When Lance Stephenson spurned Larry Bird in favor of Michael Jordan last summer, he also slammed shut the championship window for the Indiana Pacers. For two and a half seasons, the Pacers knew exactly what they were – a team built around defense, chemistry, and an other-worldly starting five that ripped the league to shreds. Lance’s loss not only robbed the Pacers of one of the most talented two-way shooting guards in the league under the age of 25, but it also took out a valuable ingredient to their winning recipe, an ingredient that was, in a lot of ways, irreplaceable.
Rather than search for a Lance replacement (that, realistically, didn’t exist in Indiana’s price range), Larry Bird opted to sign two players to fill the void, Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles. Since arriving, both have fought through numerous dings and scrapes, ranging from migraine headaches and foot sprains to pokes in the eye. And when they have been on the court, they have struggled to play well together.
When Rodney Stuckey came back from a foot injury around Thanksgiving and averaged 17 points per night over his next five games, C.J. Miles suffered through a miserable shooting slump that saw him shoot only 23% from downtown. Miles eventually found his stroke, and he has shot 40% from deep since December 8, but Stuckey has gone cold, scoring in double digits just once in his past seven games.
Lineup uncertainty has undoubtedly played a role in the inconsistency of both of these new players. However, as the Pacers move forward, Frank Vogel should move C.J. Miles into the starting lineup and put Stuckey into the role of sixth man. Lance left a sizable gap, but Miles is the answer for both the present and that glorious day when Paul George returns to the squad.
Defensively, Miles is not quite as long as Lance (whose 6’11” wingspan was just pterodactyl-like), but he is an inch taller and can comfortably guard most NBA wings. He’s really not close to Stephenson as an individual defender — i.e., Vogel probably won’t be asking him to defend LeBron James one-on-one any time soon — but his physical length is a tangible skill that Vogel likes to build his defenses around.
Indiana’s defensive scheme is predicated upon filtering everything towards Roy Hibbert. While doing this, Vogel always stresses the importance of challenging shots from behind. Miles is simply better equipped to perform both of these tasks than Rodney Stuckey.
Early in the season, Miles appeared lost at times on defense, but he has settled down nicely after the rocky start and has actually been an above average defensive player since December 8. He has been known as a streaky player throughout his career, but his numbers on both side of the ball are so different since then that maybe we can just throw out most of the first month of the season due to all the chaos that surrounded it.
Offensively, Miles is a very different player than Lance Stephenson, but he may be able to fill Lance’s shoes in one key way.
Everyone knows that Lance led the league in triple doubles last year and led the Pacers in assists. However, Lance’s play within the starting lineup was far more replicable than you might think. While Lance often operated as the key playmaker with the bench unit, he actually spent a large amount of time playing off the ball when he was flanked by Paul George and David West. Almost a third of his shots came from 3-point range, for example, and nearly all of those shots (80% of them) were assisted. Lance still lived at the rim, and shot a ridiculous 70% inside the restricted area, but his efficiency was obviously buoyed by the fact that teams had to pay so much attention to Paul George and David West, the Pacers’ first two offensive options.
In a lot of ways, Lance’s primary role within the Indiana starting lineup was to space the floor.
While Miles will never be able to fulfill Lance’s secondary roles (creating buckets for others, setting up the offense, and running the pick and roll), he is probably better equipped as a floor spacer than even Lance was. In 27 less games last season, Miles took almost 100 more 3-points attempts than Lance did and connected on 39% of them.
Perhaps even more important than the sheer number of shot attempts is their location.
Miles excelled from the same spots that Lance often shot from within the starting lineup. Really, the biggest difference between the two shot charts is the absence of the sporadic inefficient midrange jump shots that Stephenson so often fell in love with (for more evidence of this, just ask a Charlotte Hornets fan).
As hard as the Pacers have played this season, it’s more important to look ahead to what they can be once their superstar comes back. In theory, it’s never bad to have multiple playmakers, but in practice, the Pacers just didn’t rely on Stephenson’s playmaking as much within the starting lineup as they did to carry those bench units. 69% of Miles’ shots this season have come via the catch-and-shoot variety. He has taken 82% of his shots within two seconds of catching the rock. Paul George is an elite talent. It’s best to surround talents like him with complementary pieces like C.J. Miles that make quick decisions, space the floor, and get rid of the ball quickly.
Miles will never be able to replace everything Lance did with the second unit, but the Pacers don’t need him to do that. They simply need him to space the floor with the starters and knock down open shots. If he can continue to do so, the Pacer just might have the capability of edging back towards contender-status once they are fully healthy.