Stephenson can run PG for Pacers

[xx.]

I saw him play in person many times and talent wise, he is without a doubt first round talent. He's only 19 and can really really play, he went second round because of his off court problems and attitude. He is still young with a lot of potential but definitely has what it takes especially with his size. He's more of a 2 guard because of his ability to drive to the basket is very good but his shot isnt that good, like a poor man's Wade. He was a steal and can develop into a top PG. The Pacers definitely still need to sign a PG, they did nothing on draft night and I dont know why their not going after Raymond Felton or someone.

 

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/67857/20100705/stephenson_could_run_point_for_pacers/

[BasX]

Born Ready. I've been a fan of this kid since I heard about him 3 or 4 years ago.

[NomarFachix]

I think he hurt himself as a guard shooting 22% from 3 in college... His production was wayyyy underwhelming, considering his hype coming into the year, playing in the Big East.

 

He has undeniable talent, though... Wouldn't be surprised to see him on an all-star team one day, if he works hard.

[Make It Naaaashty]

He's pretty big for a PG which is good, saw some of his games for Cinci and I liked him a lot. He can attack the basket at ease and is very quick to guard. Hopefully he can get a starting job so we can see what he can do in the NBA.

[Sun Tzu]

Born Ready. I've been a fan of this kid since I heard about him 3 or 4 years ago.

 

Same. I watched that documentary with him, Beasley, Love, Singler, Jennings, Bayless and a few other guys in it and I was wondering where Stephenson was and when I found out he was drafted in the second round I was quite shocked. I would love to see the development of Stephenson.

[AtTheDriveIn]

His performance in the summer league today was awesome. 21 points and a few highlight plays as well. He was guarded by Randle most of the game, who is listed as a generous 5' 10"; nevertheless it was definitely impressive to see him tear it up like he did. Though by no means should he be playing as a full timepoint guard, he's going to make a lot of people regret passing him up. Young, talented and can score the ball as well as any other rookie or second year player out there - I wish Orlando would have picked him up instead of Daniel Orton (ugh).

[Erick Blasco]

A guy with as limited an understanding of the game as Stephenson is going to run the point?

 

 

 

Lance Stephenson's NBA-ready body and natural scoring ability have left college coaches salivating, but that hasn't compensated for the perception that he's selfish, a "prima donna" according to one Big East assistant.

 

"With Lance Stephenson," the coach says, "it's always ‘Me, me, me.'"

 

That attitude didn't prevent Stephenson from leading Lincoln to back-to-back state titles, but it has gotten him into trouble. In January 2008, he and Lincoln teammate Devon McMillan reportedly got into a physical altercation over a girl. Stephenson missed one game and served a five-day suspension for the incident.

 

Last July, he was cut from the U.S. under-18 team, despite being considered the team's top scorer. The team's under-18 coach, longtime Davidson coach Bob McKillop, cut him and hinted at selfishness.

 

"Five percent of the game is played with the ball in your hands," McKillop told the News at the time. "The other 95% is played without the ball in your hands. Lance had to work on that."

 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high_school/2009/06/21/2009-06-21_end_zone_who_wants_lance.html

Edited July 6, 2010 by Erick Blasco

[Real Deal]

Yeah, but you don't really "run the point" without the ball, either. A long time ago, there was something similar said about Tony Parker, who is a scoring point.

 

There are different types of point guards. Not all of them have to be like Jason Kidd.

 

Stephenson can be a Steve Francis, or he can be what Ron Artest was when he first hit the league (on offense). Definitely not comparing him to either, just giving him a high and a low.

[Dr. Feelgood]

I'm still looking forward to seeing this kid play. Definitely gonna watch the Pacers this year with George and Stephenson. I mentioned in the rookie topic that was made earlier that he'll surprise people. Hopefully he can keep up this production.

[Real Deal]

If Lance would take better shots (and this is talking about the Lance in college, I won't comment on his summer league debut), he can be a very good player. His defense needs work (he doesn't have much lateral quickness, which is Jordan Farmar's problem), but we've seen contributing players that end up improving on the defensive end, also.

 

I won't write the guy off before seeing him play a few NBA games. I've done that to other players in the past, and they ended up playing pretty damn good basketball (Rajon Rondo being one of them).

[Erick Blasco]

Yeah, but you don't really "run the point" without the ball, either. A long time ago, there was something similar said about Tony Parker, who is a scoring point.

 

There are different types of point guards. Not all of them have to be like Jason Kidd.

 

Stephenson can be a Steve Francis, or he can be what Ron Artest was when he first hit the league (on offense). Definitely not comparing him to either, just giving him a high and a low.

 

It's not just that he's a scoring point. He doesn't know how to run an offense. He just knows how to score. Everything I read about this guy points him out to be egotistical, selfish, and lacking court awareness. You can't have a guy like that as your point guard and expect your offense to have any kind of success, especially considering that he's a rookie.

 

If you want Stephenson to play the two guard, knock yourself out. Don't put him at the point and expect it to work out.

[Real Deal]

Everything I read about this guy points him out to be egotistical, selfish, and lacking court awareness.

The same exact thing everyone read about Kobe Bryant.

[xx.]

Talent wise, he has it all, he just never had a good mentor to be honest with you and put himself into bad conflicts at an early age. Being behind Larry Brown now and being in the NBA with world class coaches, he can learn so much. His biggest problem right now is playing and moving without the ball which can be fixed easily.

[Erick Blasco]

The same exact thing everyone read about Kobe Bryant.

 

Wasn't Kobe incredibly fundamentally sound and mentally mature for a youngster, especially because of his father? Lance's father curses out coaches and visits boosters. Kobe never had the immaturity of Stephenson, not until he won a pair of rings at least.

[Erick Blasco]

Talent wise, he has it all, he just never had a good mentor to be honest with you and put himself into bad conflicts at an early age. Being behind Larry Brown now and being in the NBA with world class coaches, he can learn so much. His biggest problem right now is playing and moving without the ball which can be fixed easily.

 

Most of NBA players' bad habits are the same bad habits they've had since they were rookies. It isn't that easy for Stephenson to break habits and suddenly realize how to come off a screen, or when to cut, or how to simply move when the ball isn't in his hands. It's a complete mentality shift for somebody who only knows what it's like to be "The Man." Why work without the ball when you can bring the ball up yourself, clear out, and beat your man off the dribble (anybody with confidence assumes that it's a given that you can break your defender off the dribble)?

 

Now he has to make trigger passes that trigger the offense? Why would he trigger anything other than breaking his man off the dribble?

 

You know who else had world class coaches and had it all talent wise and never had a mentor? Gerald Green. Ask him if its easy to learn how to move without the ball.

 

Is it harsh that I think so lowly of this kid? Perhaps, but his career has been marked by red flags.

 

At least as a two-guard he may be able to get by with being selfish if he can score.

 

The NBA isn't the place for epiphanies about how to run an offense though.

[Real Deal]

Wasn't Kobe incredibly fundamentally sound and mentally mature for a youngster, especially because of his father? Lance's father curses out coaches and visits boosters. Kobe never had the immaturity of Stephenson, not until he won a pair of rings at least.

Kobe was immature from the start...maybe mature for his age, but that's because he was 17. Judging him as an NBA player, though, he was pretty immature and selfish.

 

And that led up to the Lakers dynasty, and when he was hit with that rape accusation, he started to change.

 

Kobe had a ton of skills, yes, but they were also much less defined as, say, Iverson's...at least for the first two seasons.

 

Speaking of Iverson, there's another. Pretty immature, didn't play off the ball much, selfish, and he ended up snagging an MVP award and leading a team to the NBA Finals. Most players define success as winning rings, but if that were the case, there aren't very many successful NBA players over the last 20 years.

[AtTheDriveIn]

Is it harsh that I think so lowly of this kid? Perhaps, but his career has been marked by red flags.

 

At least as a two-guard he may be able to get by with being selfish if he can score.

 

It's not harsh, just understandable. Stephenson has been in the newspapers more for his off-court behaviour than for his on-court efforts in the last few years and considering that most players who have off-court troubles usually dont amount to much, it first off wasn't surprising to see him slip to mid second round territory in the draft nor is it surprising thay many expect him to ultimately fail as an NBA player because of his immaturity and selfish attitude. Out of high school, I didn't like him. He thought he was better than he was and thought that his skill entitled him to act better than those around him - examples include his misdemeneor (spelling there is shocking) and being suspended for fighting with a teammate. And then came the drama with the college selection which seemed to drag on for at leats a year. Again, he acted like he was more important than he actually was. And then I saw him play..

 

On the court, he's amazing. A top 10 talent. If Paul George was the tenth pick for the Pacers, then it's not unreasonable to think that Stephenson, without his issues, would have gone top 10 as well. I think Stephenson's problem isn't that he necessarily wants to be 'the man', but that he doesn't know anything else. At Cincy, he played within the team structure and wasn't a big complainer. He just didn't know what to do when he didn't have the ball. Nevertheless, if Jamal Crawford can make a living being a fundamentally weak, slightly oversized tweener guard, then even in a slightly more limited role, I think anything is possible for Stephenson. It's also not completely uncommon to see guys who can score the way Stephenson can end up being valuable assets to whatever team they're on.

[Erick Blasco]

It's not harsh, just understandable. Stephenson has been in the newspapers more for his off-court behaviour than for his on-court efforts in the last few years and considering that most players who have off-court troubles usually dont amount to much, it first off wasn't surprising to see him slip to mid second round territory in the draft nor is it surprising thay many expect him to ultimately fail as an NBA player because of his immaturity and selfish attitude. Out of high school, I didn't like him. He thought he was better than he was and thought that his skill entitled him to act better than those around him - examples include his misdemeneor (spelling there is shocking) and being suspended for fighting with a teammate. And then came the drama with the college selection which seemed to drag on for at leats a year. Again, he acted like he was more important than he actually was. And then I saw him play..

 

On the court, he's amazing. A top 10 talent. If Paul George was the tenth pick for the Pacers, then it's not unreasonable to think that Stephenson, without his issues, would have gone top 10 as well. I think Stephenson's problem isn't that he necessarily wants to be 'the man', but that he doesn't know anything else. At Cincy, he played within the team structure and wasn't a big complainer. He just didn't know what to do when he didn't have the ball. Nevertheless, if Jamal Crawford can make a living being a fundamentally weak, slightly oversized tweener guard, then even in a slightly more limited role, I think anything is possible for Stephenson. It's also not completely uncommon to see guys who can score the way Stephenson can end up being valuable assets to whatever team they're on.

 

Absolutely. Hey, if Stephenson has poor court awareness and everything, at least you can stick him at the two guard spot, run a simple play, and if that doesn't work, just give him the ball on the wing and say do your thing. Some two-guards can get away with being selfish because most teams need those guys to create points for themselves. Maybe a light will go off as a bonus.

 

My qualm is starting him at the point. Imagine Jamal Crawford as a true point guard? He can get away at the point in Atlanta because the Hawks play iso ball all the time, but he'd never run a complicated offense and Indiana actually runs a pretty complicated offense. There's probably more "system junk" in O'Brien's offense than any other team aside from the Jazz.

 

You'd have Stephenson bring the ball up, a bunch of guys executing their cuts, Stephenson would wait for them to stop moving and then he'd iso or maybe use a screen. The other Pacers would be ignored and become disinterested. They'd stop cutting hard and playing hard, and you'd have a stale, lifeless team.

[Erick Blasco]

NBAPlaybook thinks Lance can play the point...

 

 

 

 

 

Point Guard Feel

 

To be a point guard, you need to have a good feel for it. What I mean by feel, is that a point guard needs to know when and where to get the ball to his teammates so that they have the best chance to score. Over the past two games, Stevenson has shown that feel:

 

 

Here, Lance Stephenson is bringing the ball up getting ready to start the offense. He spots his teammate Paul George open at the three point line, decides that he is open enough to get a shot off, and hits him with a perfect pass.

 

When moving from SG to PG, it is hard to kick that shoot first mentality, especially when you are attacking the basket. Lance Stephenson has shown an ability to drive, assess the situation, and make the pass to the open man if need be.

 

On these three plays Lance Stevenson had opportunities to force a shot up, but he seems aware that he is in fact the point guard and he needs to distribute the basketball. In all three of these plays, Stevenson kept his head up and was able to get the basketball to his teammates in even better positions to score. Cons

 

Some Basic Stuff

 

Lance Stephenson made some mistakes over the first two games of summer league, but these mistakes are little things that experience playing point guard solves.

 

Here, Stephenson kind of has tunnel vision, and that is the reason behind the bad pass and the deflection. This is something that happens a ton to young guards. They feel like they have to run the offense and they try to force it to the first option. There is no reason for this pass to be made, and what Stephenson should have done was gone to his second option here.

 

Here, Lance Stephenson breaks maybe one of the most important rules as a point guard. The “don’t get caught in the air unless you know what you are going to do rule.” Stephenson jumps and gets caught in the air without and option, and he ends up tossing it out of bounds.

 

After watching Lance Stephenson’s first two summer league games, I think he has what it takes to be a competent point guard this year. All of the mistakes that Stephenson has made are correctable with experience and film sessions. More importantly, Stephenson has that feel of a point guard that you really need to have to be successful, and that is why I think Lance Stephenson can become a point guard

 

 

 

 

 

http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/07/07/is-lance-stephenson-a-point-guard/#more-3269