Free Agent Profile: Lance Stephenson

This week’s Free Agent Profile features Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson. The 6’5 fourth year player from Cincinnati has been a hot topic recently because of a few antics he pulled during the Eastern Conference Finals vs the Miami Heat. Other than his smack talking get in your face attitude, Stephenson seems to be a 23-year old coming into his own with tremendous potential in the future. But will is on-court antics result in too many concerns for GM’s around the league, causing him to lose out on a hefty payday?    

While seeing an increase in minutes this past season, Stephenson watched his role with Indiana quickly rise up the ranks on the roster. Behind Paul George and Roy Hibbert, Stephenson is the third piece to the Pacers puzzle in most opinions. He saw career highs in almost every category this season including, 13.8 points per game, 4.6 assists per game, and 7.2 rebounds per game. Some young NBA players can tend to get extremely fatigued during the long duration of an NBA season, which can lead to injury, especially when seeing increased minutes for the first time in a few years. But this hasn’t been the case for Lance Stephenson. He has proven he’s durable by playing in 78 of 82 games for back to back seasons. With solid numbers in increased minutes and durability, Stephenson can become a quality piece a few NBA team may be shopping for this summer. His agent has stated recently that Lance would like to remain with the Pacers but as of right now Larry Byrd hasn’t made a decision yet.

The Indiana Pacers vs Miami Heat Eastern Conference Finals Series was a series full of emotion. It was also a series of wondering which day the Pacers were planning on showing up to actually play. I remember watching game 5 when the Heat were leading the series 3-1. I couldn’t believe that Indiana was only in the 30’s at halftime. Seriously, you’re about to get eliminated and you decide to drop a 33 in the first half. Honestly, it looked like they were trying to throw the game at that point but clearly they weren’t because Paul George caught fire and went on a complete tear in the second half, leading to a Pacers win, which forced a game 6 in Miami. Game 6 was just a disgrace; the Heat obliterated the Pacers to win the series. But that’s a different story for a different day. Back to Lance Stephenson, he definitely had his fair share of moments during the series with his two highlights being, blowing in LeBron’s ear, and interrupting the Heat huddle led by Coach Eric Spoelstra over by the Miami bench. Lebron was able to laugh off the blowing in the ear, but Spoelstra wasn’t exactly happy with the Pacer player in his huddle. I’m not a big fan of Spoelstra’s coaching to begin with, so I for one loved the brief huddle interruption Stephenson pulled. Although yes these antics may indeed fire up the crowd and maybe even ignite a spark in the team, Stephenson received a lot of negative feedback because of the events that took place. Even Larry Byrd, the GM of the Pacers, was not happy with Stephenson and talked to him after game 5, basically telling him don’t do it again. Although some may like the swagger and ego he brings to the team, I believe some GM’s around the league will shy away from taking a shot with Stephenson this summer. GM’s and coaches have to manage the whole team. The last thing they want to be doing in acting like a parent talking to a child who just doesn’t listen, while paying that child a large allowance.

So, would Lance Stephenson fit with the Sixers? I think it’s a possibility Hinkie gives him a call once Free Agency begins but I don’t think much will come of it. I like Stephenson a lot as a player even tweeted after game 5, “I wouldn’t mind seeing Lance Stephenson in Philly next year.” In reality though, I see Sam Hinkie as one of those GM’s who will shy away from Lance because of his attitude issues. When you’re building a young roster, like Hinkie is doing with the Sixers, you really don’t want a guy with a big personal ego on the team. You wouldn’t want it to influence any of the other younger players or maybe even cause fights, like Stephenson did with former Sixer Evan Turner. Most of us here in Philly found it funny just because it was Evan Turner, but when you look at it from the serious point of view, that’s the type of stuff nobody wants to put up with and Hinkie doesn’t want a guy like that interrupting his plan.

Next week, the Free Agent Profile Series will take a look at Brooklyn Nets guard Shaun Livingston.

-@WillRock2424