Lance Not Making Charlotte Fans Dance

It was mid July when the news broke the Hornets had signed Lance Stephenson, he was thought of as the last marquee free agent out there.

It’s amazing how different the signing of Lance can be viewed just four months on. At first Lance was the perfect fit in Charlotte, his ball handling ability would allow Kemba Walker to have some freedom off the ball. He was also thought of as an elite perimeter defender, known for guarding the likes of LeBron in the playoffs. Kemba always struggled to create for others, Lance’s passing vision would make up for that. Sure Lance wasn’t a great shooter, but a serviceable one in Indiana shooting 35% from three and 49% from the field. How could it go wrong? Even if the fit wasn’t perfect it would surely be an upgrade over Henderson, right? For those of you who like advanced stats, put your glasses on and have a little look at these:

129 players have started at least 15 games this year in the NBA, how does Lance rank amongst them?

– 128th in Win Shares and Win Shares per 48 minutes, better than only Andrew Wiggins.

– 128th in Offensive Rating, better than only Nerlens Noel.

– 128th in Effective Field Goal Percentage, only better than Josh Smith.

– 127th in True Shooting Percentage, just edging out Josh Smith and Rajon Rondo.

– 116th in PER.

– 112th in Box Plus/Minus.

– 111th in Value over Replacement Player.

– 80th in Defensive Rating.

– has the 18th highest Turnover Percentage.

– Charlotte is almost 7 points per game better with him off the court than on it.

I knew Lance was struggling, anyone can see that with his field goal percentage of 38% and a three point percentage of 16%, but the metrics above show just how bad it has gotten. The narrative on Lance has truly changed, he can’t shoot, holds the ball for too long and constantly loses his man off the ball. It’s not just the fans who have noticed this, Lance has been benched a number of times in the 4th quarter this season by Clifford for his inability to play team offense, team defense and provide any floor spacing. But it’s okay, because Lance is still really popular amongst the team right? It’s not looking that way, a source who travelled with the team on their west coast trip back in November informed me that guys were getting fed up of Lance holding the ball for so long on offense. Check out this play from the Cleveland game, Lance ignores Big Al who has great position, holds the ball for six seconds and then passes it back to Kemba at the top.

Despite all the drawbacks, credit should still be given to Rich Cho for the signing. Lance’s contract is still very team friendly at $9m per year and a team option in year three, a small market franchise like Charlotte has to take risks on potential stars with “baggage”, sure this one didn’t turn out but when you look elsewhere in the NBA you can see stories of success. Zach Randolph in Memphis and Rudy Gay in Sacramento have both successfully turned their career narratives around with their perspective teams after once being viewed as damaged goods. We all remember Rick Bonnell tweeting multiple times stating the Hornets had NOT reached out to Lance Stephenson, many fans chuckled afterwards thinking he was wrong, but maybe he wasn’t. After striking out on Gordon Hayward the Hornets went with plan B, by that point the only real difference maker left on the market was Lance Stephenson. It’s possible MJ and Cho felt they had to make a free agency splash with cap space to spend and the Hornets brand returning, it now seems as though they hoped Lance would fit rather than expected it, the contract they offered him suggests as much.

The Stephenson era in Charlotte could be short and ugly, I hope for Lance he rented and didn’t buy as it appears he may be on the move soon. The fact that multiple outlets have been able to report the Hornets determination to trade Lance is very odd. The Charlotte front office has long been one of the most tight lipped in the NBA, very little gets out of Cho’s office when it comes to potential trades or the draft, there hasn’t been one situation apart from the Stephen Jackson trade where the fan base knew in advance about a potential move. One theory (my own) is that Charlotte are trying so hard to trade Lance, they can’t help but keep it out of the media. It already appears the Pacers, Clippers & Nets have shown interest. The big question is what type of move with the franchise look to make, will they sacrifice future picks and young players for a veteran who can help drag the team to the 8th seed? Or do they sacrifice current veterans for future flexibility and picks just a year after they were one of the best upcoming teams in the NBA? My feeling is they would like to stay competitive, take a side step rather than a step forward or back, especially with the new Hornets brand and the uptick in season ticket sales. We can only speculate what players they are targeting, make sure you look for my “Trade Targets” article later this week where I will throw out some potential players who could be available and analyse how they could help this team.