The Indiana Pacers Should Consider Signing Lance Stephenson
By Josh Padmore
Controversy surrounded Lance Stephenson’s final moments with the Indiana Pacers in 2014. Now, they could use him back.
Should the Indiana Pacers consider bringing Lance Stephenson back when he is healthy?
Things were sour between Lance Stephenson and the Pacers after he signed a three-year $27 million dollar deal with the Charlotte Hornets in 2014. Lance turned down a five-year $44 million dollar deal from Indiana, which barely paid less annually than the deal with Charlotte. The funny thing is, the $27 million dollar deal he signed seems like nothing in today’s NBA.
The Pacers as a team also struggled to end the 2013-2014 season. Lance may have been a part of that due to his expressive attitude. Still, the Pacers managed to avoid getting upset in the playoffs of 2014 and got back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Here’s why the Pacers should look at a reunion with Lance, despite how things ended between the two sides.
Rebounding
The Pacers are getting manhandled on the glass. Thaddeus Young is only averaging 6.2 per game. Indiana’s starting center, Myles Turner, is averaging 7.5 per game.
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He’s been up-and-down in the rebounding department. Indiana’s backup center, Al Jefferson, is averaging 4.3 per game. Al isn’t much of an athlete and can barely elevate off the floor. Lastly, Paul George is averaging 6.0 per game, which is one whole rebound less than he averaged last year.
Lance Stephenson was one of the best rebounders on the Pacers when he was with the team. He averaged 7.2 rebounds per game during the 2013-2014 season. That was the highest average on the team. Lance just plays hard 100% of the time. He tries to get every rebound and consistently grab boards over larger players. You might also remember Larry Bird tell the media when Lance left that Roy Hibbert won’t get his rebounds stolen from him by Stephenson.
Defense
Lance is a good on-ball defender. He was one of Indiana’s best. He doesn’t back away from a challenge, which is why you saw him guarding LeBron James plenty of times in their Playoff series’. If the Pacers were to get Lance, he’d easily be their best defender at the shooting guard position.
Toughness/Energy
The Pacers don’t have much toughness and edge on their roster. That can be both good and bad. Lance’s antics cost the Pacers at times, but it also energized the team. It also energized the crowd. Lance had some huge moments in the Playoffs for the Pacers where the crowd was simply roaring. It’s tough to play, as an opponent, in that type of atmosphere.
I’m just not sure if the current Indiana Pacers can make a deep playoff run. I don’t think there’s much they can do trade wise, which is why signing Lance would make sense. To do so, they’d have to waive one player. Rakeem Christmas has played in 4 games since signing with the Pacers in 2015, so he’d likely be the obvious choice.
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It’s just something to think about. The Pacers aren’t getting enough consistency from Glenn Robinson III, and Monta Ellis is too small to pair with Jeff Teague. Theoretically, Lance would fit in nicely. Time will tell.