We Are Stuck With Him - The Lance Stephenson Thread II

[yosemiteben]

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.

Oh absolutely, by no means do I think we should be favored and ATL is the perfect example of a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. I do think that if you break it down to isolated 1-on-1 matchups that we look a lot better against them than a team like CLE.

ATL has actually come back to earth a little bit. In the month of February they were 7 - 4 and from 2/1 to today they are 10 - 6.

[gipper08]

Lance nearly dominated the ATL series last year(save FOR GAME 4). 19 and 21 in games 6 and 7.

[BeesWax]

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.

Oh absolutely, by no means do I think we should be favored and ATL is the perfect example of a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. I do think that if you break it down to isolated 1-on-1 matchups that we look a lot better against them than a team like CLE.

ATL has actually come back to earth a little bit. In the month of February they were 7 - 4 and from 2/1 to today they are 10 - 6.

Well said. They are the prime example of what I hope we can get to in terms of team play. I think we would be more defensive oriented but just having everyone on the same page all the time, bench included.

[Braggins]

Are people starting to consider the possibility that Lance isnt the worst player in the world?

[Liver_Pooty]

Are people starting to consider the possibility that Lance isnt the worst player in the world?

Hes pretty bad, but not the worst in the world.

[yosemiteben]

Are people starting to consider the possibility that Lance isnt the worst player in the world?

He was fairly objectively one of the least valuable players up to this point in the season, but I don't think anyone on here thought the talent wasn't there. I doubt a single person on here would say he doesn't have the ability to be a major contributor to a good playoff team. He just hasn't played anywhere close to his potential.

[Liver_Pooty]

Are people starting to consider the possibility that Lance isnt the worst player in the world?

He was fairly objectively one of the least valuable players up to this point in the season, but I don't think anyone on here thought the talent wasn't there. I doubt a single person on here would say he doesn't have the ability to be a major contributor to a good playoff team. He just hasn't played anywhere close to his potential.

Which is why he deserves all the criticism he has gotten. It isn't like were talking about Roberts or someone with hardly a spec of talent.

[xBulletproof]

If you guys are up for some laughs, this Pacers board is still obsessed with talking about Lance. I was skimming this board I used to visit and thought you guys could get some kicks. I linked to page 1. It's up to 250 or some mess and still going strong. Feel free to skip to more recent ones. One person on there I think needs surgery to get his face removed from a particular part of Lance.

http://www.pacersdigest.com/showthread. ... year-or-so

[catch20two]

Lance looking better now that he's a afterthought instead of a focal point of our offense when he's on the floor. I like the way he's been aggressively attacking the rim and finishing thru contact unlike Kemba.

[yosemiteben]

Lance looking better now that he's a afterthought instead of a focal point of our offense when he's on the floor. I like the way he's been aggressively attacking the rim and finishing thru contact unlike Kemba.

Completely agree that he is doing much better by focusing on drives. He would have a lot easier time if guys had to respect his shot.

This was hardly the game to say how well he finishes at the rim though.

[Liver_Pooty]

Lance looking better now that he's a afterthought instead of a focal point of our offense when he's on the floor. I like the way he's been aggressively attacking the rim and finishing thru contact unlike Kemba.

The sad thing is that he has looked better, but he is still bad.

Thats how pathetic he has been this season

[catch20two]

Lance looking better now that he's a afterthought instead of a focal point of our offense when he's on the floor. I like the way he's been aggressively attacking the rim and finishing thru contact unlike Kemba.

Completely agree that he is doing much better by focusing on drives. He would have a lot easier time if guys had to respect his shot.

This was hardly the game to say how well he finishes at the rim though.

Nah he had a couple of nice finishes at the rim in tonight's game. Sure he missed some but he made about 3 that had me clapping.

[BobsBuddy]

Outstanding use of Lances minutes on the floor by Clifford last night 11/3/2 off the bench.....IF we can make the 8th seed,who knows what might happen against ATL...

[yosemiteben]

This was hardly the game to say how well he finishes at the rim though.

Nah he had a couple of nice finishes at the rim in tonight's game. Sure he missed some but he made about 3 that had me clapping.

He was 3 - 10 from the field. I think he only took one or two jumpers (a good thing IMO), so he missed like five or six shots on drives. It's a much more productive shot than him bricking a jumper because he's good at picking up fouls, but hopefully he can regularly convert at a higher rate than he did tonight.

[BobsBuddy]

With our blowout loss against Utah last night and the games coming up,Lance may see more minutes...I hope he puts up decent numbers the rest of the season...If so ,I look for us to trade him for a draft pick and/or a 3 point shooter SG/SF ..then resign Mo

[yosemiteben]

It's too early now because we still don't really know what we're getting with Lance, but we are going to have some real interesting conversations about what to do with this roster this offseason.

If you had to pick one of Lance and Al to stay on the roster next season, who would you pick? I assume everyone will say Kemba + Lance, but still curious. I really don't think Kemba + Lance can work in the starting lineup, but I also really don't think Lance works with Al around because he really needs a good PNR guy and an open lane. I can't imagine that we want to hang on to Lance so we can keep bringing him off the bench.

[BeesWax]

I would rather keep Lance because he cost us less and screws up our team less. I also have hope he can get back to where he was last season. Al on the other hand will always be a bit of an anchor on this team and with this coach.

[JDR720]

I think we still try to trade Lance, unless he plays like he did last year for the rest of the season I dont think the front office will want to keep him especially considering how badly they wanted him gone.

I don't want either of them, but if I had to pick I'd say Lance. at least he is young enough to get better and cheaper.

[yosemiteben]

I will say this, for everything that annoys me about Lance's game (which right now with how he's playing lately is just that he can't shoot), I agree with what Cliff has said all along - he really wants to win. He has been put in his place a bit here and taken some lumps but he's stuck with it and kept fighting. I think his problem on this team at this point is entirely fit and not chemistry based at all.

When we signed him up, I was worried that chemistry was the real issue with him. At this point, that's not really on my list of issues.

[fatlever]

Dont be fooled by Lance's little stretch of non-horrible basketball. He is not a player you want getting minutes. Lance is a ballstopper and he can't shoot. He over dribbles and wrecks spacing. The two or three good passes dont negate the downside he brings. I honestly don't know how the Pacers functioned the past two years with Lance playing heavy minutes. I am guessing it was more a situation of them winning in spite of Lance, not due to much of anything he was doing on the court. The sooner he is benched or traded the better.