible contract and number of years left and on court value he was better than Maxiell on our own team.

I was referencing this article with the least valuable player statement - link

jdm3 wrote:He was thrown under the bus early and then rumored to be traded until the deadline. It messed with his head and it appears he is finally digging out from under that. Hopefully he keeps getting better and we get back to close to what he was in Indy. He needs to get mentally tougher for sure but we did hit him hard very early for his play and for some of that he was dealing with a nagging injury.

We didn't hit him any harder than we hit Kemba or Al or anyone else on the team. We were losing a ton of games, everyone was getting heat from fans. What made it hard was he literally could not hit a shot. I think fan or media pressure was a distant second to the fact that he could not put the ball in the damn basket. His shooting was atrocious.

Hornet Mania · Post #1165 » by **Hornet Mania** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 2:14 pm

I'll readily admit I bagged on Lance prior to the last three games, but I also praised him when he made a nice play in game threads. The problem was he sucked 98%(approx) of the time, not that anyone was looking for reasons to hate. I hope he keeps it up and is a key component to a successful playoff push, works hard in the summer and then rocks the house next season in his contract year.

I agree with yosemiteben that he was the last valuable player getting significant minutes this season up until the last few games. I'd even put him ahead (or behind, whatever) Deron because at least the Kings were rumored to take on Deron for expirings but BKN apparently wanted some real value in return. If Cho could have gotten expirings for Lance a month ago he would not be here. I hope he proves us all wrong and sets the league on fire these next 18 months, but you have to understand our skepticism too.

BeesWax · Post #1166 » by **BeesWax** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 3:26 pm

yosemiteben wrote:
jdm3 wrote:I disagree that he was the least valuable person in the league no matter what value you are referring to. If trade value then I think Deron Williams has less because of his terrible contract and number of years left and on court value he was better than Maxiell on our own team.

I was referencing this article with the least valuable player statement - link

jdm3 wrote:He was thrown under the bus early and then rumored to be traded until the deadline. It messed with his head and it appears he is finally digging out from under that. Hopefully he keeps getting better and we get back to close to what he was in Indy. He needs to get mentally tougher for sure but we did hit him hard very early for his play and for some of that he was dealing with a nagging injury.

We didn't hit him any harder than we hit Kemba or Al or anyone else on the team. We were losing a ton of games, everyone was getting heat from fans. What made it hard was he literally could not hit a shot. I think fan or media pressure was a distant second to the fact that he could not put the ball in the damn basket. His shooting was atrocious.

Lance got heat from fans, media and coaching. He was getting hit from all sides while some other players who were horrible slid by from everyone but us it seemed. Hopefully he will continue to improve and we can get something at least close to what he gave last year out of him down the stretch.

DY_nasty · Post #1167 » by **DY_nasty** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 7:36 pm

yosemiteben wrote:
jdm3 wrote:I disagree that he was the least valuable person in the league no matter what value you are referring to. If trade value then I think Deron Williams has less because of his terrible contract and number of years left and on court value he was better than Maxiell on our own team.

I was referencing this article with the least valuable player statement - link

jdm3 wrote:He was thrown under the bus early and then rumored to be traded until the deadline. It messed with his head and it appears he is finally digging out from under that. Hopefully he keeps getting better and we get back to close to what he was in Indy. He needs to get mentally tougher for sure but we did hit him hard very early for his play and for some of that he was dealing with a nagging injury.

We didn't hit him any harder than we hit Kemba or Al or anyone else on the team. We were losing a ton of games, everyone was getting heat from fans. What made it hard was he literally could not hit a shot. I think fan or media pressure was a distant second to the fact that he could not put the ball in the damn basket. His shooting was atrocious.

so we just gonna lie instead

okay

Post #1168 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 7:56 pm

DY_nasty wrote: so we just gonna lie instead

Not a lie. Al was getting crucified on here. Maybe you don't remember.

Ask folks what they thought about Marv. Or Maxiell. Or Cliff. Or Roberts. Or PJ.

Kemba shot 36.6% from the field and 26.5% from three on 4 attempts per game in November. That was noticed.

Pretty much the only guys that played well were Neal and Cody. MKG was out most of the early season.

BeesWax · Post #1169 » by **BeesWax** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:07 pm

yosemiteben wrote:
DY_nasty wrote: so we just gonna lie instead

Not a lie. Al was getting crucified on here. Maybe you don't remember.

Ask folks what they thought about Marv. Or Maxiell. Or Cliff.

Kemba shot 36.6% from the field and 26.5% from three on 4 attempts per game in November. That was noticed.

Pretty much the only guys that played well were Neal and Cody. MKG was out most of the early season.

Actually I believe you and Slam were protecting Al like he was your kid. I could be wrong about you but I thought you were one of them. People went as far as to threaten others who questioned how bad Al was playing. Kemba and Lance got hit the hardest and Lance got hit by not only fans but coach and media which neither of the other two had to deal with

Post #1170 » by **yosemiteben** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:26 pm

Yes, that is how I recall that Al was being crucified on here. I definitely stood up for Al but I was hardly in the majority.

I strongly disagree that Lance got hit the hardest right away. Look at his first five or ten games - he was grabbing like 10 boards a game and had 5 or 6 assists per game and wasn't really doing anything obvious to cause us to lose games other then being a pretty crappy defender, which wasn't as obvious at first. It was when his poor defense became more apparent and he continued to be unable to make shots that we started to really get worried.

Liver_Pooty · Post #1171 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:48 pm

Lance deserved every bit of what he got early in the season and up till a week ago. Especially saying during the AS break that he needed to head home to rekindle his love for basketball or whatever he said. That's just ridiculous.

James Gatz · Post #1172 » by **James Gatz** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:56 pm

I'm not convinced he's turned it around. Would obviously love him to do so though.

TheKingofSting · Post #1173 » by **TheKingofSting** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 1:59 am

James Gatz wrote:I'm not convinced he's turned it around. Would obviously love him to do so though.

You were right. Bad Lance reappeared tonight.

W_HAMILTON · Post #1174 » by **W_HAMILTON** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 2:14 am

He made some boneheaded plays (as usual), but his offense has looked worlds better than it was. Before, he couldn't hit the side of a barn. Now, he's hitting that midrange jumper more than occasionally and he's actually converting some layups.

HornetJail · Post #1175 » by **HornetJail** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 2:48 am

I can live with a night like tonight if he's playing every game at the level he played the last 3-5 games. That level is still well below where I expected (and no, I wasn't one of those people expecting him to become the next Harden), but it's enough to call him serviceable. If we see some steady improvement from him, he may be the difference between playoffs and no playoffs.

Liver_Pooty · Post #1176 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 2:54 am

He's been better, but he's soooo frustrating at times. A good legit offseason with most of it in Charlotte instead of Brooklyn could be a career changer for him.

Post #1177 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 3:20 am

This is the type of frustrating I'm ok with. That Mo - Kemba - Lance - MKG - Biz lineup is intriguing.

HornetJail · Post #1178 » by **HornetJail** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 3:37 am

yosemiteben wrote:This is the type of frustrating I'm ok with. That Mo - Kemba - Lance - MKG - Biz lineup is intriguing.

That lineup right there would be our best chance against a team like Atlanta. Could also work with Hendo instead of Lance if Lance goes back to not being able to throw a marble into Lake Norman and continues to display that his mental six-pack is missing a couple beers.

Post #1179 » by **yosemiteben** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 3:56 am

Lance running around trying to stick with Korver and MKG trying to hold down Millsap is not what I want to see. I think we actually match up well with ATL's starting lineup. MKG can shut down Korver, Cody can battle Millsap, Kemba can stick with Teague, Biz can battle Horford, Hendo can run around and guard Carroll.

BeesWax · Post #1180 » by **BeesWax** » Thu Mar 12, 2015 4:41 pm

yosemiteben wrote:Lance running around trying to stick with Korver and MKG trying to hold down Millsap is not what I want to see. I think we actually match up well with ATL's starting lineup. MKG can shut down Korver, Cody can battle Millsap, Kemba can stick with Teague, Biz can battle Horford, Hendo can run around and guard Carroll.

It is really not a terrible matchup for us one on one but it is terrible the way they play team ball. Still think they get us by their group work.